A sad end to an incredible journey!

Wing Commander Rama Iyer (Retd), South African Air Force passed away in the morning of 17 Mar at the Swartkop airfield. A Palakkad Iyer by birth, Wing Commander Iyer was an alumnus of the 40th NDA course and was commissioned into the IAF in Dec 1972.

After 24 long years in the IAF, including the command of frontline Mig 21 Squadrons and an instructional tenure at the DSSC, Wellington he missed the selection rank as a Wing Commander. After putting in his papers, he applied for a tenure in the newly formed South African Air Force (SAAF) and got a three year temporary commission in 1998. The three years in SAAF rolled to nearly 20 years - he picked up the rank of Colonel and became Director Flight Training. After somatic parlays, he was permitted to wear the Indian service medals in SAAF uniform. He also routinely did displays for SAAF on various aircrafts including Havilland Vampires.

In 2016, he was battling a different enemy - Stage 4 bone cancer. With the customary fortitude and grit, he vanquished this enemy too by 2019 and joined the DGCA-equivalent-agency in South Africa as a flight inspector. SAAF continued to permit him to fly their vintage museum aircrafts. On Wednesday morning he crashed in Pretoria flying a "Patchen Explorer" - which is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world.

Rama Iyer sir, a toast to your amazing life! Blue skies forever!! 

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One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

The practice losing farther, losing faster :

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! My last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, 

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident

the art of losing's not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

- Elizabeth Bishop

Tailpiece.

Got up a trifle later than Lekha, who'd got up on the dot. Today's the 5th remembrance day of Lekha's dad as per the Malayalam calendar.  She went to the Mammiyoor Siva kshetram to offer the 'Thil homam' for him.

I was okay, post vaccination. Participated in the Aazhchakkoottam - "The Modern Times and Spirituality" by Swami Gururathnam Jnaanatapaswi, General Secretary, Santhigiri Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram from 1600 - 1700 hrs. It was nice!