A true story.

A chance encounter with an Ola Cab Driver (Lt Cdr RS Sodhi) in Chandigarh, who turned out to be a Vir Chakra awardee...

"It's not often that you get into an Ola to hear Pink Floyd's #Echoes playing. It was an even bigger surprise when the driver muttered about 'right of way' when a female driver almost drove into the cab as we hit the main road. The driver did not appear to be the talkative kind but the previous events and his clipped Hindi got the better of my curiosity.

A couple of probing questions and that I knew or two about the navy came in handy and the reticence gave way.

Lt Cdr Raminder Singh Sodhi was a naval aviation officer and flew Seahawks on board the INS Vikrant till the early '80s. He later flew for the Indian government including the PM's aircraft. During the 1971 Indo-Pak War, he carried out 8 strikes on the heavily defended ports of Chittagong, Khulna and Mongla. He was the section leader during an attack on Khulna harbour on 06 Dec. Although his aircraft was hit by enemy fire, he continued his attack and led his section until one enemy ship and port oil installations were set on fire. He was awarded the Vir Chakra for his role as a young Lt Cdr.

Like a lot of ageing citizens, the property that he created for his children became his bane and the prolonged legal battles with his own have taken a toll on him that the war could not. He is a part of an increasingly growing tribe of senior citizens whose twilight years are robbed by the very security that they have created for their loving children. Driving through the light fog of the night he fondly reminisced about his love for night landings on the deck of the aircraft carrier.

I marveled at his stoic acceptance of the situation, maybe due to his war experience, while experiencing the surrealism of being driven on the road by a man who had flown in the air from his home on the sea. On reaching our destination all I could do was stand to attention and salute him with a proper palm down naval salute.

He drove away to David Gilmour's vocals echoing in my head gently prodding me to reflect on what destiny will bring at the next step....

"And no one called us to the land

And no one knows the where's or why's

Something stirs and something tries

Starts to climb toward the light".

My take

The unexpected twists and turns of life!

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores and was ready by a half past 9.

The maid had turned up for work.

A quiet day. Took part in our on line meeting to take stock of our digital literacy campaign. A lot of technical glitches to be sorted out, the earlier the better.