A General lies dead!

Was it an act of war? Sabotage? Pilot error? Mechanical failure?

He was not killed on a battlefield leading his men, not from an act of vengeance for some previous act to save the country, but dead, traveling on his own warhorse, piloted by his own forces and brought down in a time of peace, in an area of no insurgency!

How did we allow him to die?

Would people of any other nation forgive themselves if their chief got into a helicopter which they do every day and have the machine crash because of engine failure or pilot failure? Or if sabotage, intelligence failure? 

And if engine failure, how? Through poor maintenance, no thorough check ups, or our ‘chaltha hai’ attitude?

I flew on Flight AI 101 two weeks ago from Delhi to New York. Fifteen hours of continuous flying in seats that would have made a pygmy squirm. What most do during this torturous experience is divide their time between inflight movies, reading and sleep!

The lights went off as soon as the aircraft gained altitude, I pulled out my book, switched on the reading lights, but darkness stared mockingly at me!

‘Sir, most of the reading lights don’t work!’ she whispered into my ear.

‘Okay,’ I told myself as I smiled at her, ‘So it’s the movies then!’ and I switched on the console.

‘Sir,’ she said, this time from within the safety of the drinks counter, ‘Most of the screens don’t work!’

‘What works?” I asked looking fearfully out of the window at the huge engines.

‘Sir, these are old aircraft and we are just waiting for Tata’s to take over to get new parts and engineers who will work on the maintenance!’

I shuddered again as I looked at the engines outside.

Did our brave General shudder too?

Are we so involved in building new parliaments buildings, tall statues and religious places for the world to see, spending millions of rupees on showmanship, when national carriers, helicopters, roads and bridges are on their last legs?

When Trump arrived in Gujarat on his way to see the statue, walls were quickly built to hide the slums the poor lived in. Was the helicopter given just a fresh coat of paint?

A General lies dead!

Not killed on a battlefield leading his men, not from an act of vengeance for some previous act to save the country, but dead, traveling on his own warhorse, piloted by his own forces and brought down in a time of peace, in an area of no insurgency!

How did we allow such a good brave man to die?

If we can come out from behind our painted walls, if we can stop waiting for a Tata or Birla to take over, and instead, take responsibility for our people, our machines, our infrastructure and it’s maintenance then the good General would not have died in vain..!

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