It was the early 90's. I was just about to turn 10, when I was first asked about what I want to become.
I remember having seen a plane flying in the sky and getting enthralled. I instantly replied, a fighter pilot.
Why I added the word fighter I don't know. But it meant more to me than just being a 'pilot'…
As the next few years passed by, this dream of mine took shape. I became more serious about entering the armed forces. Eventually, I cleared the National Defence Academy exams to become an officer.
However, fate had something else in store for me, as I was diagnosed with partial colour blindness and hence couldn't join the Air Force.
While I settled down to join the Army, and then came out, the longing of not getting the opportunity to fly planes has remained.
Even after all these years, whenever I see fighter jets zooming around, even in movies, they leave me with a feeling of having missed out. Maybe, I would have had a different view of the world if I had flown one of those.
That same feeling got triggered watching the fleet at the Republic Day fly-past on Friday. As my wife commented to my daughter, that's my favourite part of the yearly parade. Because it allows me this visceral pleasure!
Turn to today, I am on this flight for a business trip. On my way, scanning the landscape, I saw this amazing frozen lake in the Rocky Mountains and the feeling returned.
But as I continued to mesmerise over the view from the top, something hit me. I would have equally enjoyed the view from the bottom.
Because while the view from air awed me with the vastness of it all, the view from the base on land would have also awed me with the vastness of it all.
The perspective would have been different for sure, but there is no point in comparing the two. For they were both perspectives of the same place. And whether from 20,000 feet or 2000, they both have their own positives.
So, while I may have missed out on flying planes and getting to enjoy the ground below, I have got chances to enjoy the landscape from the base.
And while it surely would have been a great thing to fly jets, the things I have gotten to do have also been great.
Does this mean the feeling or longing go away from my heart? No, I don't think so.
But yes, it does help me with an understanding that life is to enjoy as it is, rather than how it could be…
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