Manoj laid down the map on
his table and carefully studied the contour lines laid out on the paper. The
solitary bulb in his makeshift cabin was trying to add to the warmth of the “Sigri” burning inside the cabin. Low
temperatures in high altitude can be punishing and can lead to various effects
of freezing. For Manoj, the temperatures did not matter tonight. His mind was
fixed on his long cherished aim of flying his Attack Helicopter in the high
altitudes.
As
he finished his study and lay in his creaky bed for the night rest, his mind
drifted off to the days when he was passing out of the National Defence Academy
(NDA). Manoj had the opportunity to enter the portals of the Maker of Men (The Motto of NDA) twice.
He has had the great fortune of getting trained by some of the best that NDA
had produced. His thoughts wandered towards his Squadron Cadet Captain in the
Foxtrot Squadron 2nd Lt Arun
Khetarpal, PVC who was already a
folklore. In his dreams he saw a young lean and mean guy in a white T shirt and back drawn
hair standing in the Central Lobby of Foxtrot Squadron with two stars made on
the breast pocket of his T shirt. Under that was written Jaat in a slant and an
underline drawn. The handsome Sherwoodian, Jaat looked like the Clint Eastwood
of the Foxtrot Squadron.
Manoj dreamt about his NDA
experiences the whole night. He has had the fortune of passing out of NDA twice
due to his change of service from the Air Force to the Army. It had become his
plus point. He understood the DNA of NDA even better.
Jaat took Manoj under his wings and
trained him relentlessly after Lights Out for perfection of exercises like High
Horse, Scissors and Back Flips. As they trained in a Guru-Shishya format, Jaat would impress upon Manoj to match up to
the perfection levels. Robinhood was
reborn as Jaat. Always ready to help a guy in distress, costs did not matter to
him. If you were not doing well in the Out Door Training at NDA-go to Jaat. If
you have changed your Medicine-on-Duty
Category to Rest –In- Cabin Category
and the Training Officer is looking for you, back to Jaat for help as he was a
savior of sorts. He was an epitome of Perfection in whatever he did. On that
night, Jaat was re-visiting Manoj to affirm that perfection has been achieved
and Manoj was now a rookie Attack Helicopter pilot of the Indian Army. Manoj
slept with a smile on his face and an assurance that he had trained well to
match that perfection which seniors like Jaat had always sought from him.
Waking up early, Manoj ran
his mind on the sortie that he would be flying. He was in Command of the
Cheetah Helicopter of the Indian Army’s Aviation Corps. In 1984, the Indian
Army's Northern Command had inducted the HAL Cheetah into the Siachen Glacier.
The pilots were put to the ultimate test professionally and also in terms of
human endurance. In 1986, the "Air Observation Post" units were transferred
from the Indian Air Force to the Indian Army to form the Army Aviation branch.
Using nine helicopter squadrons, Army Aviation was supporting ground units by
carrying men and material in the highest battlefield on earth, culminating in
the conquest of the entire 72 km of the Siachen Glacier. Innumerable
skirmishes and confrontations have taken place in the in the Siachen Glacier
and the Army Aviation Corps was to provide the required support for sustenance
of the Indian troops.
Manoj had understood his
mission well. Strapping up his cockpit, he gazed towards the white snow-capped
mountains that stood firm and tall on the horizon. Powering up his chopper’s
blades, Manoj felt the thin atmosphere getting cut by the motion and the throttle
could now feel the lift. The chopper lifted effortlessly and he shaped Course.
It was a perfect lift off and the Station Commander watched the young pilot in
his first independent flight taking off. His mission was taking him today to
heights to drop supplies and to pick up an injured soldier. Flying airliners at altitudes of 35,000 feet
is routine. But helicopters, with their relatively small rotary wings, struggle
in thin air and Manoj’s Cheetah was no exception. Manoj’s mind was trained to
achieve perfection. He moved the Cheetah with minimal load to the high snow
clad ranges and spotted the injured soldier. Lowering his supplies bag, he
hovered the Cheetah in a steady position and evacuated the injured soldier with
perfection and returned to the base. As the casualty moved away in a Field
Ambulance, Manoj inspected his machine before calling it a day. He looked
skywards and remembered his affable seniors like Jaat and Arun Khetarpal at the
Military Academies who had drilled the ideology of achieving perfection in him.
His mind was tuned to race towards perfection whenever a challenge emerged.
Perfection is a key
attitude of successful humans. Ever wondered why a Sherpa keeps climbing the
great height again and again? He has achieved the levels of perfection which
are required to scale the unpredictable heights. He fights against Mother
Nature, his own chemistry and pulls up against gravity. He only looks up and
goes for the kill each time he gets a window of opportunity. All that weighs on
his mind, maybe, is to meet the challenges of his mission. He meets the same
with Perfection. There is nothing left to take away at times, but that does not
deter the Sherpa from climbing again and again.
A young boy heads to sea
with his father. He has no sea legs but he matches the vagaries of the sea
under the watchful eyes of his father and the boat’s crew. No body teaches them
how to sail across the oceans to earn their livelihood. It is an art which is
passed down the generations with hands on training. Soon, the boy catches the
first catch of fish on his own and as the father fades away, he takes over the
command of the boat. Nothing is possible without making an attempt, at least.
Perfection is elusive and can sap the best of the energies. However, the search
for perfection does begin the race. How far the race goes depends upon the will
power of the humans. No one but the runner has to decide the distance he wants
to run and how much ground he can cover. Perfection meets each human in its own
way, albeit in a percentage which he has bargained for himself.
Efforts must continue to
meet perfection. The dare devil inside does come into play when humans try to
achieve perfection. The fight to reach the desired goal is intense and rough at
times, but, the brave hearts continue till they have scaled their aims.
Perfection demands an exact matching. Who then stops us from trying and to
achieve perfection? It is our own free will to train ourselves and to match the
perfection.
Do you have it in you is a commonly
used dialogue in most tense situations. It does evoke responses from humans.
So, what is your response to this question? Go for it and match Perfection- to
the hilt because you never know what percentage scale you achieve.
