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Memories of an officer and a politician

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

When former colleagues from the Indian Air Force learnt about Rajesh Pilot's death in a road accident, they refused to believe that the man who had regaled them for years was no more.

The onus of bringing the body of his dead friend fell on Ramesh Kaul, a school friend since the early fifties. Rama Pilot called up Kaul and asked him to accompany her to Jaipur to bring the body of her husband to Delhi. "When I saw his body, I told myself that it could not be him because the broad grin for which Rajesh was famous was missing," the flight lieutenant told rediff.com.

Kaul and other former IAF colleagues have been camping at 10, Akbar Road, Pilot's official residence. "I and Rajesh were in school at Mandir Marg. When we joined the air force it was the same selection batch. In June 1964, we joined the southern training camp. The day he was commissioned as an officer with the rest of us, he pointed toward the chief guest on the occasion, the then Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh and said that he would like to have all those fitis on his shoulder and left pocket.

We all laughed at him because he had barely been commissioned and he was already dreaming of becoming IAF chief.

But then that was Rajesh Pilot. He was given duty in the transport sector but requested his boss that he be allowed to fly fighter aircraft. His wish was granted as a special case. "But as time passed his priorities changed and he started dreaming of the days when we would receive him as a minister in the central cabinet. We would not take him seriously," said Kaul.

"Life was fun for him. He was adventurous then. And he kept up the image till his tragic death. He got an honourable discharge from the IAF because he told them that he was joining politics. Later when he became a minister, he did not forget his friends in uniform. He said he wanted to join politics because of the hardships he had seen in life. He did not want others to go through that. He was a simple man and when his daughter got married, the chief guest was former air force chief Arjan Singh," said Kaul.

Kaul insisted that Pilot was not the rebel the media was projecting him to be. According to him, as an officer he knew that the leader's decision is final. "Of course, in politics he did step out of line here and there but we knew ultimately he would accept the party leader's decision. He would have never have left the party," said Kaul.

Another IAF colleague Amarjit Chawla was his roommate during their training in 1964. Their association lasted for more than 36 years. They were in the same batch and flew together. "We went to selection board together and joined the force in June 1964. Our first posting was also at the same place, Guwahati. We came from different backgrounds. While I came from urban Amritsar, he had a rural background. But he was forthright in his approach. And when it came to fun, he would have more ideas than I could muster up. He did things naturally. I learnt a lot from him during my long association. He went on a number of bombing missions in the 1971 war and each time he came back, he told us stories about the missions. Even when he was on duty he was looking ahead and dreaming. He never forgot his friends," recalled Chawla.

Sunny Ahuwalia, a former IAF officer who now resides in the US, Chawla and Pilot got together in London last week. Pilot had gone there to do an interview with BBC. "He called up and said he was coming to London and I should meet him there. He flew from Delhi. I flew from New York and Chawla from Bombay. The three of us hit the pubs and had a great time. We behaved like typical tourists. I barely got back when I heard about his tragic death. He was posted to my squadron in 1967 and since then we have been friends. He was a big hearted man who would laugh at himself," he said, before his emotions got the better of him.

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