SHE, Seen Through My Neighbour’s Eyes

SHE, Seen Through My Neighbour's Eyes

(Story- Airborne Connection) 

 

“I came, I saw….And I don’t know leh..

I remain awestruck Lah. Call it my home now, lor”

Surely a home to many, coming from near and far; and put together their dreams, their stories that this red tiny dot holds, nurtures and flourishes for each of them; SHE (SAFE-Home&Environment), The 'Majulah Singapura' feels home, sweet home to many, so many!

At 56, SHE looks iconic and here I’m, standing in amazement, beholding my beautiful 18 years of journey with her, casting a luminous glow on me, for those innumerable opportunities, experiences, connections I built here that I’m grateful for. What struck me for this article was some impressionistic and eyesome flashes of those dreams, stories, that were not mine but which pranced around in the chatters of my neighbourhood and seen by me through my next door neighbour’s eyes.

Yes, one exceptional part that remained constant in my observation for the iconic nation was about discovering a fan, a dreamer, living close by; often gushing over how he or she connected and bonded with this lovely land, a promising place of dreams, drawing a diversity of talents, culture, people from various geographies and adding to its own distinctiveness and cultural strength.

The fascination and the admiration stories I heard, saw and experienced about the bright, vibrant city grew on me like anyone else but I think I never expressed, adequately ever.

My article is an ode to human connections, sweet stories coming from friendly next doors living closeby, reconnecting us dearly with our ‘Karma bhumi’, a Sanskrit term which means ‘land of work, karma or action’.

Our body is made of five fundamental elements – Earth, Water, Fire , Air , and Space. The personalities of some characters from within my vicinity when I saw resonated strikingly, symbolically with these elements in some ways, giving me a metaphorical kick, I knew instinctively that I had to express this, atleast for ones adding to this write up.

They say, treat and love your neighbour as yourself😊. The stage in this article is all theirs.

AIRBORNE CONNECTION

Sep 11, 2020: Although he was prepared for it, still the news of him being off boarded from the earthly plane for destination Singapore was like snitching him of his oxygen, it came across to him like an abrupt halt to his breath and the event came hitting him where it hits the most- his HEART!

Meet Capt. Chirag Ashok Nagpal 

Cut to 27 years back and you see a young, little, overjoyed boy visiting Singapore with his father who was then working as cabin crew with Air India. Singapore catches little boy’s fancy in no time, leaving him awestruck with the prettiest airport that he had seen, in his words.

From there on he kept coming back to Singapore once in every few years with his father and admitted that as an early teenager dreamt if this could be his home ONE DAY!

At 23, the boy became a Pilot. After flying domestic for about a year, ONE DAY he had his cloud 9 soaring moment, reaching him enveloped in the air, he so wanted to unwrap and fly for it! The moment was him getting a Singapore Flight in his duty roster! The thought of flying to his future home, this time not as a traveler but as a Pilot was a euphoric one to him. He studied super hard to prepare for the flight, it was like a child rewarded with his candy he so longed for and for so long. He recalls, landing in Singapore made him scream in excitement just after he completed the aircraft parking checklist etc.

As he walked with his crew, he stared at the place in complete awe. This moment was special one that exhilarated him; after all, he was walking at the Airport wearing a Pilot uniform. Just like his father, he played music for his crew in the transport and they danced, sang till they reached their hotel. The Captain took the crew out to Jumbo at Boat Quay and he remembers buying some battery operated disco light T-shirts from there.

Just few months later, his beautiful wife, Aditi Gupta, who is also a pilot, joined a Domestic carrier airline with him in Mumbai. His dream of living in Singapore was now getting stronger.  They got their Command (4 gold bars) status after 4 yrs of flying career and within a year they applied in Tiger Air, Singapore.  Things progressed as they cleared all assessments, all hurdles, reaching a final stage to come to Singapore for their medicals and simulation checks. 

This was a S.T.A.R. moment in young couple’s life seeing them standing so close to their dream.

AND THEN.... a sudden twist in God’s script happens just before their joining Singapore. Tiger Air announces that they were being taken over by Scoot and that the recruitment was on hold. After being in Vietnam for sometime, the wait got over and Scoot Airline mailed them asking ïf they were still interested to join them for Singapore. As more than luck, the desire would have it, they took the next flight to Singapore, cleared their medical, interview and simulation checks, getting through Scoot, celebrating happiest day of their lives!

They moved to Singapore in 2017 and got a place in my neighbourhood, a place quite close to Changi Airport.

They love life in Singapore! It gave them everything- happiness, friendship, peace, time to play, run, holidays and celebrations. Scoot was giving them leaves together which rarely happened in India. They integrated with one and all here, loved playing on their Ping Pong table at home, attending National day parades and going for social services, all these kept them in high spirits for the high life they got here. Life was just P.E.R.F.E.C.T.!

Back to year 2020 which patent the age old phrase- All good things (must) come to halt. (taking liberty to amend the phrase to my beliefs readers).

2020 Feb was hit with Covid turbulence which grounded all dreams, their flying ones too. Every month flights kept getting reduced and they had started preparing for the worst. Come 11th Sep 2020 and the most untoward but expected happened in their lives when they heard they were made redundant. It was a heartbreaking one for their colleague and friends as much, in tears signing off the exit form due to the pandemic blow wiping out Aviation sector jobs by last quarter of this fateful year.

This is reaching back to the same point of the story where we began this from, Sep 2020!

‘Although he was prepared for it...still the news ... it came across to him like an abrupt halt ..the event came hitting ... his HEART!'.

Capt. Chirag Ashok Nagpal we were meeting now was broken to be told to end his beautiful 3 yrs in Singapore prematurely. But all their friends saw a brave face put on by the strong power couple. They decided to extend the stay in Singapore for another 2 months to live the time of their life for whatever time left here, enjoying to the fullest making each moment count and giving back to the country in whatever way they could for having got so much from here.

Now come these two scenes, sequencing on the same day that prompted me to choose this as the cover story of this article.

It was his last day in SG. Just randomly sometime in the morning I chanced upon this sight of seeing Chirag waving at me from his balcony and I responded back from mine; but the every bubbly this kid neighbour Chirag on the block, always jumping around on his happy feet together with his doting wifey Aditi, that day looked glum ☹. I tried to cheer him up by clicking his picture to send in our common group of friends with a special commentary. My camera lenses were far to capture his tear strained face that he was trying to clean with his both hands but I could see him sobbing his heart out from so near so far-my CASA home. I knew how sad he was to leave the country- he had created some immemorable beautiful memories, friends for life! 

The second scene happened just right after few hours with a total reverse of emotional expressions from my neighbour friend. That same evening we and other neighbourhood friends bid him a very good, warm ‘see you soon’ adieu at the airport. Here we saw a beaming Chirag with a big smile plastered all across his face. Yes, he was but naturally excited to meet his family back home, there was more to it.

I had never understood Newton’s theory of equal and opposite reaction of every action but yeah I was reminded of it for a moment or two😊.

I was all eyes and ear to Chirag’s this full filmy story that remained with me probably to ink it down later.

So here it goes, apparently, on his way to the airport, his cab driver noticed his watering eyes, lavishly dispersing his overflowing tears rolling and dribbling down all the way to his nose. The driver asked him for his well being and he did not blink his wet eyelids twice before telling him how sad he was leaving his most favourite country- he called his home. They arrived at the Airport, he got off the taxi but the Van boot did not get opened. The driven tried everything, from the key, to the remote, to banging the boot. It would just not open.

His shoulder bag which had his passport and documents, was weighing him down in more than one aspects now. To their surprise, his bag strap got stuck in the boot door, hence the boot carrying his luggage was not opening. The driver watching and being part of this struggle said jokingly to him, "Sir, perhaps Singapore does not want you to go”. Finally, cab driver had a scissor he handed over to Chirag to cut off his bag strap to free up the stuck bag, to free up himself to get, set and go! So here, he had half of his bag strap with him and half still stuck with the van boot. Wonderstruck Chirag seems to have got this bitter sweet incident in his right emotional stride, capturing its moments and candidly sharing with all his friends, narrating how the car boot did not open, because a shoulder bag carrying the passport got stuck to in it. Emotional cord cutting and time to practice law of detachment were my instant words to him I recall when I heard the incident😊.

  

 “Sir, it’s a sign that you will be back here soon." Comforting words from the kind driver left Chirag at the Airport lifted.

Today, Chirag is back in Mumbai with his lovely family and jointly running a Cosmetic factory there with his better half.

In his forever filmy words,”My destiny and romance with Singapore is not over yet as my movie is yet to be seen”
 There’s not a single day when he is not connecting at some level with all his SG friends and SG.

I sincerely wish you meet the lady in red soon. Does not matter as a pilot, as a traveler or as a businessman; whichever role gets unfolded for you by the game of destiny, may your air-path crosses and this airborne connection reaches destination Singapore. Soon…..

 

 

Post By:

Sonia Joshi Arora