Sud*



Flying Officer Sandip Sud

1 Squadron of the Indian Air Force moved from Adampur to Gorakhpur in early 1982. They were known as The Tigers and were a fighter unit flying the Mig 21 aircraft.

My sister Juliet and I were naturally curious to meet these dashing men, though my father had his preconceived notions about this particular breed of youngsters, which was that they drank too much, womanised in their free time and eventually killed themselves in an air crash!

Jerry had plenty of business dealings with the air force and when he suggested we come along with him one afternoon to check things out, Jules and I readily agreed. He asked my father if he could take our car and permission was reluctantly given.

We drove into the air force station to be met by the whole squadron lounging about in the lawn in front of their rooms. Since they had recently shifted base, they had all been given temporary accommodation in the mess. When we walked in there were a few seconds of stunned silence, since I don't think they expected to see two very pretty young girls in a one horse town like Gorakhpur. I noticed one of the young men detaching himself discreetly to hammer at a door way down the corridor and yell "Oye Sud,wake up. GIRLS!!"



Sud

A few minutes later a sleepy looking man, whom I thought was very attractive, emerged from the room and introduced himself as Flying Officer Sandip Sud. He proceeded to turn on his lazy charm and I was instantly impressed. We settled down to have a few drinks and familiarise ourselves with the crowd, who seemed to be a happy go lucky bunch of people. It was a huge change from the quiet unsocial lives we led in Saraya.

Eventually the married couples retired to their respective rooms while the bachelors showed us around the mess. We ended up in the billiard room where Sud took it upon himself to try and teach Jules the game. He showed no interest in me, which was a bit disappointing, but I was the quiet reserved one and my sister the exact opposite so I was resigned to this happening. The other young men were very pleasant but did not spark any interest of THAT sort.

Every time Jerry looked at his watch and wanted to leave there would be someone at his elbow offering him another drink, which he would eagerly accept. He was getting happier by the minute and it was getting really late, when I insisted it was time to leave, since I knew the parents would definitely start to fret.

The drive back was twentysix kilometres of lonely road through the Kusmi jungle, with only the occasional lantern lit village set back from the road. We were speeding back discussing the events of the evening when a cyclist suddenly loomed out of the darkness and Jerry veered wildly to avoid him. The next thing I felt was the world turning upside down as we rolled over and over in clouds of dust and I distinctly remember thinking "I'm not ready to die!"

It was the 29th of April 1982.

* Sud is actually pronounced Sood, but in the air force where everyone is given a nick name Sandip Sud was called Sud pronounced as in 'soap sud'.