“Why do you smile so much?”

People ask me this question often. I tell them a story. Way back in 1976, I was six years old studying in a boarding school. One summer afternoon an Air Force Helicopter landed in our playfields. That was the day I decided to become a helicopter pilot and save a life someday.

Fast forward to 1999, a severe cyclone hit Gujrat coasts and thousands of fishermen were missing in the sea. A massive Search and Rescue operation was launched. I was a part of it and rescued five of them from the high seas. They were floating on planks for almost seven days. They had immersion foot and limb fractures. They were given first aid at a nearby Air Force base and were to go to their hometown Dwarka by road. It would have taken them more than 24 hours to reach home. They inquired if it was possible to drop them by Helicopter,

“Saab, our families have already mourned our deaths. If you drop us, it will reduce their grief by at least one day.”

There comes a time in your life when you have to decide between what is correct and what is right. I had orders to come back straight to my base at Jamnagar but dropping these survivors and uniting them with their loved ones felt right. I did that by doing some unauthorised low level flying to prevent radar detection and landing at unmanned unlit Dwarka helipad at night.

The blessings these five showered on me that night (and seven others I rescued after a crash) makes me feel I have repaid my debt and lived my purpose. Everything else is a bonus for me now. I feel grateful that God chose me as an instrument to save these twelve lives and touch a million others with my words. They say a cat has nine lives, I surely have twelve.