Indian Air Force pilot Flight Lieutenant K. Praveen
She was expecting a call from her young son. Instead, when the phone rang, it was with the news that Indian Air Force pilot K Praveen had died.
26-year-old Flight Lieutenant Praveen from Madurai was among the 20 killed in yesterday's helicopter crash during a rescue mission in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
The IAF pilot had told his mother that he would talk to her after he finished the day's flights to ferry people to safety.
"He was my only son. He used to be always active. Becoming a pilot was his ambition and after a brief stint in software firm TCS he joined the Air Force," his mother Manjula, a railway employee, said.
"He spoke to me at 9.45 AM yesterday and told me he will be calling me again in the evening. But we only received the call conveying the shocking news about the crash of the helicopter at Gaurikund and death of Praveen and others," she said.
The officer's parents separated when he was very young and it was his mother who brought him up. The pilot did his schooling at the renowned TVS School and earned his Bachelor in Engineering degree in Mechatronics from another illustrious institution, the Thiagaraja College of Engineering. After taking up a job with Tata Consultancy Services his passion to serve the Indian defence as Pilot continued. In 2009, he joined the Indian Air Force. He served in Bangalore first and moved to Barrackpore in West Bengal from where he finally went on the rescue mission to the flood ravaged Uttarakhand.
The Flight Lieutenant was home last month on a short leave. He visited his 85 year old grandfather, a heart patient who required a surgery. Praveen was home just to arrange for his grandfather's surgery.
The Air Force's rescue operations in Uttarakhand are marked by a perfect symmetry of courage and selflessness. Through bad weather, whorls of mist and tough terrain, pilots have been delivering on the pledge the Air Force Chief made on Tuesday, "Our helicopter rotors will not stop churning till such time we get each one of you out, do not lose hope and hang in there."