Say a little prayer...

You cannot fault me for thinking that when I am air bound, I am just a particle in the sky away the scrutiny of eyes of people who were supposed to be on a lookout for my welfare. From a person whose knowledge of projectile does not go beyond the problems I have solved in Mechanical Mathematics and understanding projectile vomiting, I cannot be faulted to think that if anything were to go wrong in stratosphere, I would be literally on a free fall. Nobody would know where I am and where to look for me.
It is not paranoia or some kind of phobia of flying that drove me to think so.
10  months ago, our plane went missing and till date no one has a clue where it went, where to look for it and what came out the billions spent looking for it.
And more recently, another one went missing. They had all the communication records and flight path at their disposal and yet 2 weeks into its disappearance, they are unable to put a closure to the mishap.
So, when you are up there, you are really on your own. Nobody has a clue where you are and what to do in case something goes wrong. Time spent listening to flight safety instructions can be better spent praying. That is, if anyone out there is even listening... What else can you do but hope?

Puppet-master or dice thrower?

A dejected Sandhu Sr in Penang.

As we straddle along the boat of life as it manoeuvres itself or we manoeuvre it along the river of life, we sometimes wonder why some things happen at all. Are they random occurrences or are they planned move made by the king chess-master?  Are they just chaotic activities which somehow coalesce to give meaning and pattern? Is it all a game by the dice thrower for the fun of it? Does the puppet master enjoy seeing His inventions cringe and wail to their heart's content?
In 1983, when tensions were high across the Iron Curtain after USSR downed KAL007, a Korean civilian plane, Stanislav Petrov of the Soviet Union made the unconventional decision of not alerting his superiors when the warning alerts screamed  of a launch of US inter-continental ballistic missiles into Soviet Union. The SOP then was to launch missiles in retaliation. And time was of essence as every ticking second meant annihilation. At that crucial time, Lt. Col. Petrov decided to become a human rather that a lean mean killing machine. Something told him that the warning system was flawed and US were not sending 5 missiles to Russia! His inaction, even though militarily unacceptable, did however avert a nuclear war and possibly World War 3!
Fate reared its ugly head in the life of Sanjid Singh Sandhu. Sadly, he perished in the ill-fated flight of MH17. He was not even supposed to be there. He just filled in for a friend. Aviation disaster had earlier escaped his wife when she swapped her roster not to work on the fatal MH370 flight on 8.3.2014 at the last minute.
Many who escaped the mishap miraculously by twist of fate - missing the flight, changing their schedule at the minute and so on. They praise the Maker who saved them but what about those who perished? Preferential treatment or there is a higher order which is beyond human comprehension?
Life is full of dichotomies and alternatives. So are its outcomes. Life becomes too complicated if we keep on thinking what if, what if. Nobody would be brave enough to face the world and do what they need to do for continuity of life if they are fearful if the outcome is not in their favour. A man got to do what a man got to do.