I lived another life for 9 seconds

Everybody has this dream in a very small corner of their heart that I WILL BE JOINING AIR FORCE and will fly over the cities in some multi-million-dollar supersonic jet planes. I was no exception. My desire to join the IAF took new leaps and reached new heights during the Kargil war. I did all sort of ashaan and yoga so that I could quickly cross the height hurdle and get rid of my dust allergy. But the greatest sorrow of life is that : they are still my best companions. Anyways it was in the days of post-Kargil time. I was in class V and my then and god-knows-why-forever best friend Sahil was very passionate narrating stories of his maternal uncle who was in IAF. I too took keen interest in listening those stories, that how they are trained, where and how they fly, how do they play with their strategies and many more. Luckily from God's greatest blessing I got a chance to meet his uncle. Yes I meet Flight Lieutenant Vijay Shankar Rana. The moment I met him, my inner enthusiast simply can't withheld his feelings and ended up asking, "Mamaji will you please narrate us your story and experiences from Operation Vijay?" I forgot that his name was also Vijay. Later I recognized my mistake but he was smart enough to handle the situation. He also can't resist his laughter seeing my eagerness. He said, "Well it's tough to explain the whole story but yes I will share one which is my most memorable". Both Sahil and I sat in front of him with chins supported by our hands and elbows supported by legs. Eyes and ears fully directed towards him. He narrated as-
It was in the initial days of Op. Vijay, our wing was given the task to find out the possible hide outs of the intruders in Drass Sector from the air. We were on the survey duty as the operation was yet to start in full form. We did the survey with a team of three MIG-21 and a JAGUAR. The MIGs flew at the same level and comparatively at lower level to JAGUAR. In the first three days of survey nothing special fall in our eyes. There was no such suspicious movements going on in the hills. It was all quite and in the absence of the white snow blanket everything was clearly visible. On the fourth day, we again started our survey early in the dawn as we were expecting movements in this time of the day. I was flying one of those MIGs and I was in between the other two. Just above me was the JAGUAR. It was a great scene in front of us. The sun's rays were just peeping out of the peaks in the far east. The far west part of the sky was still dark. The sky just over my head was in the intermediate shade of blue. The whole sky looked like the colour pan of my computer. Yes, one more thing that was up above me was the swift, the deadly and the enemy's nightmare JAGUAR. Well I was busy admiring the nature's canvas but then I suddenly received a message over the radio from one of those MIGs, "Rana look down there seems some disturbance".
I looked down and I saw that there was small fire dot in the brown surface of the Himalaya. It looked like a fire pit to me for sometime but slowly the size was increasing and it was moving also. Then I recognized the thing, I transmitted the message on radio to my team,"SHIT MAN it is a god-damn-deadly rocket and it is coming towards us".
I had no escape and it was strictly following me. I was helpless as I can't go left there was a MIG and so was on my right. I thought of directing up but there was JAGUAR. I was helpless and then shouted, "Spread up and twist around".
Both the MIGs followed my order and they spread on both sides and twisted back. The JAGUAR also elevated itself and twisted back. I checked all around the space and it was empty but at my back the rocket was still chasing. Rockets move following a helical path and so was it, which means if somehow it misses your  tail end then the rocket's path will make sure that you are hit in the middle. I thought of twisting back. I pushed the plane to its limit. Twisting back means the speed will fall and if the speed falls, the rocket will show no mercy. Now the rocket was so close to me that I can see the tip of it's metal body. I was sure that I will be dead within few seconds and my ashes will spread all over the cold Himalayan bed. I will be dead.
I was being directed by my team constantly over the radio for what to do and what not. But nothing fall in my ears. I checked for any possibilities of increasing the speed. I revised all my training lessons in my mind but the plane was at its extreme limit. A drop of tear rolled from my eyes and I was ready to surrender myself to death. I closed my eyes and pushed all possible buttons with full force that are used to speed up the plane. I was flying at the height of thirty thousand meter. I knew that there is only one way out and it was to slowly elevate your plane and I did so. There was a huge risk behind. The speed fell but I tried that it falls in a minimum rate. My eyes were still closed. I revised my whole life in my thoughts. I can see my dad scolding me for my rash riding which I did just to impress those cute Dehli girls, they still look cute. I saw my whole family got pissed off when I rejected to join Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur and took IAF as my carrier. I can see Poonam di getting married. I can see my new born nephews crying in my lap. I can see my best friends who came for receiving me at Nizzamudin Railway Station after I completed my IAF training. Then I saw the moment when I first saw the coffins of the dead soldiers. I saw the Tiranga being wrapped over those coffins. Yes I am also going to be dead but I won't be wrapped with the national flag because it is wrapped around a dead soldier and not on it's ashes. I was sure that I will die but not a normal death but a weird one. Then I open my eyes and it was hard to believe that just four seconds has elapsed from the last time I saw the rocket. Then I saw the EJECT button but I dropped the idea as I have already entered the enemy's area and by ejecting I may survive but these enemies won't leave me before cutting me into pieces and burning me into useless body. So for me it was better to die at one go than to live a life worse then death.
Then suddenly a smile came on the face after a wonderful thought that LETS FACE THE DEATH. I slowly turned around and saw a miracle happen. The rocket's speed started to fall and I was now at the height of forty five thousand meters. Then slowly the metal body of the rocket flipped back and started falling freely. The rocket had reached the maximum height of it's projection and it was falling down. I WAS SAFE. HURRAY I was rejoicing, dancing a bit , thanking god and smiling at the same time. A cold wave of relaxation ran through my body and my heartbeat slowed down. I again closed my eyes to thank GOD. I twisted back and headed toward the airbase. Then I generated the message to my team, "I AM SAFE, THE ROCKET WAS DOGGED". I gave them the message after nine seconds from the last one. Nothing but a sound of rejoice came from the other side. They were also happy for me.
We returned to base. I got down from plane and I collapsed. I suffered a sudden fall in blood pressure. I could hardly speak and I was taken to the health center. Water splashed on my face and I was given glucose. Then my commanding officer asked me, "What happened Rana?"
I replied, "I lived another life for nine seconds".
We too took our heavy breaths after a long pause. Both Sahil and me were stun, unmoved and eyes wide open when the story was told. Later he took us to a nearby market for having ice-cream but we were dead silent as if we were on the plane.