Roobaroo

"your first flight in a light aircraft brings back memories of the first takeoff you experienced as a child. that big smile carves on your lips. it was so cool to feel the earth struggle to keep you on the ground then eventually let go. in 9 out of 10 scenarios, you yell out a loud 'whoo-hoo!', with your eyes peeled to the window. you watch the runway disappear beneath you. you see the green, the houses, the people. you see lifestyles in front of your own eyes. you see civilization. you see the world the way God sees it everyday. the bumpy conditions are more than welcomed, seeing as light aircraft are easily affected by wind conditions and the occasional gust."

"All in all, it was a satisfying flight, and a fantastic experience. You truly feel like an aviator for the first time during this flight. You have a bird’s view of the earth, and the people around you. You see the true wonders of nature; in its untouched form. you see man's contribution to mother earth. You see no borders and boundaries, nothing but blue skies and open plains. the air is cool. you have never felt air this cold, and so close to the heavens. You feel free, like no one can touch you, and no one can make you feel low. its just you and the air up there. No matter who you are or where you’re from, for those fifteen minutes, you feel like you belong, like you finally have a place in the world. so what if it's 3000 feet above the ground? Some people drive cars, ride motorbikes, go sailing, and go fishing. It’s their place of peace. Where they can connect with themselves. where life feels beautiful for those moments. We fly. We fly for everything that we believe in. We fly to believe. And this is just the beginning."

i wrote that 1 year, 2 months, and 13 days ago after clearing my first solo. and i have never forgotten that feeling. not even with everything that had happened over the last 2 years.

"maha 04 tango, wind is calm, you are cleared to land runway 03".

"cleared to land runway 03, maha 04 tango".

i taxi back to dispersal via taxiway bravo, unsure of how to feel. after shutting down the aircraft, Capt Zul grabs the aircraft technical log, and leaves for the hangar. i don't move from my seat. i'm glued. i close my eyes and try to look in deep. real deep. i think about all the times i've had here. good. bad. stagnant. my friends and the stunts we pulled together. like that time we went around town stealing all the spiderman 3 promotional posters off the lamp posts at 5 in the morning. my instructors and the shit they put us through. like that time my instructor ordered me to get out of the aircraft and run alongside it all the way off the runway because i was taxiing it faster than the standard operating procedure. the scheduling and the delays that proceeded, stretching the course to 25 months from the original allocated 14 months. all those times we spent in our rooms, with the air conditioning cut off during the day, wandering aimlessly, waiting for 5pm when the schedule came out, praying once for the rest of the world and twice for ourselves, so that we may fly the next day. how do i want to feel? how do i want to walk away from this? when i look back, will i know that i made the right choice? i know the answer. i had been practicing it over the last one week. its going to be perfect.

just to prove that i'm guilty as charged. there were 3. i gave one away to my young cousin.

200 hours. and they were all over. i earned every single one. i unbuckle my seat belt, collect my navigation log sheet, put it in my nav bag, grab the pitot cover, and step out of the aircraft, locking the canopy in place. after placing the cover on the pitot head, i reach for my nav bag. the following are its contents at all times :- aircraft flight manual, the CRP-5, the douglas protractor, a folder with spare log sheets and flight plans, pencil case, sony discman, sennheiser headphones, flight training report, map, log book, letdown charts, and 'a heartbreaking work of staggering genius'. i take the headphones out with the discman already set to track 10. i place them over my head, adjusting the length, and press play. the guitar comes in, and i smile like the terminator, only with a touch more realism. i wish there was someone i could hold on to and never let go. the moment is perfect. and the song never stops. it never stops.

The Lord Of The Rings

A circle. a closed curve which divides the plane into an interior and exterior. a special ellipse in which the foci coincide. a conic section attained when a right circular cone is intersected with a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cone. a ring. a shape. one with no beginning and no end. perfect. that's what God is. that's what the Kara is.

"Early science, particularly geometry and astronomy/astrology, was connected to the divine for most medieval scholars. The compass in this 13th century manuscript is a symbol of God's act of Creation, as many believed that there was something intrinsically "divine" or "perfect" that could be found in circles."(Reference: Wikipedia for circle)

The Kara is a gift from the guru to constantly remind us that our will at all times must be god-like. the Kara in every aspect represents God's true nature. we wear it on our hand. we, to politely put, 'wear god' on our hand so that every action we perform is one fueled by pure thoughts. yes, god is everywhere, and yes, god is in each and every one of us. but how often do we look within?

In the tenth month, you were made into a human being, O my merchant friend, and you were given your allotted time to perform good deeds." (Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji page 76)

Every man is born to make another's life. no matter how unimportant we feel our lives are, we affect the people around us. a kind word. a gesture of good faith. the stand for all that is right. that's all. if only with every breath we took, we remembered that.

This is the true nature of the Kara. this is why it is one of the 5. now can we all stop referring to it as a 'ward for evil spirits'?

Come Home.