It is not a child’s play at an age of 65 to fly a plane, especially when it happens to be a two seater single engine 282 Horse Power (HP) plane with maximum speed of around 240 Km/hour. But a Ranchi boy and a full time professor at a University in North Carolina in USA Debashish Banerjee took this as a challenge to spread awareness about diabetes from the USA to his homeland. He succeeded in it as well, and Ranchi is just a one way journey that started on May 31 this year and continued through 19 countries and difficult terrains. Banerjee has all the reasons to rejoice this Journey.
“There was a time during my flight when I was almost sure that only the one who saves all can save me at this juncture. Those familiar of flying a plane or in aviation industry know that any piece of ice around a plane that doesn’t have de-icing mechanism means a near certain death of the plane. And this exactly happened when I came across a piece of cloud in my way. I waved a final goodbye to my entire family members and loved ones from above. At this moment, that remains a history and I am here between all of you, safe,” Banerjee described what life is all about.
During his felicitation programme organised By St Xavier’s College Ranchi Alumni Association (AROX), Banerjee spoke at length about his experiences of youth at St. Xavier’s from where he graduated to his landing in USA, and of course, to flying a plane. AROX also felicitated its member Mahesh Poddar who has been elected Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand a fortnight ago. He spoke about his younger brother, Devjyoti Banerjee, an ex-Air India Pilot who used to frequently fly on Delhi to london and USA bound flights and ultimately became a source of inspiration for him in terms of flying habits, to his contractor father who managed first flight for him when he was just four years young!
Though there are some emotional angles and stories floating about this journey, Banerjee said that there were two important reasons. He said, “My wife has already warned me to have no second journey like this anymore. This is for once and for all. She agreed even for this journey just for the sake of getting my own promise fulfilled. Second, diabetes is a disease which
is purely and entirely
manageable.”
“If I die from cancer, nobody would curse me ever, because no one can prevent it from occurring. But if I die of diabetes, someone may spit on my face saying that I allowed getting it developed, and didn’t do anything to manage it. That is why I want all to understand that firstly, it is avoidable. Secondly, if at all one has fallen into it, it is manageable.” He is running a diabetes awareness and treatment centre in North Carolina for locals. He said that he would be happy to help any organisation in India or in Ranchi provided that the latter readies for it.
