IAF fighter pilot MP Anil Kumar, who became a paraplegic in a 1988 road accident, did not allow his adversity to deter him and learnt to write by holding a pen his mouth. His columns appeared regularly in newspapers till the officer died last year. Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Monday asked the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to look into the possibility of including Kumar’s life story in text books at all India level to motivate students.
Maharashtra and Kerala Governments have already included a chapter in the school curriculum on the pilot’s inspiring life. Irani asked officials to study the issue after some retired IAF officers approached her recently. While the decision about including his story in CBSE may take some time, Kolkatta-based professional dancers will stage a ballet in New Delhi next month, with the help of IAF, depicting Kumar’s struggles for nearly 27 years while bed-ridden.
An ace MIG-21 pilot, Kumar joined the IAF in 1986 and was serving a stint at Pathankot air base as Flight lieutenant when the tragedy struck. Returning to his room in the Officers’ Mess from office on a rainy night on June 28, 1988, the officer smashed his motorcycle into an unmarked security barrier. The accident left him paralysed neck downwards. After medical treatment at various military hospitals, Kumar was finally shifted to paraplegic centre, Pune Military hospital. It became his home for the next 27 years where the pilot picked up the threads of life once again.
He learnt to write with a pen in his mouth and Kumar’s essays on issues ranging from defence to politics began to appear in local journals besides a national daily. He also started giving motivational lectures to young men and women to fight adversity. His school friends later provided with a customized computer to enable Kumar to continue with writing.
Hailing from a poor family in Kerala, Kumar looked after his autistic brother and provided finances for school studies of two underprivileged girls from his village while confined to bed thereby becoming a role model for many youngsters. Impressed by his fight against all odds, Maharasthra and Kerala Governments included his story titled “Air Borne to Chair Borne” in their textbooks.
Determined to keep his memory alive, T Srivastav, Principal of Delhi Public School, North Kolkata, decided to stage a dance drama telling the pilot’s story. Her husband is one of Kumar’s IAF batch mate and along with some retired IAF officers, who looked after the pilot during his long hospital stay, she wrote a letter to Irani three months back for dedicating a chapter in CBSE text books, Air Marshal Sumit Mukerji(retired) said here on Monday.
Mukerji was Kumar’s commanding officer for a brief while in Pathankot and over the years made it point to visit the paraplegic pilot in Pune hospital. Incidentally, Kumar died a few days before turning 50, he said the young fighter was an avid reader and could hold conversation on various topics. As a mark of respect to the icon, Srivastav roped in a group of professional dancers from Kolkata and they will stage the 45-minute ballet in New Delhi on June 7, Mukerji said. IAF Chief Arup Raha allowed the troupe to hold the ballet at IAF auditorium and provide boarding and lodging to the dancers, he said.