New Delhi: A play enacted in the Air Force Auditorium on Sunday brought to life the story of Flying Officer MP Anil Kumar who was a MiG-21 pilot in the Indian Air Force in 1988.
The gallant fighter pilot MP Anil Kumar met with an accident on June 28, 1988 while he was returning on a motorcycle to the Officers' Mess after night flying. It was raining and he did not see the newly erected security barrier leading to an accident. He broke his neck and since then MP was confined to the paraplegic home in the Military Hospital at Kirkee in Pune.
MP was paralyzed below the neck and was dependent on caretakers for every need. Multiple surgeries to improve his condition proved futile. After two years of lying like a vegetable in the paraplegic home, MP decided it was time to move on and do what he could with the resources he had left.
With movement only above his neck, MP taught himself to write with a pen clenched between his teeth. Each letter was a victory and the result of enormous effort and sacrifice.
His articles on military history and current affairs began to get published. He was a regular columnist with the Indian Express, news portal Rediff.com Indian Defence Review (IDR) and the Purple Beret.
His article was also included in the Defence section of the popular book "India Empowered" along with luminaries like Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Dr Manmohan Singh. His autobiographical article 'Airborne to Chairborne' was included in English text books in Maharashtra and Kerala.
Students began writing about him and drew inspiration from the fighter pilot who refused to stay grounded. With the earnings from his work, he sponsored two under privileged girls through school.
Early in 2014, after lying paralyzed for 26 years, MP was diagnosed with cancer and died on May 20, 2014.
Few people go through a lifetime without facing adversity. Some give up, some accept it and a few fight back with grace and become icons in their own lifetimes.
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