The timing of our
FSc. Exams at PAF College Sargodha left us in the middle of nowhere and the
authorities in a quagmire to figure out what to do with us. We could not join
CAE in the middle of a term/semester, and we had nothing to do at Sargodha
College. Against all our hopes of getting prolonged vacations, the authorities
planned to keep us in Sargodha and planned various activities (read route
marches) to keep us busy. Our daily route marches constituted of donning cotton
coveralls and going in random directions, roaming around aimlessly under the
supervision of GST staff. Picking oranges from the numerous orange groves in
the area, and playing cricket in a dirt stadium became our favorite activities.
Finally, the day came when everybody got tired of us and decided to give us a
brief vacation before reporting to CAE Korangi Creek in March of 1984.
Incidentally, we
reported to CAE during the end semester break and there was hardly anybody in
the cadets mess. We got a pretty laid back welcome and soon realized that
Sargodha had dumped their problem of what to do with us over to CAE. We were
subjected to some mild activities including morning assemblies, marching over
to the Academics block and spending time filling up random forms in the college
auditorium. They even came up with an idea of turning off the lights and asking
us to take naps. Quite frequently we were left on our own and checking back
occasionally to give us the notion of being supervised.
Gotten bored of just
sitting in the darkly lit auditorium, one of our course mates decided to try
his skills at making an airplane, something we all had aspired to when we
applied to study aeronautical engineering. With the limited resources and even
more limited knowledge, the result was a paper airplane that flew in loops
before spiraling down to the floor. Then someone suggested to make the paper
rocket plane that had a longer range
compared to the smaller plane which had more endurance. The suggestion was well
received and our friend took a couple of minutes to come up with the final
product. It was now time for the first flight. The test pilot held the mean
machine from the rear bottom end and blew a couple of times into the tail,
maybe that helped start the after burners, and launched it from the stage at
the front of auditorium towards the double doors at the rear end along the
center aisle. It flew straight and fast and must have reached Mach 2 by
the time it was only 10 feet away from the door, and everybody was anticipating
it would crash into the doors and gently fall to the floor, ready for the next
flight. It was closing in at the furious speed of 2 ft./sec. towards the door
when the doors suddenly flew open and in walks a human figure resembling the
Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) as the rear end of the room was at a higher
level and the light source was behind the person creating a larger than life
profile of the person entering the auditorium. The rocket plane hit him smug on
the chest, executed a loop and made perfect landing on the floor.
"Kaka! come here!!" came the command and our aspirant Aeronautical Engineer jumped off the stage and
briskly ran towards the Terminator. "Pick it up and come outside with
me"… they both walked out with the plane in the potential engineer's hand.
The doors were left open and by now we had our eyes adjusted to the light
outside and we could make out that our friend was with the GSTO in the area
between the Commandant's Office / Jetty and the Hilton / Avionics block.
"Fly it Now" came the orders and our friend thought it was a rhetoric
command not meant to be carried out and stood still in proper attention
position, chest out belly in and arms locked by the side and sweat starting to
flow down the left side of his face. "I said fly it!!!" and it was
clear by now that he actually wanted him to fly the plane. The jet was let
loose into the steady ocean breeze and landed graciously after a couple of
seconds of flight. "Fly it again" and off it went for another trip.
"Keep doing that until I return…. and keep in mind I can see you from my
office", and off went Kaka to his office on the other side of H&S Department, while our friend honed his flying skills in the hot and bright sun, enjoying the freebie of dried fish smell from the neighboring Goth Ibrahim Haidri village.
