Hobby Flying takes off in Bangalore. An article in Bangalore Times, Feb 26, 2005.

Besides that article, here's my detailed take on issues with hobby flying in Bangalore/India.

Why is the number of aviation enthusiasts on the rise?
1) Booming economy --> Higher disposable incomes.
2) Exposure to better lifestyles (< -- through regular foreign visits, and via 24x7 media bombardment of western lifestyle).
3) Loosening of aviation regulations.

Why is there a renewed interest in hobby flying?
The factors mentioned above plus the rise of industry role models such as Captain Gopinath. Also, Flying has been elite and remained beyond access to ordinary people. For the first time, Low Cost Carriers around the world are making travel affordable, and in the process demystifying aviation and inspiring people to dream beyond flying in an airlines.

What got me interested in hobby flying?
Using an aircraft as a customer and wanting to be in the pilot's seat are two ends of the spectrum. Making the twains meet is the inspiration. From making paper airplanes to reading Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and Richard Branson's adventure balloon trips, flight's always been a fantasy. No matter how so ever much one flies, the flying machine remains an enigma, a magic.

How popular is hobby flying as a social sport?
There are social flying activities usually in the form of gliding, paragliding, parasailing, and joy rides in microlights. But, as a hobby, it's not really big in India yet. And that is ironic, considering that India has one of the best flying weather conditions round the year . The flip side though is that it's picking up. I myself get so many queries from people wanting to know what it takes to fly, or how to go for a pilot license etc. The point is that there is enough demand, but the supply side is found wanting. Hence, there is a market imbalance as far as hobby flying/General Aviation is concerned. On supply side, however, things are taking a turn in the positive direction. Companies such as Indus Aviation are pushing GA (General Aviation) through initiatives like their low-cost plane (Thorp E-211) manufactured in India.

What factors will help hobby flying grow further?
Availability of good infrastructure: Good planes, Better instructors, and Top-Of-It flying schools. I have got queries from people who work in Avionics field, and who'd like to train themselves as pilot in order to do their job better. But, where are the flying schools? As a result, lot of people from Bangalore goto Hyderabad, Chennai, Pondicherry, and abroad for flying training. Its highly ironical that, even though Bangalore is considered to be a Mecca for hobby aviation in India, it does not have 'good' flying schools!

Do I think of the risks sometimes?
No. Not at all! The fascination is too big to even see risks. And now that you remind me of 'em, let me tell you there ain't any!

How often do I get to fly?
Availability of good instructors/schools is an issue.

Do I want to take it on as a career?
No. It is purely a hobby. In long term, however, I do want to acquire a microlight, and also get into aviation business myself. Hence, it's a good idea to get a head start!

What is the legal age to start hobby flying?
Sixteen. The candidate should have passed Standard X.

How long does it take to earn a student pilot licence? (how many hours of flying)
60 hours (including 10 hours solo).

What types of planes are typically used in hobby flying?
Cessna-152, Cessna-172, Piper Seneca, etc.

What is the cost of an average flying lesson (per hour)
Rs 3000-3500/hour depending on what kinda plane and flying school you are with.

Any celeb student pilots -- besides lucky ali?
Can't think of any. But hey, everybody is a student: student of life!

"People were dying of hunger, and I felt very helpless. As an economist, I had no tool in my tool box to fix that kind of situation. While I traveled around the country, I told myself, 'As a person, forget about the tool box. As a human being, I can go out and be available to help another person.' So that's what I started doing."

"Mindsets play strange tricks on us. We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see. We think the way our minds have instructed our minds to think. We are familiar with one way of thinking. Most of it comes during our academic years, during our student years. The teachers we had, the books we read -- they made up our mindset, and ever since we are stuck with that. We cannot break through this. If you are a successful student in a university, actually you become the 'mini' of the professor whom you liked and admired most ... So that's what mindset does. When you bring in a new thought, you are in conflict with those old thoughts. You struggle, but the old thoughts still prevail because the mindset is so strong. It would be good if we could have an educational system, a learning process, where we could retain our originality and at the same time accumulate insight and never become a mini professor, but remain ourselves and still absorb different views. Yet institutions have their own mindsets, and it's very difficult to penetrate and change them. So changing has to be done faster. It's a faster world -- particularly in the 21st century -- but human minds, our academic system, make change slow. So this has been the hardest challenge that I have faced along the way."

"Poverty is unnecessary. The human being is quite capable of taking care of himself or herself. But we have created a society that does not allow opportunities for those people to take care of themselves because we have denied them those opportunities. I have described poor people as like a bonsai -- that little tree that grows in a flower pot. I said you pick the best seed of the tallest tree in the forest, and plant it in a flower pot, and it will grow into a tiny tree. Is there anything wrong with the seed? Nothing is wrong with the seed. It's the best seed. Then why is it tiny? Because you planted it in a flower pot. You didn't allow it to grow in the real soil. The poor people are the bonsai people. Society has not allowed them the real soil. If you allow them the real soil, real opportunities, they will grow as tall as everybody else."

SHRADDHA, a fusion music group formed by Shankar Mahadevan, Mandolin U. Srinivas, Sivamani and Loy Mendonsa, will perform live at Palace Grounds at 6.30pm on 26 February 2005 for one night only, exclusively to raise funds for the F.A.M.E India school for special children.

In the band's biggest public performance to date, the harmonies of the mandolin, drums, keyboard and vocals will be brought together in a must-see display of musical genius.

The proceeds of the concert will go to F.A.M.E India for the construction of a school building where 120 differently-abled children of disadvantaged backgrounds will have access to special education and therapy services.

Please do support by attending the concert. The tickets are priced at Rs.250, Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 and are available at F.A.M.E India.

Kind regards,

Yogi Varma (Ms.)
Executive Director
Foundation for Action, Motivation and Empowerment (FAME India)
Add. 1130, 19th Main, JP Nagar II Phase, Blr - 78

[Tons of guys. From back to front: Sapan (ChE, MS, BP Maryland), Yash (Electronics, IITK, IES, IIMC, Evalueserve), Me (the dork), Vishad (Electronics, IITK, Business, Noida)]

Now, admittedly, there have been mishaps when it comes to girls and my scooter: A flat at 0100 hrs in the middle of nowhere; A broken clutch-wire at 0030 hours - as a result of which my Vespa is prancing around like a wild, out-of-control, waiting-to-be-tamed horse. Mind you, all this while with a pillion! (Actually in this particular case, for all my scooter-jingoism, I dont really blame her for saying no to my scooter for ever and till the end of the time). But hey, comeone after all its a machine. A lovely one at that! During my Kanpur visit, when I met Mr Lohia, owner of LML group that makes LML Vespa, rather than wasting time talking business, I should have given all this useful feedback: How to make scooter attractive to babes. That one-point strategy could be the revival of scooter business. McKinseys and BCGs of the world can not give you that strategic insight!

Anyways, what the heck, I choose my scooter over girls (I can see that day ain't far when: Main aur mera Vespa, aksar yeh baatein karte hain..)

Enough ranting. Point made. Nobody hurt. Over to the article (Thanks Santosh for such a fantastic piece).

Ode to the vehicle that drove middle-class India
14 Feb 2005, Times of India.

If the Indian middle-class man were to be reborn as a product, chances are it would be as the Bajaj scooter. Squat, a belly going to pot, wearing a grey safari suit, undist i n g u i s h e d but resourceful. With a wife perched uncomfortably at the back, Gudiya squeezed between the two and Cheeku standing up front. No product comes close to capturing the essence of middle-class India as well as the scooter.

For decades the scooter was both literally and metaphorically at the heart of the Indian middle-class consciousness, imparting its own unique flavour to how we lived our lives. Today, with the motorcycle having all but erased the scooter from our hearts and minds, it is worthwhile examining what made the scooter the force it was and asking what does the transition from the scooter to the bike say about the Indian man today.

The scooter carries with it an aura of safety (over its macho cousin the motorcycle) that its engineering does not quite merit. Its smaller wheel size actually makes it a less stable vehicle than the motorcycle but the air of safety that it so convincingly carried has more to do with images that surrounded it. It had a stepney, which provided a welcome safety net on independent-minded Indian roads.

It had space to squeeze in a full family, a place to carry vegetables, a dickey to store sundry needs of the family. In short, it seemed safe because it catered to the all those stable, worldly things that made a man a 'responsible' person. Most importantly, the scooter hid the machine from view. Unlike the bike which revels in displaying its muscular architecture, the scooter covers up the beast within with rotund blandness. The rounded soft shape of the scooter helps it be seen as a domesticated beast of burden, anonymously performing the duties asked of it. Overall, the scooter is middle class and safe because it goes out of its way to advertise its lack of masculine ambition; it wears its unprepossessing modesty on its sleeve, by eschewing any heroics.

This is evident in the manner in which the scooter negotiates the road. If the bike sees the road as a woman to make love to, the scooter prefers instead to haggle with her. If the bike hugs the curves of the road, melting the rider onto the tar, the scooter maintains an awkward distance, unconvinced that continuous mobility is a natural human condition. If the bike purrs, the scooter stammers; where the bike is a gushing river, the scooter a spluttering tap; if the bike an untamed stallion, the scooter a recalcitrant mule. The bike pillion rider fuses into the driver - dropping a girl home on a bike is a rake's pleasure, on a scooter a 'cousin brother's' duty. If John Abraham is the poster boy for bikes, Amol Palekar on his way to the ration shop is the abiding scooter role model. 'Heroes' on bikes wear bubble helmets and boots, on scooters they chew paan and give signals with their feet.

The scooter celebrates the functionality of motorised mobility, not its recreational energy. At a time when we coped with scarcity with heartbreaking dignity, the scooter was our imperfect solution. It needed to be kicked incessantly, first aggressively and then pleadingly, at times it needed to be tilted at an impossible angle for the fuel to start flowing and its spark plugs needed more cleaning than Bihar politics. But it blended in perfectly with how we lived and what we believed in. Restrained, repressed, modest, versatile in an unassuming way, the scooter spoke for us and our way of life like nothing else. No wonder the Hamara Bajaj campaign rung so true. For once advertising made us look into a mirror and told us a truth we all recognised.

The transition to the bike too tells a story. In the year of the scooter, the bike was a Yezdi, Rajdoot or a Bullet, all belonging to the hirsute world of grown-up men. The bikes that actually did well in India were the colourful boy 100 cc bikes that offered the tamer, less intimidating version of the real thing with fuel efficiency to boot. This allowed us to move gradually from the stolid functionality of the scooter to the plastic seduction of the bike in baby steps.

The bike today speaks of the emerging India that is driven more by outward appearances and is not afraid of the motive force of change. It is an eloquent symbol, but it cannot sum up who we are in quite the same way as a scooter could.
- santoshdesai1963 AT indiatimes.com

It was, I remember, many years ago,
When I had failed to distinguish between a friend and a foe,
When they had invited me ,holding open the pack,
When I lost to curiosity, instead of being taken aback,
When on that fateful day , for the first time,
I held a cigarette in my hand.

It was, I felt a part of being in the teens,
And what had started with a puff or two became a routine.
The smoke's illusion blinded me for as it arose,
Arose my spirits too, and I muttered to myself, "I can" because,
With a cigarette in my hand ,
I felt like a man.

Soon it came out in the open, for it had become a habit I could not hide,
I was helpless, for I could not help but continue,
Even when I knew, it was eating me up from inside,
I was sick...my body and my soul and I realized,
With the cigarette in my hand,
I was a dying man.

Soon I was just a lifeless form, a hollow,
People shunned me everywhere, I wished,
If only had I done something which others could follow,
But it was too late, I had taken the wrong path, and I was ignored, because
With a cigarette in my hand,
I was a hated man.

All the time, tears filled my eyes,
For people had bid me their good byes,
I wept because my cells , my body was choking ,
If only on that first day,my friends had been joking,
And then one day, the cigarette dropped from my hand,
I was a dead man.

Sample 1
-----Original Message-----
From: XYZ
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 1:36 AM
To: webmaster
Subject: mystery Indian CD

Thank you for your excellent webpage! I was watching International Channel in L.A. and they played a top CD single - the video was an amazing collection/collage of images of everyday India, the people, places, many of which I saw when I travelled there in 1970 - the music was one man in a turban playing an electric guitar while standing in traffic - lyrics were superimposed on the film - I would say an inspirational retro western sounding song

I must get this video - I think the artists name was Runi or similar - it is supposed to be selling in the top ten CD albums.

XYZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Anurag Jain
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 6:47 AM
To: XYZ
Subject: RE: mystery Indian CD

Dear XYZ:

Its nice to hear from you, and to know that you liked an Indian video.

The song you are talking about is Bulla ki Jana by a new artist called Rabbi Shergill. It's been a super-duper hit. I myself have been listening to it non-stop. Originally a Sufi song, this Sikh (Turban!) artist has sung it in a Punjabi style. The lyrics have deep philosophical undertones (see meaning here ).

I dont have access to the video, but I have sent you the mp3 (audio) file from my yahoo account.

Best wishes,

Anurag

-----Original Message-----
From: XYZ
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 7:44 AM
To: Anurag Jain
Subject: Re: Rabbi Shergill - Bulla Ki Jana

Dear Anurag Jain,

Yes! This is the song, thanks. I have to get the video because it's so beautiful. I also saw another overseas Indian artist from Toronto (I think his name was Rahjeev) and his hit single was a reggae groove complete with hip-hop references also - what a groove! For me, this kind of fusion music is the future, I am getting so sick of American rap down in the gutter. Off your site, I listened to Sameera, and her songs were nice also.

It's great to make contact with you - I am a civil engineer in the USA, who makes comparisons of our Secretary of State and the Indian goddess Kali !

XYZ

==================================================
Sample 2
-----Original Message-----
From: ABC
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2005 1:12 AM
To: webmaster
Subject: I would like to hear "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram." Can you help me?

Mr. Jain,

I found your website through a Google search. I hope you can help me.

I am a 55-year old man in Ohio, U.S.A. I have a memory of learning an Indian song as a child about 45 years ago. And yet the melody persists in my mind! I remember that it was a song exhorting brotherhood, and trying to broach the gap between Hindus and Moslems in India. Now, as an adult, I believe that the song was "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram." Looking at the lyrics now, I suspect that the song is offensive to many Hindus and many Moslems. I take no position on the meaning or truth of the lyrics, since I am neither a Hindu nor a Moslem, and see no need to meddle in other peoples' quarrels. My only interest is to hear the music again.

That's why I am writing. Could you guide me to, or perhaps email me, an MP3 recording of that song? I believe that sharing a file with a single individual is not a copyright violation.

I thank you in advance for any help you can give me. Please "reply to all" so that I can receive your reply both at my home and my office email addresses.

Yours truly,

ABC, MD
-----Original Message-----
From: Anurag Jain
Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2005 7:43 AM
To: ABC
Subject: RE: I would like to hear "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram." Can you help me?

Dear Dr ABC:

Nice to hear from you, and to know that long time back you learnt this Indian song about the idea of fraternity.

Raghupata Raghav is what we call a Bhajan in India. Bhajan means a devotional song. I am not sure who penned it, but Raghupati Raghav is a bhajan associated with Mahatama Gandhi. And it is pretty much a part of Indian national consciousness. One can hear it at a lot of (Hindu) religious functions, or at nationalistic meetings (such as on Independence Day(15th Aug), Republic Day (26th Jan) etc).

About the meaning, I understand your concern, but I don't think it is offensive to anyone. Yes, it is a hindu prayer song, but I haven't heard of any Muslim getting offended by it :)

On a personal note, I love this bhajan. I find it pretty soothing and calming. Sending various versions to you from my yahoo account.

Do lemme know if this is the song/bhajan you wanted or was it something else you were nostalgic about :)

Best wishes,

Anurag
-----Original Message-----
From: ABC
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 1:45 AM
To: 'Anurag Jain'
Subject: Raghupati Raghav

Anurag,

Yes! That's it! That's the song whose melody has been in my head all these years.

I'm still amazed by it. Here is a song I heard (and sang, perhaps) for a few days over 40 years ago, a song in a language I don't speak-and yet it sticks in my memory. That tells us something about the brain and memory and music-but I don't know what.

Thank you for your kindness in sharing this song with me.

ABC

==================================================
Sample 3
-----Original Message-----
From: PQR
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 5:14 AM
To: webmaster
Subject: Tsunami Benefit

I am desperately searching for a musical performance group that is culturally influenced by India and/or East Africa, and/or Asia (preferably all three) for a Tsunami Benefit to be held in Charlotte NC on February 4th. Do you have any ideas or suggestions of groups that may be interested? It is a thousand person venue and we expect to sell out. The evening themes are reflecting the diversity of the people affected by the tragedy and honoring their cultures in art, dance, music, and song. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
PQR

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Opening lines:
Alvy Singer: There's an old joke. Uh, two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.

Closing lines:
Alvy Singer: I though of that old joke, y'know, the, this, this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy. He thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" And the guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much how I feel about relationships. Y'know, they're totally irrational and crazy and absurd and, but, uh, I guess we keep going through it because, uh, most of us need the eggs.

Annie Hall: Sometimes I ask myself how I'd stand up under torture.
Alvy Singer: You? You kiddin'? If the Gestapo would take away your Bloomingdale's charge card, you'd tell 'em everything.

Annie Hall: "Darling, I've been killing spiders since I was 30."

Alvy:
" I have a pessimistic view about life. I feel that life is divided up into horrible and the miserable. Those are the two categories. Horrible would be like terminal cases and blind people, cripples I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. The miserable is everyone else. So when you go through life, be thankful that your're miserable. "

Alvy Singer: Oh stop it, you're having an affair with your college professor, that jerk that teaches that incredible crap course, Contemporary Crisis in Western Man...
Annie Hall: Existential Motifs in Russian Literature. You're really close.
Alvy Singer: What's the difference? It's all mental masturbation.
Annie Hall: Oh, well, now we're finally getting to a subject you know something about.
Alvy Singer: Hey, don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love.

Annie Hall: So I told her about, about the family and about my feelings towards men and about my relationship with my brother. And then she mentioned penis envy. Do you know about that?
Alvy Singer: Me? I'm, I'm one of the few males who suffers from that.

Pam: Sex with you is really a Kafka-esque experience.
Alvy Singer: Oh. Thank you.
Pam: I mean that as a compliment.

Alvy Singer: I think, I think there's too much burden placed on the orgasm, you know, to make up for empty areas in life.
Pam: Who said that?
Alvy Singer: It may have been Leopold and Loeb.

[Alvy sees Rolling Stone and The National Review in Annie's apartment]
Alvy Singer: Are you going with a right-wing rock 'n roll star?

Alvy Singer: They did not take me in the Army. I was, um, interestingly enough, I was, I was 4-P. Yes. In the, in the event of war, I'm a hostage.

Alvy Singer: In 1942 I had already discovered women.
[Young Alvy kisses girl in school]
Alvy's Classmate: Yecch. He kissed me, he kissed me. Yecch.
Miss Reed: That's the second time this month. Step up here.
Alvy at 9: What'd I do?
Miss Reed: Step up here.
Alvy at 9: What did I do?
Miss Reed: You should be ashamed of yourself.
Alvy Singer: Why? I was just expressing a healthy sexual curiosity.
Miss Reed: Six year old boys don't have girls on their minds.
Alvy Singer: I did.
Alvy's Classmate: For God's sake, Alvy, even Freud speaks of a latency period.
Alvy Singer: Well, I never had a latency period. I can't help it.

Alvy Singer: I'm so tired of spending evenings making fake insights with people who work for "Dysentery."
Robin: "Commentary."
Alvy Singer: Oh really? I had heard that "Commentary" and "Dissent" had merged and formed "Dysentery."

[Alvy and Annie are seeing their therapists at the same time on a split screen]
Alvy Singer's Therapist: How often do you sleep together?
Annie Hall's Therapist: Do you have sex often?
Alvy Singer: [lamenting] Hardly ever. Maybe three times a week.
Annie Hall: [annoyed] Constantly. I'd say three times a week

Alvy Singer: Oh my God, she's right. Why did I turn off Allison Portchnik? She was beautiful, she was willing. She was real intelligent. Is it the old Groucho Marx joke that I'm - I just don't want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member?

Alvy Singer: Hey, Harvard makes mistakes too! Kissinger taught there!

[Rob has bailed Alvy out of jail]
Rob: Imagine my surprise when I got your call, Max.
Alvy: Yeah. I had the feeling that I got you at a bad moment. You know, I heard high-pitched squealing.
Rob: Twins, Max! 16 years-old. Can you imagine the mathematical possibilities?
Alvy: [glum] You're an actor, Max. You should be doing Shakespeare in the Park.
Rob: Oh, I did Shakespeare in the Park, Max. I got mugged. I was playing Richard the Second and two guys with leather jackets stole my leotard.