A 12-year-old boy, a 59-year-old architect and a 44-year-old dentist. Their names stood out as Air Vice-Marshal Hari Masand announced the results of the Air Race 2003 at the Nagpur Air Force station this afternoon. For them, flying is second nature, and it did not take long to find out what lay behind those prize-winning skills.Twelve-year-old Mashaan Kaula grew up flying with his father, Pavan, in an aircraft which they built themselves, using an American design for reference. Ask Mashaan which is his aircraft and he insists you look at the ‘‘prettiest aircraft in the air race’’. The small two-seater, sitting on the runway with its nose down surely looked elegant. Mashaan said that he has been ‘‘flying with dad ever since I was four months old’’.So how does it feel to be awarded in the race? ‘‘How would I feel? Very good!’’ pat comes the reply from the sixth-grader. His studies are going ‘‘OK’’ but he has already decided on a career — he must fly. As the youngest participant in the race, he was awarded a special cash prize by the Chief of Air Staff, S. Krishnaswamy.For 59-year-old architect from Bangalore T.M. Thomas, flying has been a passion since his NCC days. ‘‘I have been flying for the last 10 years. I also built the microlite in my garage,’’ he says. Battling a fever on the first day of the three-day event, he managed to ‘‘wrestle’’ with his microlite, piloting it across the Southern skies to reach Nagpur and win a special award.After drilling enough holes in dentures, Firdaus Bativala decided he would give priority to his first passion — flying. ‘‘During my college days it was not easy getting a pilot’s job. So I took up dentistry, went to the United States and lived there for 10 years.’’ Returning home, he started practising in Mumbai, bought a small aircraft and started flying on the weekends.Like Bativala, Audrey Maben dreams of becoming an aerobatics instructor. A 27-year-old microlite flying instructor from Bangalore, she piloted her tiny machine all alone. ‘‘The others had ground crew, but I jut managed to refuel and take off in the last three days,’’ she says.And of course, there were the professionals. Captain Sachin Sharad Ogale, a commercial pilot, flew so well that he was adjudged the overall winner, while Wing Commander S.S. Dholia, currently an NCC instructor, was ranked first in the microlite category. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who gave away the awards, called for greater pride in ‘‘what we do’’ as a nation.
