‘Am I going to the heart of Covid-19?’
RESCUE ACT Former Olympians and athletes with Air India recount their experience of evacuating Indians stranded abroad
The pick-up vehicle arrived at his doorstep in Malad. His mind crowded with doubts, fear and anxiety, Gavin Ferreira set off for the airport. For the Air India cabin crew member, this was a journey into the unknown.
Flight 1348 from Mumbai to Wuhan would be the first medical evacuation operation by India’s national carrier. Being on the roster, January 31, 2020, is a date former hockey international and Olympian Ferreira won’t forget. “We had no clue what we were going to do. I was like… ‘Am I going to the heart of the pandemic, where it all happened’?” said Ferreira. The first case of Covid-19 in India had been reported a day before he flew. On the day Ferreira took off, Wuhan had 75,000 Covid-19 cases, and China had recorded 258 deaths.
Over the next few months, even as airports shut and countries went into lockdown, former sportspersons on Air India’s rolls flew to ferry the stranded and for medical supplies.
India stopped international flights from March 22 but people like former kabaddi players Raju Bhavsar and Ashok Shinde, ex-mumbai cricketer Piyush Soneji, ex-mumbai University cricketer Sachin Koli, hockey internationals Darryl d’souza, Edgar Mascarenhas Jr, Angela d’souza, and Davinder Kumar have flown regularly through the lockdown period, in and out of ghostly airports in hazmat suits, drawing on their experience as athletes to deal with crises.
GHOST TOWN
The night before he flew to bring Indian students home, everything felt right for Ferreira. The lights were on at the ground in St Anne’s, Orlem, his school. Having grown up and learnt his hockey here, Ferreira felt at home. On that pleasant January evening, the former striker who scored 39 times in 118 internationals, was playing football.
Yet, even as he enjoyed his game, Ferreira’s mind was anxiously trying to process the next day’s assignment. “At Mumbai airport, an Air India doctor met us. He explained how the virus is transmitted and how important it was to maintain distance from each other. He also told us what protective equipment we would be wearing. That calmed the nerves,” said Ferreira.
Ferreira put his athletic training to use. It was a lesson he had learnt soon after finishing college, and one that had stood him well at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
“I had done this course: the power of positive thinking. It said: when you think positive and apply your mind, things happen the way you want. The instructor had asked us to be in a good frame of mind. So, before a match, I would visualise (situations),” said the left-out who is best remembered for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta where India beat eventual runners-up Spain 3-1 with Ferreira scoring twice.
At Wuhan, the desolate airport made for a scary sight. “It was like a ghost town,” said Ferreira. For eight hours, Ferreira and the rest of the crew waited on the tarmac as the students were brought from their hostels to the airport and tested before boarding.
“We were chatting, helping each other get into the hazmat (PPE) suits… the mask, the glares, the hat over your head. Then, they (passengers) started walking in and you really felt it,” said Ferreira.
The students, mostly in their teens, looked traumatised. Once back in Delhi, Ferreira began to analyse whether he had slipped up in following the protocols at any point, just like he would analyse a match in his mind for days.
“I kept thinking: have I followed the right procedure? Did I touch anything? Did I maintain social distancing? Did I sanitise the bags, shoes? The main thing the doctor told us whatever you do, don’t touch your face. It was an experience I will never forget.”
Ferreira flew to Shanghai twice post that. “After the Wuhan flight, you’re better,” he said.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT Flight purser Bhavsar flew Mumbai-london on April 17. “The best part of being a sportsman is that you accept the challenge,” said the Arjuna award winner and 1990s kabbadi star.
Bhavsar has been in many challenging situations. On August 15, 1997, he was working in the London-new Delhi sector. Around 90 minutes from landing, the captain got an alert that triggered panic: there was a bomb in the aircraft. It was followed by another threat: on its descent, the flight would be shot down.
When panic set in among the crew, it was Bhavsar and Ashok Shinde (also a kabbadi player and Arjuna award winner) who took charge as the captain decided to land on another runaway.
“We had 350-odd passengers to keep calm. Some started crying, some praying. It was the two of us who went around telling them that ‘it is an emergency but the captain is equipped, don’t worry, we are also with you’,” said Bhavsar. “On landing, we had to open the slides; it was pouring. Then the commandos came on board and took control. So, we have handled emergencies,” he added.
Bhavsar’s 30-year career also had him on an evacuation flight from Kuwait in 1990 during the Gulf War. “You could see oil wells burning all around when we were landing. There was always the danger of some crazy fighter targeting your aircraft,” he said.
At 57, Bhavsar, who is also a commentator in the Pro-kabaddi League, is again part of emergency operations. His flight to London was smooth though. “What I understood about coronavirus is that it says that 80 per cent of those infected will fight it out. I always felt, ‘even if we get, we will fight it out’.”
On March 22, former Mumbai spinner Piyush Soneji and hockey World Cupper Cornelius D’costa were in the air when the lockdown was announced at around 8pm, doing a Mumbaidelhi-mumbai QTA (quickturnaround). “We took off at 8pm. With the lockdown announced, we were not sure if we would come back. But by 12 we were back in Mumbai.”
It’s been a hectic period for the experienced Soneji; he has done a Mumbai-frankfurt flight on March 31, another cargo flight to Shanghai with Ferreira and then a Bengaluru flight.
Now, in between his flying duties as cabin crew, Soneji gets his high by checking out the junior talent in Mumbai. He is a satisfied man this season; the Mumbai under-16 team, of which he is one of the selectors, has won the All Indian Championship (Vijay Merchant Trophy).
DON’T WALK AWAY Former hockey internationals Darryl d’souza (1992 Olympics) and Mascarenhas Jr (1995 SAF Games gold medallist) were together on the April 3 Mumbaifrankfurt chartered flight.
“It was among the first evacuation flights. Some passengers wanted some information. You can’t walk away from people in such situations even though you know it could be dangerous for you. You have to look after the passengers’ needs rather than be too safe and turn your face away,” said d’souza, silver medallist in the 1990 Asian Games.
As a player, d’souza had an interesting way of preparing for games. An hour before leaving for the stadium, he would sink into his hotel room blanket and imagine the worst possible situation on the pitch. “I used to put myself into very negative positions on the field and found myself in very positive positions when I was (actually) there. In life I am the opposite—very positive,” he said.
Mascarenhas Jr, a veteran of more than 90 internationals , said people would be incredulous on hearing he was flying to Shanghai. To them he would say, “goalkeepers are hard nuts to crack. It is what it is.”
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