Rohtak flying officer’s kin hope for a miracle
ROHTAK: At least 15 newspapers are lying on a table at Flying Officer Pankaj Nandal’s house in Sector 3 here. The family members are surfing through TV channels in a hope to find some “good news” about the missing IAF Antonov-32 flying jet. Nandal was aboard the jet which disappeared half an hour after it left Chennai for Port Blair on July 22.
“Koi kuch nai bata raha. (No TV channel is showing the news),” says Nandal’s father Shri Krishan, a retired Indian Air Force (IAF) officer. “We get a call from Chennai every now and then, but they say nothing has been found yet.”
Nandal’s mother Usha Devi has been given some pills by the family to make her stop crying. “He was to tie the nuptial knot this November. We were all happily preparing for his marriage. He had already applied for leave and was scheduled to come home on November 4,” Krishan says, with Nandal’s would be father-in-law Saab Singh Hooda sitting beside him with moist eyes.
Nandal did his schooling from Indus Public School in Rohtak, where, even after eight years of passing out, he is still remembered for bringing laurels in sports and academics. “He was a star in handball, football and throwball,” his friend Deepak Kadian remembers. A special almirah in the drawing room has been set up by the family for his trophies and awards.
After pursuing BSc from Chennai, he cleared the combined defence services exam in his first attempt. He was commissioned by the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad in 2013. He is currently posted at Salur near Ooty. “He is an inspiration for me,” says his younger brother, Vishal. His father says Nandal was very hardworking and he did every task he pursued with utmost devotion.
The focus shifts to TV as a family member found a channel showing news of the missing IAF plane. “The search operation has been intensified by the authorities, but nothing has been found yet,” the anchor says. It goes quiet again at Nandal’s residence.
FAMILY OF PANKAJ NANDA SAYS HE WAS TO GET MARRIED IN NOV AND HAD ALREADY APPLIED FOR LEAVE