Tribute to a National Hero

Sumit, hello.

Hello, sir.

How are you? How is your health now?

Sir, everything is fine. Everything is fine, sir.

Look, the entire country

is praying for you.

Everyone is chanting the Mahamrityunjaya mantra.

Your courage,

your patience,

and your presence of mind

enabled you to make so many decisions in a fraction of a second.

And you saved so many lives.

And today, the entire country

can proudly say

that we Indians

are not people who take lives.

We are people who save lives.

And you

suffered

such a major injury to your body.

You yourself

were fighting for your life.

Even at that time,

you did not care about your own life.

You cared about the lives of all the passengers.

And most importantly,

you raised the honor of 1.4 billion fellow citizens.

And so I

feel deeply, deeply proud from the bottom of my heart. Yesterday,

I had the opportunity to speak with Bhupendra Bhai.

I spoke with Geeta Behen,

and I spoke with Sonal Behen.

I couldn't do it with Java and Bobby. But I told Geeta Sister

that your name is Geeta,

but you have completely absorbed

Krishna's Gita

within yourself.

And you have shaped Sumit's life

with the values of that living Gita.

उसका जीवन बनाया।

Sumit, now I'd like to hear from you.

Sir, for me… I was telling Sir, too.

You are my greatest, greatest idol,

and by calling me like this, you are encouraging me.

I feel very, very, very proud.

I

in that moment, sir,

I, yes, I was fighting for my,

for my life.

But there was a moment when I realized that if I did something

I didn't, because I'd already fallen. I'd been wounded so badly that I

had fallen down.

and

At the time, I said I wouldn't get up now. I've been at Air India for

17 years, flying planes. For the past 11 years, I've been a captain.

I have been one.

Even with my eyes closed, I knew what was happening on the ship.

When I was down, I could hear that it was going down,

and I knew for certain that

if we gave this one last push for ten minutes.

The door is right there.

Even then, I kept pleading.

Just open it, sir. Everyone else came, and everyone else also had

their own part

to play in it.

But knowingly, I told everyone that I was doing it to the best of my ability.

But at the same time, I knew that I couldn't get all of us...

Could kill.

Just after that

people brought me here, even to Saudi.

Here, in fact,

better than this

care and better medical attention

couldn’t be found.

And, sir, I’m just… I’m simply

positive. Whenever fear haunts me,

I know only one thing. I just recite the Hanuman Chalisa.

Even then, I was only reciting the Hanuman Chalisa, and I knew that God wouldn't save me.

God wouldn't save me.

I just got a call from you. I feel so, so proud.

I'm feeling it now. Until now, I didn't feel proud of myself.

I do now, sir. Sorry for crying before you, sir.

Sumit,

if you won't get emotional

in front of me, then where will you?

Sir, I never thought I would get to speak with you.

I never thought so.

You've done such great work, brother,

that every citizen today,

and people around the world too, are eager to see you and speak with you.

very eager.

And what you said about the Hanuman Chalisa, for that,

I bow to Geeta behen for giving you such values.

I bow to Bhupendra bhai.

And let me tell you, Sumit, when I

spoke to Sonal behen,

I was surprised.

She was speaking so calmly,

with such courage.

Truly.

I never imagined that Sister Sonal, in such a situation,

could speak with such composure.

So I believe that, as a member of the family, you

have truly

brought glory to the entire country.

Sir, every morning when I pray, my two-year-old son

sits in my lap, and I recite the Hanuman Chalisa to him.

What I have been told is that

because today we are far from our country, but we must not be far from our culture.

That's right.

That's right.

And now, it doesn't even feel like we're far from our country. The people here

पर लोग।

have been very loving and attentive.

You may not know, but even in Savarkundla,

in Wadhwan too,

everyone has

created such an emotional atmosphere, and across all of India,

it is the same. Yesterday, prayers,

worship and aarti were held in all the temples,

aarti was held at all the pilgrimage sites, for your long life.

Everyone is praying for you and for your better health.

So you are going to recover soon. India is eager to

welcome you.

Whatever physical pain there may be, I can understand it.

You are a brave man, so enduring wounds perhaps

you have made very easy for yourself.

No, sir, I’m not thinking of that wound as a wound.

Otherwise, it would make my recovery that much more difficult.

होगा मेरा recovery.

I see it as a journey that will happen slowly, slowly.

And it will take time, but I am very, very

confident that this recovery will happen

and I will become completely healthy.

I also express my heartfelt gratitude to the Saudi and UAE governments.

They took very good care of you. I am grateful to them too.

मैं उनका भी आभारी हूं।

Sumit, whenever you need me, I’m only a phone call away.

But you, you truly,

otherwise, this

Yesterday, I saw how people expressed their feelings on social media.

And people said, if this hadn't happened, who knows what

all India would have gone through.

What would India's civil pilots have gone through?

How would India's civil pilots have been viewed?

You have saved them all. That is, a very great thing

you have done.

Yes, sir.

When we meet, I'll hear the inside details later. Because I don't want

to discuss such things with you over the phone.

And you should recover completely too.

And now, the entire country is with you.

I don't want to trouble you too much.

My very best wishes to you. Today is Gandhi Jayanti.

You have shown by living it what nonviolence is.

है।

Thank you, sir.

Say "Jai Shri Krishna," son. We spoke a little in Gujarati.

Jai Shri Krishna.

Do Bobby and Jeva speak Gujarati or not?

Both speak it, sir, both speak it.

Both of them speak Gujarati.

Both taught me Gujarati, then taught me English.

Okay.

So, have you been able to meet the children? Did the doctor allow the children to meet her?

My elder daughter came too, but she couldn't bear to see her face like this.

Okay, okay.

So...

She's very close to me.

Yes, yes.

And my younger son is two years old, they didn't allow him.

No, ours saw her on the seventh.

But Sonalben is very encouraging.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yesterday, she spoke to me very candidly.

No, I've experienced that in such situations, no one says anything.

There's not a trace of complaint.

Yesterday, I spoke with Bhupendrabhai and Gitabhai at Mumbai Airport.

They, too, had no complaint, not a trace.

They only said one thing: God will make everything right.

That's it, sir. They're holding on to that, sir.

Yes. All right, Jai Shri Krishna, and

Get well very soon. Then we'll meet.

Yes, sir.

Today. God bless you.

Victory to India.

Victory to India. Victory to India.