Wing commander MP Anil Kumar's life made into a play

June 08, 2015 17:20

It's been a year since he passed away, but for those of us at Rediff.com, Flying Officer MP Anil Kumar will always be remembered for his never-say-die, indomitable spirit, the very qualities that saw his life story being enacted in a play in the Air Force auditorium in New Delhi on Sunday.

An MiG-21 pilot in the Indian Air Force, Anil Kumar, or MP as he was fondly known to everyone, was returning home on June 28, 1988, after night-flying when he had a motorcycle accident and broke his neck, which reduced him to a paraplegic.

At the military hospital in Kirkee in Pune, he taught himself to write with a pen clenched between his teeth, and thus began his foray into the world of writing for publications. Rediff.com was among those he regularly wrote for.

One of his articles was included in the 'Defence' section of the popular book India Empowered along with luminaries like Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and Dr Manmohan Singh.

His autobiographical article 'Airborne to Chairborne' was included in English text books in Maharashtra and Kerala.

Early in 2014, MP was also diagnosed with cancer, and like every adversity life threw at him MP fought it hard, till the very end on May 20, 2014. It was a life worth remembering, worth celebrating.

Which is what the play (image alongside), conceptualised by Tinku Srivastava and funded by his long-time friend Haridas, does.

Read about MP Anil Kumar's extraordinary life here.

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