Sewa at the end of Airlift

Nonika Singh

And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;

They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

— Khalil Gibran

The recently released Akshay Kumar-starrer Airlift brought to life few such good men who made the evacuation of 1,70,000 Indians trapped in Kuwait, during the Gulf War, possible. Unfurl the pages of history, and Iraq’s invasion into Kuwait in 1990 is perhaps replete with many untold stories, or at least few, that lie forgotten down the corridors of time. One such story is that of Rajinder Singh Ahluwalia, founder of Mukat Group of Companies and Mukat Educational Trust. A tireless crusader, his exemplary seva bhaav begins exactly where the film ends.

Indeed, thousands of Indians landed on the Indian soil safe, but also penniless. Rajinder’s wife Sandeep Kaur Ahluwalia remembers the chain of events vividly. The newspapers were full of reports of the plight of Indians. Rajinder, a man with a big heart and generous soul, decided to go to the airport to gauge first-hand how the Indians landing in their motherland were faring. Soon, he was back with kettles of tea and biscuits which finished faster than he could imagine. Mere serving tea, he realised, won’t do and set about the task of giving food. Again, no mean task. Besides the expenditure involved, was the question of the wherewithal. Sandeep recalls putting her foot down.

“Besides money,” she says, “he was parting with time too and neglecting his work.” But Rajinder was like a man possessed. Neither his wife nor the authorities who initially refused to give him permission to set up langar near the airport could prevail over him. Where there is a will, even God makes way. Langar began in all earnestness. But what was a one-man mission, soon transformed into a movement.

“Mein akela hi chala tha janib manzil magar log saath aate gaye aur karvan banta gaya.” The first to join in his endeavour were the Sikh taxi drivers at the airport whose wives would make chapatis at home and they would ferry them to the airport. As the word about the humanitarian deed spread, more industrialists and well-meaning men joined in. Sandeep recalls how miraculously sackful of potatoes, tins of oil, flour, vegetables, loaves of bread would appear from nowhere. Who would bring them often one didn’t even know, but thanks to the zeal and spirit of humanity, the langar continued uninterrupted for days. Of course, feeding men and women bereft of home and shelter was only one half of the problem. There were several other issues like who would fill their forms, as many arriving from the war-ravaged foreign soil had no valid documents, and many were not lettered. Also, there were only a handful of immigration officials. The task was assigned to Rajinder’s family — his wife and three daughters. One of daddy’s girls, Simrita Kaur Ahluwalia, all of eight at that time, was offering biscuits to distraught Indians, a majority of whom were from Kerala. So fascinated was Manpreet Kaur Ahluwalia by her father’s exemplary work that she decided to join the airlines, and today is a senior commander with an airways. Mandeep Ahluwalia Pahwa, the eldest daughter, like others, learnt life’s vital lesson on nishkama karma. Overwhelmed, Sandeep can’t comprehend how on this mortal earth walked such a man who had imbibed the art of giving in his very being. It was not just this incident that brought out the best in him. During the 1984 riots, he and his mother Gurdev Kaur went out of the way to help victims, and later during the communal riots in Mumbai, Rajinder ensured the protection of his Muslim neighbours.

Dr Jagjit Singh, former principal of Khalsa College Bombay, who has devoted a chapter in his book Rishteyian Di Satrangi Peeng (and also written a small book) to Rajinder, talks fondly about the man whom he dubs superman. “There are men of words,” he says, “and there are men of action. Rajinder clearly was one who not only acted, but also impelled others to act.”

Does his act, as those of others, in the hour of crisis call for a sequel to Airlift? Sandeep is pragmatic enough to understand that a film needs masala, a dash of sensationalism and oodles of drama to work. And here is a story sans any untoward moments. “This was a peaceful event where only humanity shone like a beacon,” she says. Good news may not make headlines, but good deeds Akshay Kumar has proved can make for celluloid magic. But a film or no film, those who work magic in people’s lives live forever in the hearts of those whom they serve selflessly. Good men need no films. Films, however, could do with retelling their stories. At least, once in a while.