HS Ahluwalia's dream crashed with the plane

At 42, he had achieved it all, but fate had different plans for Captain HS Ahluwalia, the co-pilot of Air India Express flight IX-812, who died in the tragic crash in Mangalore on Saturday.

A week before the crash, he was in Mumbai to visit his family home at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Society, JB Nagar, Andheri (East). He told his mother Kuljeet Kaur that he wanted to marry and settle down. Kaur was inconsolable when Ahluwalia’s body arrived on Sunday. Clutching her youngest son’s coffin, she cried: “You cannot leave us.”

Ahluwalia’s body was charred beyond recognition. His relatives sat beside the coffin, spraying perfume and room freshener to beat the stench of his fast-decomposing body.

Kaur first learnt about the tragedy from TV while sipping her morning cup of tea on Saturday. Minutes later, she received a call from Air India, informing her about the horrific incident.

Friends and relatives have been pouring into her plush duplex bungalow to offer condolences ever since. Ahluwalia’s last rites were performed at Parsiwada on Sunday night.

Ahluwalia’s two elder brothers manage their family business of manufacturing silencers for automobiles in Wapi, Gujarat.

Youngest of four siblings, Ahluwalia, a post graduate in commerce, decided to chase his childhood dream and become a pilot.

Born in 1969, Ahluwalia studied at the Holy Family School, Andheri, and went to NM College. After finishing college, he joined the Juhu Flying Club. Before joining Air India in 2008, he worked with Jet Airways. He had landed 69 times at the Mangalore airbase and would frequently fly the Dubai-Kuwait-Mangalore route plane.
“He was very focussed and nurtured his dream with sincerity and determination,” relative Kuldip Singh said.

“He was peace-loving and religious. Whenever he was in the city, he would visit the gurudwara and participate in all the functions,” a neighbour said. His house too, was adorned with photos of the Golden Temple and Sikh religious leaders.

“We were looking for a suitable bride for him. He had made Mangalore his base and wished to get married,” Narender Singh, a close family friend and the chairperson of the Andheri housing society, said.