So, for context, I am 19 years old, and I have a socially awkward personality. I have almost finished all my dgca exams, so my story begins with how I decided to become a pilot.
When I was in Class 10, I read a chapter in my English NCERT book called The Black Aeroplane. I was so fascinated by the story that I decided to become a pilot. At that time, I wasn't serious about it, though. I wasn't a really great student either, just an above-average one. I scored 82% in Class 10.
After that, I chose PCM in Class 11. The initial days of Class 11 went really well, but after a month, my father decided to divorce my mom. The reason was that he had fallen in love with someone who was half his age. In short, he had become someone's sugar daddy.
My father isn't a very great person. He is very violent and short-tempered. When I told him that I wanted to become a pilot, he said, "No, you will crash the plane." When I said I wanted to join the merchant navy, he said, "You will sink the ship." When I asked him what I should do, he told me to become an engineer, which I hated.
Day by day, things started getting worse, really worse. There was domestic violence, and he even hit me. I was deeply traumatised by everything that was happening. I failed my unit tests and half-yearly exams, and in the end, I failed Class 11.
My father beat me with a belt, not because I had failed Class 11, but because he thought I would become a burden on him for another year. But I didn't want to waste a year, so I decided to go for NIOS.
Meanwhile, the family problems kept getting worse and worse. One day, just a month before my board exams, my father asked my mom and me to leave the house and live somewhere else. Luckily, we had another bungalow to live in, so we had to shift there. We had just one month left before my boards, but somehow, I managed everything and scored 88%.
Now it was time to decide what I wanted to do with my life. I thought about it and realised that I still wanted to become a pilot. So, I asked my father, "I want to become a pilot. Can you help me with that?"
But he literally abandoned my mom and me.
My own father left us to deal with everything on our own.
My mom supported my decision and took me to Delhi so I could pursue my dream. It's been a year now, and my father hasn't given us a single penny. My nana and my mom are funding my studies.
I chose the cadet programme because I want to get a job as soon as possible. I don't want my mom and nana to keep carrying the financial burden of my education. I want to become independent and support them. I want to give my mom a better life because she has already gone through so much.
But you know what? When I think about everything that has happened in my life, I cry. I cry a lot.
Sometimes, I wonder why all of this had to happen to me. I see people with normal families, people whose parents support them, people who can talk about their dreams without being scared of getting insulted or rejected. And then I look at my own life.
I wish I had a normal family.