Spending three decades in the cockpits of the Indian Navy helicopters, Captain P Rajkumar (retd) had seen it all — blizzards, storms, night deck landings, anti-submarine warfare drills, and daredevil rescue ops where survival was never guaranteed.
As a young Chetak pilot, he made a dashing entry into the world of aviation in the early ‘90s, when he rescued a team of scientists stranded amidst a snowstorm at India’s Maitri research station in Antarctica. That was just the beginning.
Among numerous such operations, one of the most risky ones was during the Ockhi cyclone of 2017, when Rajkumar rescued 12 fishermen battling for life in the sea off Kochi. He became the first Indian Navy pilot to have conducted such a rescue operation at night, and was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for his daring act.
More glory awaited him. Kerala will remember him best for his heroic mission during the 2018 floods in Kerala, when he winched up 26 people to safety in a single sortie of a Sea King 42B. It was hailed as a world record in aviation.
Now, five years into retirement, one might imagine Rajkumar enjoying the quiet pride of leaving behind an extraordinary aviation legacy, or regaling the next generation with stories of his maverick moments. Well, instead, the 62-year-old has strapped himself into a new mission — Kathakali.
Coming Sunday (September 21), his “childhood dream” will take flight as Rajkumar steps on stage for the first time, accompanied by his sister, for their purappadu (going forth), or debut Kathakali performance.
“Growing up in Nilambur, I was so fascinated by the whole concept of Kathakali,” he recalls. “My earliest memory is of my grandfather taking me to see a performance in a temple. It was the first time I saw it live, and it stayed with me.”
His grandfather, Kunjukuttan Thamban, was an egalitarian descendant of the Nilambur Kovilakam and a patron of arts. Notably, Rajkumar has instituted a scholarship for Kathakali students in the former’s name. The first set will be awarded on the day of his performance, which is part of the National Academy for Temple Arts’ third anniversary celebrations at Poornathrayeesa Temple in Tripunithura.
Though it had always been a desire tucked away in the back of his mind, Rajkumar got initiated into the journey of learning Kathakali by chance. Last year, while enquiring about a Mohiniyattam teacher for his sister, people at the Poornathrayeesa temple directed him instead to a Kathakali guru.
That was when it clicked. Rajkumar realised that the time had come. “I finally mustered courage and reported for duty at a Kathakali gurukulam last September,” he says.
As serendipity would have it, he began training with his sister Gayathri Govind, former principal of Sanskara School in Kochi, under the renowned Kathakali guru Evoor Rajendran Pillai. The guru, who began teaching at RLV in Tripunithura and later served as principal at the International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi, now runs the National Academy for Temple Arts in Tripunithura, where the siblings have been training.
Learning Kathakali at his age has been no easy task, says Rajkumar. “The warm-up itself was a shock,” he laughs.
“In the cockpit, my sanctuary, I used to control the helicopter with just a flick of the wrist. Here, my guru wanted me to maintain the half-squat position. Ten seconds in, my knees screamed for an ejection seat and my lower back threatened to file a medical unfit report!”
Next came the facial expressions. The captain recalls his hilarious attempt when his guru showed him the delicate sringara rasa.
“I tried to copy him, but my eyebrows, trained for squinting into the glare, twitched like runway glim lamps. He wanted flowing grace. I was giving him ‘Sea King hovering in a thunderstorm’,” he gushes animatedly.
But like every other challenge he has faced, his determination towards his childhood dream kept him going.
“Despite the aches, the wobbling legs, and the fear that my mudras looked like I was directing traffic on a flight deck, I did not give up. Because for the first time in years, I am not on any mission or chasing a target — I was chasing a dream from my boyhood,” he smiles.
This grit has helped the aviator fight personal battles, far from the cockpit, too. He has survived cancer twice and lives with a single kidney. But he rarely opens up about it. “These matters don’t need to enter every conversation. Even my guru isn’t aware of this,” says Rajkumar.
“But they do quietly remind me of the fights I have fought and the resilience I must still summon. Some day, they might find their place in the pages of my autobiography.”
Combine this resilience with the discipline the Navy instilled in him, and you see an unstoppable force. In fact, Rajkumar sees Kathakali as a continuation of that discipline, which helped him stay on his path to learning.
His experience with the artform has also involved unlearning, he admits. “In the Navy, you train to become hardened and stiff. You are not even allowed to show that you are breathing when standing in a parade,” he explains.
“But for Kathakali, I had to learn to be relaxed and not stiffen up. I had to constantly remind myself to keep my mind and body calm. A man who spent his life drawing rigid lines with his arms and legs suddenly had to discover curves and fluid movement.”
Talking about his experience of learning with his sister, he chuckles, “There’s a lot of sibling rivalry. She’s been dancing (Mohinyattam) from a very young age and, obviously, has had the upper hand. But I don’t let her go ahead of me. We are extremely critical of each other — constantly fighting, correcting. Even our guru finds it amusing.”
Clearly, the joys of sibling rivalry do not retire with age. The duo’s purappadu will showcase the pure dance side, the very basics, of Kathakali. “Going forward, there will be more acting, more emotions. I look forward to that,” he says.
Rajlkumar doesn’t particularly aim to perform spectacular roles or characters. “I just want to enjoy the experience and immerse myself in the learning process.”
For the Navy veteran, the upcoming performance brings a mix of emotions. “I would rate this as one of the most courageous decisions of my life,” he says quietly. “I have butterflies in my stomach and feel as nervous as when I was going for my first solo flight at the age of 21. I sense a déjà vu.”
Rajkumar’s Kathakali mission is a message on pursuing one’s lifelong dreams. To those who hesitate, he offers a word of advice: “Never step back! Age or background is not a criterion at all. Worst comes to worst, you’ll try and fail. So what? One should never stop short of trying.”
On the evening of September 21, as lamps are lit at the Poornathrayeesa Temple, Captain Rajkumar will step on stage — this time in elaborate make-up and costume in place of flight suit, his body guided not by aeronautical instruments but by rhythm.
And in that moment, the decorated naval pilot will simply be a man fulfilling a boyhood promise, proving that second innings can be just as daring, and just as beautiful, as the first.