MUMBAI: Pushkraj Sabharwal doesn’t tire of telling visitors to his Powai house in Mumbai to condole his son’s death and how good a pilot Captain Sumit Sabharwal was.
The 88-year-old father says he is proud of his son, who commandeered the ill-fated Dreamliner. He was skilled and experienced and never caused an accident, he intones.
The captain was reaching his retirement age. The Sabharwals live in Jal Vayu Vihar in Mumbai’s posh suburb of Powai.
He joined Air India in 1994 and rose to be the most senior pilot, with over 8,000 flying hours to his credit.
Local Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande was among the first to visit the Sabharwal home to offer his condolences. The father was in shock after hearing the news and couldn’t utter a word for a long time, he recalls.
Lande and the neighbours tried to give him solace but in vain. “He continued to mourn and weep. We tried to console him,” he recalled.
Sumit’s mother died over two years ago. Their only son, Sumit, has been caring for his father ever since. The daughter lives in Delhi with her family.
Lande said, “God had something different in his mind. He has neither the spouse nor the son left with him in his old age.” Incidentally, the daughter’s two sons are also pilots.