NEW DELHI: What does a railway official and aircraft have in common? Ask Gaurav Krishna Bansal, and he would show a collection of radio-controlled aero-models, which he has given wings to in the last 17 years. A senior officer with the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Bansal humbly says he is not an engineer. But background rarely matters when one is driven by passion.
It all started in 2005 when Bansal was posted in Lucknow. “I made the first aero model with materials collected from local markets. If my memory is correct, I spent around Rs 3,000 for making it,” Bansal says. There was no stopping since then. Whenever he finds leisure time after work, Bansal has been busying himself as an ‘aircraft designer’.
“It takes at least 12-15 days to complete the design and convert it into a working model,” he says. Once the model is ready, Bansal will take it to a nearby field where he can watch his creation taking off to the sky. “When it flies, I feel our country is also soaring in success,” Bansal says adding that he doesn’t have any interest in using his hobby for commercial gains. A casual visit to his official residence in Delhi will transport the visitor to a world of flying machines.
Around 25 aero models, each of them imagined and designed by Bansal, is on display here, attracting friends and guests alike. Wherever he gets posting, Bansal says, he takes his ‘winged machines’ along. “I carry along this collection as it is my life’s most precious possession. Every month, I have been keeping aside a part of my salary for funding my hobby,” he says, adding that engineering students often visit him to understand more about the science of aero-modelling.
Currently posted as executive director (information and publicity) in the Ministry of Railways in the national capital, Bansal is also a poet. he has penned a collection of poems “dedicated to the nation and Subash Chandra Bose”. One of his Hindi lyrics, Thukara ke mera pyar, mere intakm dekhegi, which was voiced by playback singer Krishna Beuraa in the film Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana, was a hit. Besides, his poems on Netaji have also attracted attention in the literary circles. Bansal says he even wrote a poem to convince a junior trainee about the “importance of ethics in life”.