The sound was different, unlike the usual rumble that usually cuts across the air as aircraft buzz past near her home, near the landing area of the Thiruvananthapuram airport. This one seemed heavier, loaded.
Anamika G S, who was dozing off, got stirred. She quickly grabbed her camera, darted out into the open, and began clicking the American National Air Cargo 747, which rarely stops over at the airport for refuelling.
Unable to manage good pictures due to poor light, she went to bed determined to wake up early to catch the flight in action before heading to St Mary’s HSS, Pattom, where she is a Class XII student. The picture she took the next morning is now one of her prized possessions. It speaks of her passion for planespotting.
“I was drawn to the hobby while I was a toddler. There would be hardly anyone who hasn’t done it, running out to gaze at aircraft flying over their homes. Children especially love it,” Anamika smiles.
“My home being near the airport was an incentive. And so was my father’s (Gopakumar Mathrika) interest in photography and association with the Plane Spotters Kerala (PSK) collective.”
Anamika is now PSK’s youngest and only female member. The group was formed in 2000 and has members that include professional flyers as well as hobbyists.
Anamika began clicking pictures of the aircraft on a mobile phone when she was around five or six but started serious photography only during the pandemic, when she began using a Nikon camera to capture the charm of the flying machines.
“It was surreal. To me, just watching them was exciting. The thrill it gives me is inexplicable,” she says.
“Planespotting has become an integral part of me. So much so that I can identify the flights just by their sound now.”
Anamika’s hobby is not just about the fun factor. It is an act of public alert too, because some of her recent pictures of bird hits, how waste is being dumped near the airport attracting birds, and how kites and birds are posing a danger to flights have awakened the authorities to this hazard.
Several of her frames, showing birds nearly hitting the aircraft, or kites or advertisement balloons slowing or stopping flight take-offs or landings, have been circulating widely on social media and have caught the right attention. Incidentally, there was a bird hit at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Monday.
Her most recent initiative has been to create pamphlets on the hazard and circulate them to school students and the public alike.
“Come vacation, the skies will be dotted with kites. There needs to be caution,” she says.
Anamika, who has exhibited her clicks once, proudly highlights that some of her pics have been published on www.jetphotos.com, an international website on aircraft. She also recalls her photo of Air India One, which was used as the default picture on the flight tracker as it took off from JFK airport after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent US visit.
“My name appeared beside the picture,” Anamika gushes. “I had clicked the aircraft when the prime minister visited Thiruvananthapuram.”
Yet another prized shot of hers is the click of a Japanese Air Force plane that landed in Thiruvananthapuram. “It was six to seven months ago. There was an air of mystery around it,” she recalls.
Planespotting as a serious hobby has not been given its due here, Anamika notes. “There are designated spots for it in other countries. But here, the only place where people used to assemble to watch, near a school by Shankhumukham beach, has also been barricaded,” she says.
“We planespotters do not merely click pics. We also record the make, the sound, engine type, the position of the cockpit, etc. Such a database has helped authorities across the world during grave accidents or moments of crisis. Even otherwise, plane spotting is a beautifully heady activity that is as soothing as it is exciting.”
Anamika adds that planespotting avenues can boost tourism as well. “Authorities should make sure that there are designated spots inside the airport, where plane spotters can assemble and click, or just bond over the machines,” she says.
Anamika wants to go to Bengaloru or Delhi to Airbus A 380, the world’s largest passenger airliner. “Maldives is a dream spot, too. I always follow Maldived on the flight tracker,” she says. “I would love to visit all airports across India. Once the holidays start, I will visit Nedumbassery.”
Does she plan to become an aviator? “No,” says Anamika. “I want to be a doctor. But my passion for aircraft will keep soaring.”
