During
my schooldays, the bus stop, from where we boarded the school bus (or Coach), was
right next to Air Force Main Gate. Our buses came at around 7.00 am and
we used to reach the bus stop as early as 6.30 am to keep our bags in line, a
typical ‘First Come - Get Seat’ system. On their
way to work, some Airmen (Uncle Ji) brought their kid’s school bags with them, in order to keep the bags in line. My
dad never did that for me and being a late packer, I couldn’t afford that
luxury. So there were around 40 bags, with no owners, and few of us, ‘early
birds’, standing at the bus stop, busy chit chatting.
The Air
Force siren used to go off exactly at 6.45 am and it lasted for half
a minute. It was fun to watch those 30 seconds high speed cycling. A race
to get inside the Main Gate before the siren ends. I have hardly seen anyone
getting inside those big gates, after the siren gets over. They were real ‘Men in
Blue’, they were all punctual.
Dad
often told me the story of a Japanese guy, who succumbed to heart
attack when he realized that he reached office 5 minutes late. During mock
drills and black outs, Dad told me that he is supposed to leave for
work in whatever state he is and in whatever dress he is, if the siren goes off.
Though I have never seen him going to work in Pajamas, but he literally jumped out of the window whenever he
heard a siren, no matter what time of the day it was.
Thanks
to my dad and thanks to those Men in Blue… I have always
tried be punctual…
