N. Raghuraman's Column: If you feel like spending time with your loved ones, never postpone it.

N. Raghuraman's Column: If you feel like spending time with your loved ones, never postpone it

Captain Sumit Sabharwal had promised to take some time out of his busy schedule to spend with his 82-year-old father. After making that promise, he called his family and told them he would contact them again after reaching London. Captain Sabharwal lived in the same area of Mumbai — Powai — where I have been residing for the past three decades. My brother, who is also a captain with Air India, lives in the same colony.

Captain Sabharwal, who had experience flying aircraftsuch as the Airbus A310, Boeing 777, and B787, was known to be calm and deeply committed to his work. I am certain that, just like him, the other 11 crew members and passengers aboard also made similar calls to their families, expressing similar intentions. Unfortunately, those promises will now never be fulfilled. The aircraft, AI171, which was flying to London, crashed just 32 seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport.

This incident reminded me of some difficult moments in my own life — moments where I lost people close to me. In the early 1980s, I worked at Roche Products Limited, a pharmaceutical company, alongside a senior colleague named Kulkarni.

He was a supervisor in the packaging department. Both of us lived in Dombivli, a suburb near Mumbai, and often traveled together during the week. Despite working together for a long time, our families had never met. We had planned a surprise dinner with our families at the end of that month. But fate had other plans.

One day that same month, Kulkarni told me he had some urgent work to finish, so he would leave later. I left the office on time that day. That very night, someone came to my house to tell me that Kulkarni had been standing at a bus stop near the office, waiting to catch a bus to the nearby train station.

He saw the bus approaching and stood in position where the footboard would stop. But due to brake failure, the bus lost control and rammed into the bus stand — killing Kulkarni instantly. He died at the exact entry gate of Roche Products Limited, the company he had loyally served for almost a decade.

A similar story is that of K.N. Raghavendra, a senior editor at several newspapers, with whom I worked for over 30 years. We worked together at many publications including DNA in Mumbai. His death too was completely unexpected.

Just two days before he passed away, we went on a road trip to Nashik. Both of us had built small homes there and dreamed of spending our retirement days together in peace. After spending two days in Nashik making those very plans, we returned to Mumbai. Then, two days later, I suddenly received the news of his passing.

He had started feeling uneasy. His wife went to a neighbor's house to ask for help in taking him to the nearby hospital. While she was away, Raghavendra got up from bed to call out to her — but collapsed before he could reach the door.

Since then, I have made a habit: if I ever feel the urge to meet someone, I pack my bag, book a ticket, and go. If they are in the same city, I drive over to see them. This brings me great inner peace.

The takeaway is this: It’s in these moments that we realize how unpredictable life truly is. We have no control over how many days we are given, but we can absolutely control how beautifully we live those days. Spend as much time as you can with your loved ones, shower them with love, and live with purpose.