This story is from February 27, 2017

Bankura boy soars with top IAF skydiver honour

As a child, he would walk barefoot for 2-3km from his village to the nearest bus stand. His father, a farmer, struggled to provide two square meals a day for the family of six.
Bankura boy soars with top IAF skydiver honour
Asit Kumar Biswas led his team in a skydiving exercise at RCTC a while back
KOLKATA: As a child, he would walk barefoot for 2-3km from his village to the nearest bus stand. His father, a farmer, struggled to provide two square meals a day for the family of six. There wasn't enough money for a bathroom in the thatched house they called home. Through all of this, Asit Kumar Biswas dreamt of someday being in one of the many aeroplanes he saw fly over his house.
Several years later, Biswas has fulfiled his dream, and how. He now holds the record for the highest number of parachute jumps by a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
“Till date, I have made about 2,406 jumps. There is only one person in the IAF who has made more jumps, but he is a commissioned officer. When I joined the IAF in 1984, I had dreamt of flying and parajumping, but never too seriously . As an airman, I was posted in another branch till I volunteered for parajumping in 1989,“ the Master Warrant Officer says.
Biswas belongs to Sridharpur village in Bankura's Joypur and he doesn't hold back when speaking of his modest background. “We were very poor and my father couldn't afford much. This was probably what made me what I am today . I had to find a secure job to support the family and went for the IAF recruitment rally . It was left to me to look after my three sisters and parents. It was due to this job that I succeeded in getting them married in good families. I never forgot my roots and even got married to a girl from Kotulpur, Bankura, in 1994,“ adds Biswas, who is an instructor at the Paratroopers Training School (PTS) in Agra.
Taking time out of training the elite Special Forces of the Army , Biswas participates in skydiving with his mates of the IAF's coveted Akash Ganga team. On February 18, as Biswas led his team and landed at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) with a tricolour parachute during the Indian Air Force Cup and Eastern Air Command Cup Races, the who's who of Kolkata cheered.
Akash Ganga is a 14-member team of highly skilled skydivers that was formed in 1987. The members of the team are all instructors at PTS.Their exercises include jumps from high altitudes, free-fall of several thousand feet and conducting manoeuvres while continuing to descend at great speed before opening their parachutes.
“Our schedule is so tight that I couldn't even spend a day in Kolkata this time. I flew back to Agra in the evening after the jump at RCTC,“ the Bankura boy rues.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA