Lara Dutta lost her father wing commander (retd) LK Dutta (84) earlier this year. On Air Force Day, the actress shares memories of her late father, the environment she grew up in and how her sister is carrying on his legacy.
Lara belongs to a family of three generations of aviators. Her grandfather was a commercial pilot for the British overseas airways corporation. She says, “My father was commissioned very young as a flying officer straight out of NDA. He won two vayu sena medals, one for gallantry during the 1965 Indo- Pak war. During the 1971 war he was the commanding officer of his helicopter unit and was awarded the vayu sena medal for gallantry again. When dad retired he was flying for Mrs Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister at that time and was stationed at Hindon (Uttar Pradesh) where I was born. We grew up knowing the men in our lives were married to the motherland first and then to their families, and the officers wives were women of resilience and immense patience.”
Lara says that her dad left behind a void that cannot be filled. She recalls, “Growing up I would sit on my dad’s lap and announce to the world that I wanted to be an ‘omlette’ because I could not pronounce pilot back then. As life unfolded it became clear that my second sister would follow in his footsteps. Sq leader Cheryl Dutta was in the first batch of women to be inducted into the Indian air force as a helicopter pilot. She along with my brother-in-law fought during the Kargil war. Its a way of life for the family, understanding we are soldiers.”
She adds, being part of a military family taught her adaptability. “Every few years you are at a new air force station, it gives you the opportunity to interact with people across the length and breadth of the country. We moved from Jodhpur to Hindon and Bengaluru. As a child there’s no better education you can have than experiencing different cultures, languages and meeting so many different people. I will always remain an air force brat. ” she signs off.
