Kochi: The Indian Navy squadron 321 is known as the Angels and incidentally those serving at the southern naval command in Kochi refer to themselves as God’s Own Angels after the famous moniker coined in by the state’s tourism department.
And if you were to thank an Angel what better way to do it than to paint the word across the rooftop. A picture released Monday by the Navy on social media has a massive ‘Thanks’ in white paint on an open terrace at Chengamanad near Aluva.
It was the same locality from where the Navy had airlifted dozens that were stranded due to the great flood, including a pregnant woman who delivered a healthy boy just 30 minutes from being rescued.
The picture has since gone viral; tweeted, shared and whatsapped. Seldom ruffled by the torrent of rains that lashed Kerala the past week, wrecking unprecedented havoc, the Navy was but easily taken aback by the unusual show of gratitude.
Commander Vijay Varma who piloted the Chetak that rescued two women from the rooftop just as they did elsewhere in the region Friday has said it is the most heartening experience he’s had in his two decades with the force.
“This is completely surprising,” Commander Vijay Varma said. “In fact you are completely taken aback.” The officer who has flown a number of rescue missions, including in Odisha floods in 2001 and the deluge in Chennai three years ago, says he has never come across a level of appreciation as this one.
“It touched the heart. We will do it even if no thanks come out but when you see something like that it just makes it all worthwhile. The thanks is to the entire Indian Navy; the number of sorties we have flown from morning till night.”
Commander Varma, whose ancestral home is in Thiruvalla and has his parents residing in Kozhikode, where he was schooled three years, feels the Kerala operations were unlike any other he’s participated in.
While recollecting the random acts of kindness and ‘selflessness’ displayed by the public of Kerala even at the face of adversity, Commander Varma said: “I'm very very proud to be a Malayali today. The Malayali people have done a brilliant job. Every single Malayali is a hero today.”
