May 22, 2019

“You need to go to Ottawa. Aarohi needs a familiar face after the Atlantic Crossing. And we need to film a sponsor video.”

Also, she needs a fresh supply of banana chips!

That was pretty much the agenda of my quick trip to Canada. Aarohi was in Nuuk, Greenland getting ready to complete her Atlantic Crossing and was due to land in Iqaluit to make another world record any day now. Lynn wanted me to get to Ottawa before she did so I could welcome her there and mark the halfway point milestone of the WE! Expedition. I filled my too-big suitcase with chips, sponsor decals, gifts and a few sweaters and set off for my 44 hour journey from Delhi to Ottawa via Vancouver. By the time I landed, Aarohi had made her world record. She was now the first woman in the world to cross the Atlantic in a Light Sport Aircraft.

I was picked up from the airport by the wonderful Robin Hadfield, Director of the The Ninety-Nines, and a pilot herself, who offered her full support to the WE! Expedition by hosting us in Ottawa. After a good night’s rest at former Cognos CEO and aviation aficionado Mike Potter’s historic mansion, we had a packed schedule planned the next day. First stop was at Vintage Wings of Canada in Gatineau, Quebec – a state-of-the-art hangar with some gorgeous vintage planes, all shiny and most in perfect working condition! This was followed by a meeting at the Indian High Commission with Sunil Kumar Sharma, Second Secretary (PIC) and Brenda D’Silva, Social Secretary, who assuming that I might already be a little homesick, very kindly took me out to lunch at a popular Indian restaurant. Needless to say, the food was excellent, but it was their warmth, genuine concern for Aarohi and their enthusiasm for the expedition that made me feel so at home.

Robin then took me to the local Canadian Tire store so she could put together an emergency wilderness survival kit for Aarohi’s flight over the Canadian bush. This included waterproof matches, a whistle, work gloves, water purification tablets, some high-protein turkey jerky and a high-intensity mosquito/black fly repellant, among other things.

But the wait in Ottawa was going to be longer than expected. The clouds were thick and low and Iqaluit was seeing snow flurries and ice cold drizzles. Aarohi wasn’t going to be able to fly out for the next few days and my return ticket had been booked for the end of the week. So another quick overnight decision was made and I was off again, flying over the many lakes and rivers of Quebec for Baffin Island.

In(uit) Iqaluit

Out of the blue and into the white. That’s how I would describe my whirlwind trip to Iqaluit.

The temperature was supposed to be 1-2 degrees, and lesser still if you count wind chill, which you should! I had come prepared for Ottawa’s balmy 15 degrees, so my light overcoat wasn’t going to cut it. With a borrowed ski jacket and beanie, all thanks to Robin, and brand new wool socks, I was set and ‘bracing’ to go.

You know that feeling you get when you see a favourite niece or a little puppy who you haven’t met in so long, but who has changed so much since you last saw her. That’s how I felt when I saw Mahi from a distance, sitting with her white ‘bonnet’ in the middle of Iqaluit’s strangely busy tarmac. I wanted to run to her and give her a hug, pet her head and say “Oh how you’ve grown little Mahi!”.

Last time I saw her, she was a baby bird taking off from Patiala, hoping to change the world. And here she was, multiple world firsts and records under her belt, an ocean flying veteran and ice cap conqueror.

Really, how she has grown – this little plane with the wide wings and funny snout who has earned her place in history.

And her pilot has grown with her. Completely at home at the Frobisher Bay Touchdown Services office, Aarohi is the same Bombay girl with the same Bombay ‘chill’. Except she is so used to the tundra climate now, she’s roaming around in a light dry-fit jacket. And leggings! If they were fashionable enough, she’d probably be wearing her rubber flip-flops everywhere.

The scene was almost surreal. Aarohi sharing her packet of banana chips with everyone at the FBO office, chatting and laughing over hot cups of coffee. You just needed to ignore the icy landscape outside the window and the polar bear skin hung on one wall, and you could’ve been sitting in a cosy sitting room in Juhu!

Also surreal because here was Bernard Frank, President of Frobisher Bay Touchdown Services in remote Iqaluit, who just happens to be a Bombay boy from Borivali who grew up on the same street as Aarohi. Surreal because Husam from Lucknow pulled out a packet of dates to share as he broke his Ramadan fast. Surreal because there was a massive baleen, a comb-like filter feeder system from a whale’s mouth sitting on the chest of drawers.

Refreshments done, Aarohi and I stepped back out into the freezing cold to clean Mahi, stick on the new sponsor decal and shoot the video. Meanwhile CBC had also gotten in touch for an interview and were setting up their camera outside. The interview was mercifully quick and after multiple takes of Aarohi getting in and out of Mahi, we ran back in with painful, semi-frozen fingers which I had to hold over a heater vent to thaw.

Iqaluit is a wonderfully strange place. All the houses here are on stilts because of the permafrost, with dirt roads, forgotten upturned sleds and a surprisingly high number of pet dogs. Bernard gave us a quick tour on our way to his lovely B&B called Accommodations by the Sea where we were given the biggest rooms with the best views of the frozen bay. Bernard said that mine was extra special – Leonardo DiCaprio had stayed in this very room when he was here to shoot his documentary Before The Flood.

Once in the heated house, Aarohi shed the jacket and went back to her flight planning. She had to find the next best window to fly out and it wasn’t looking good. With overcast skies predicted the next day as well, we went out for dinner at The Discovery where our adventurous pilot with the non-adventurous palate chose to eat a prawn coconut curry with rice. You can take the Mumbaikar out of Mumbai, but…you know the rest.

Yours truly chose the local Arctic char paired with a fantastic caribou steak which was totally worth writing home about. I’ll spare you the picture.

My flight back to Ottawa was scheduled for the next afternoon. With no flying window in sight, we stayed up way after the sun went down (it sets after 10 pm), catching up and talking about the next milestone.

I was worried about saying goodbye to Aarohi and Mahi the next day. But seeing the calm Mona-Lisa-esque smile on Aarohi’s face made me realise that this girl and her little plane are going to be just fine. She knows what she’s doing, she is mentally and emotionally in a good place and completely focussed on the task at hand.

Next time I see them both again, they will be circumnavigators.

Back to Ottawa

My last day in Ottawa was spent with the amazing Dr Carl Christie, historian, archivist, author and aviation geek. Carl is another one of those rare human beings who did not think twice before he volunteered to host a complete stranger in his home. All for his love for aviation and because he thought it was “kind of neat to play even this tiny role in such a fantastic project”.

I disagree with Carl though. His role in this expedition is far from tiny. Ever since WE! began, it’s the people we have met along the way – in this case Robin, Sunil Sharma, Brenda, Bernard and team, and Carl – who have played an immensely important role in helping us come this far and who I cannot thank enough. As I fly back to India, via Frankfurt this time, (thus completing my own circumnavigation even if it’s as a passenger in a commercial plane) I realise once again that it’s the faith, the positivity and genuine affection that will propel and power Aarohi and Mahi forward.

They are the human dots that connect as Mahi flies around the world, tracing a line around the Earth, tying us all together.

– Debkanya

(Program Director, WE! Expedition)