Military institutions often appear distant to civilians. They never did to me. My father served in the Indian Air Force, and growing up, the Armed Forces were never just uniforms on Republic Day or headlines after a conflict—they were part of the conversations, values, and discipline that quietly shaped my childhood. I, too, dreamt of joining the Indian Army. Life took me elsewhere, but that curiosity never really left. Reading The Curious and the Classified: Unearthing Milit

Some books arrive quietly. Others arrive carrying the sound of engines. While reading Wings of Valour by Swapnil Pandey, I found myself thinking not just about aircraft slicing through the sky, but about a pair of grease-stained hands from another era — my father’s. My father served in the Indian Air Force, working on the maintenance of the legendary Douglas C‑47 Dakota. Growing up, I never saw the aircraft he worked on. What I saw were stories — fragments told over eveni

Have you ever held a book and felt like it was speaking directly to your soul? That’s exactly how I felt with A Valiant Aviator by...