Wings of Duty — Page 35
35 spot with the person accompanying him. By the time I came back, the previous day’s worker had also arrived. With that I took leave of Shaikh Bashir Ahmad, certain that he would have safely secured the bag in his car. After he had left, I made preparations for take off. As a matter of habit, I looked in the rear view mirror and there I saw Huzoor’s bag sitting on the tarmac at a short distance from the tail of the plane. I was so shocked I did not know what to do. Shaikh Bashir Ahmad had left 20 minutes earlier. Unlike today, back then there were no mobile phones with which to call people. And even if I hurried to the control tower to phone him, he would not yet have returned home. Perplexed by the situation I got out of the plane and stood on the tarmac. I hoped that once he arrived back, he would realise he had left the bag behind and would return for it. But by then it would be too dark for me to fly back as there were no flares in Qadian for night landings. In a state of deep dismay, I suddenly saw a car turning left off Ferozepur Road and coming again towards the airport’s main gate with such ferocity that two of its wheels lifted off the ground. Fortunately, the car did not turn over and continued roaring towards us at great speed. It was then that I recognised Shaikh Bashir Ahmad’s car. A sense of gratitude to Allah arose