Ahmedabad: After a long and dedicated service to Air India (AI) in Rajendra Patankar, it was flight 171 from his beloved airline that wrote his final chapter. The 63-year-old former Air India cargo loader was only 20 minutes away from completing his morning shift as Gujarat Industrial Security Force (GISF) Jawan in Atriyam 4 when fate dealt with cruel hands. Caught in the burning effects of the crash of an AI plane, he drove off the building and partially burned. The miracle that brought Rajendra to life ended on Wednesday evening when he succumbed to an injury at a civil hospital. Patanker rushed to the hospital with 33% burns on his face, forearms and hands, and was conscious of most of the six days, walking and talking with his family. His son, Vishal, 37, who works with the AI security unit, was mobilized to support rescue operations and only learned about his father's condition later. “My father said he recognized the sound of the aircraft's engine just before the explosion. Look at the irony of fate. He loved Air India. It gave him life. I never imagined that none of us would take it away,” Vishal said. Brother Ankit (35) and mother Mina (61) discover Rajendra's warning in the hospital. “He spoke, joked, acknowledged by his colleagues and even some of the doctors he had known since three years at BJ Medical College and Atriyam.” By the fourth day, Rajendra was feeling uneasy. “So many doctors came to visit him and he began to think something was wrong,” Vishal said. Anxiety skyrocketed during the dressing exchange for his deep tissue burns, amplifying the pain. The next day he was unconscious and was placed on a ventilator as his heart struggled to maintain the oxygen levels needed in his blood. His body gave up the fight the next night. The doctor attempted six CPR but was unable to revive him. On Thursday, a large number of GISF officials gathered. Rajendra was awarded an honorary salute at the BJMC campus, said Girish M Thakur, senior inspector at GISF. His body was escorted on a police protection convoy passing through Meganinagar before reaching the crematorium in Ashokmir area. The man who worked around the plane for most of his life lay lying resting in one shadow.
