BY JYOTHSNA HEGDE

There is something refreshing and endearing to watch someone live their dream. In a world where nothing is certain, Death is a given. To face the end while you are doing what you love most is something we can all only aspire for and that is what Lokesh Venkat was doing - flying, when he met his untimely end.

On Friday, March 22, 2008 at 4:20 PM a four-seat flight, Beechcraft BE76 crashed in the woods near Richard B. Russell Airport near Rome, Georgia. The fateful flight carried a student pilot, Lokesh Venkat (23) from Chennai, India and his flight Instructor Kwang Yi (34) or Kenny as he was affectionately called, of Duluth. Ajc.com says Beechcraft BE76 was registered to Aviation Atlanta Inc., a flight training school based out of Peachtree-DeKalb Airport in Chamblee, where the flight originated Friday. Incidentally, a lot of students from India learn flight training from Aviation Atlanta Inc.

According to reports in the local media, the flight’s occupants had been doing "multi-engine training," which includes practicing flying with only one of the two engines working. As the plane took off, it appeared to be struggling and caught the eye of Mike Mathews, the airport's manager, who was driving around the airport and he estimates around 500 or 1000 ft, the flight banked to the left and plunged nose-down at the southern end of the airport and burst into flames upon impact. The crash is still under investigation.

Lokesh, the youngest son of parents Venkatesh and Shankari hailed from Chennai, India. He is survived by two of his older sisters Maya and Divya. Janani Asokan, one of Lokesh’s best friends says that Lokesh, being the youngest son, was showered with all the extra love and attention by his family. Lokesh, Janani reflects, had grown way beyond his age.

“He loved his mother who he dotingly called Shankari and talked to her over the phone every day and also spoke to his sister in Texas twice a day,” she said.

The young pilot had recently confided that he had saved up money to buy his mother and his future wife a diamond necklace. Lokesh, who had adopted Janani as his sister, truly lived up to being her big brother. She even called him Anna (brother in Tamil), she says.

Having completed his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Velammal Engineering College, Janani tells us Lokesh aspired to work for Kingfisher Airlines. Flying was his passion – and it shows on his Orkut profile where he describes his hometown as 13.09°N 80.27°E and 12.97°N 77.56°E. His Orkut profile also carries well over 10000 scarps (and still coming) from communities and friends he built in his short life span. Lokesh, Janani tells us, encouraged people to fulfill their dreams with the same determination and zeal he pursued his. He truly lived all the days of his life and led by example.

Lokesh, who was close to completing his required hours of flight training, was supposed to return to India in a few days, says Janani. “He had been a happy man,” she says, having returned from India this February after his sister’s wedding and celebrating his own birthday on the 7th of March. He was going to complete one paper back in Chennai, obtain his license and be a great pilot someday.

Not all of us may be as lucky as Lokesh was – flying high and living his dream, when death came knocking, but surely we can try to make each and every day count and amount to something meaningful so that when the end is near we have no regrets. A young man’s premature death, although is never justifiable or acceptable, is certainly a wake up call to the rest of us – to stop and smell the roses, stop complaining and count our blessings. Let us pray that Lokesh’s family and friends find the courage to live on, and somehow find comfort in the fact that he touched the skies and lived a complete life surrounded by people that loved him deeply and will forever remember him fondly.