Try GOLD - Free
Plane plummets to Earth, a phone call that never came
The New Indian Express Kochi
|June 13, 2025
AN old and ailing father in Mumbai realises it's futile to wait for his son to come home and take care of him. The son, Pilot-in-Command Sumit Sabharwal, died in Thursday's Air India plane crash.
He phoned his dad before the flight to London. "I'll call you once I reach London." He barely made it to the perimeter of the airport before the Dreamliner plummeted to Earth.
Three days back, the younger Sabharwal had a heart-to-heart chat with his dad. The conversation must have thrilled the old man, who lived alone after his wife passed away a couple of years ago. Sumit told him that he wanted to stop flying and take care of his father. The son was a bachelor.
This story is from the June 13, 2025 edition of The New Indian Express Kochi.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The New Indian Express Kochi

The New Indian Express Kochi
Silent Bowls, Sacred Flavours
In a quiet corner of Busan, Korea where the city seduces with the aroma of street-food, the air holds a different rhythm.
1 mins
October 05, 2025

The New Indian Express Kochi
'I have a Moral Code for Playing Villains'
Sharon Stone speaks with Katie Ellis about her latest film, Nobody 2, and the controversies that shot her to fame
3 mins
October 05, 2025

The New Indian Express Kochi
Stew Happens in Ladakh
Shaped by the resilience of mountains, Ladakh's food story runs deeper than just momo and thukpa
2 mins
October 05, 2025
The New Indian Express Kochi
Fishy Business and Family Feuds
This murder mystery of quirky characters blends Bengali gothic literature with sharp humour and sly feminism
2 mins
October 05, 2025

The New Indian Express Kochi
Tariffs, Trump, Tradition, and the Tyranny of Tantrums
Only someone in nationalist self-denial will think Donald Trump’s tariffs are taxes, not taunts.
3 mins
October 05, 2025
The New Indian Express Kochi
Out of Office
Gen Z is rapidly abandoning the traditional 9-to-5 for flexible careers that allow authenticity and viable work hours
4 mins
October 05, 2025

The New Indian Express Kochi
Honey, I Shrunk the Netherlands
Madurodam in The Hague is preserving Dutch heritage and identity with its ornately designed, functional miniatures
2 mins
October 05, 2025
The New Indian Express Kochi
GOLDEN DIVIDEND FROM SILVER YEARS
THE human attitude to ageing is ambivalent. The final phase of life is often marked by a decline in utility health and mobility While in certain communities seniors are revered, many languish in neglect.
3 mins
October 05, 2025

The New Indian Express Kochi
When Our National Spectacle Crushes Its Own
Hathras in 2024 at a religious satsang, where followers stampede in a rush of blind devotion, while the state machinery busies itself trying to control the narrative. Even at the greatest of religious festivals, the Kumbh Mela, where millions gather, crowd-related deaths occur with horrifying regularity, often covered up and casually dismissed as a ‘logistical inevitability.’
4 mins
October 05, 2025
The New Indian Express Kochi
Peanuts, Priorities, and the Flow of Time
Not long ago, I had a conversation with a CEO who, somewhere between checking his phone and adjusting his tie, declared: “I just don’t have time to pursue what I really want.” It was a very solemn moment. Almost moving. Had it not been for the fact that, during our 20-minute chat, he checked his phone 17 times. That's once every 45 seconds—20 if you subtract the part where he closed his eyes and said “Mmm” to pretend he was listening
2 mins
October 05, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size