Squadron Leader Sushil Shinde was a member of the Rafale fighter jet crew from the Indian Air Force that flew above the Paris skyline during the Bastille Day Parade in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Over 7,000 km away, in Maharashtra’s Parbhani district, his 56-year-old father Shankar Shinde, a former state transport employee, watched the flypast on TV with pride and admiration as his 34-year-old son became part of this momentous occasion.
Sushil, whose family hails from Purna in Parbhani district, is an alumnus of Sainik School Satara and like many of his classmates, dreamed of becoming a pilot. His sister is also an IAF officer.
This was not the first France outing for Sushil as he has been to the European country on a couple of occasions earlier too, in connection with the delivery of the Rafale aircraft from France to India, an IAF officer said.
French National Day, or Bastille Day, occupies a special place in the French consciousness as it commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison during the French Revolution in 1789.
An Indian tri-services contingent participated in the parade. Three Rafale fighter jets of the Indian Air Force joined the flypast along with French jets.