Passion matters, wrote Varun to students

Captain Varun Singh, who died Wednesday, said ‘It’s ok to be mediocre’

New Delhi: ”It’s ok to be mediocre” — were the inspiring words that Group Captain Varun Singh conveyed to the students of his school in a letter weeks after he was decorated with the Shaurya Chakra award for displaying exemplary composure and skill. The air warrior succumbed to injuries at a military hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning, a week after sustaining serious injuries in the chopper crash near Coonoor that killed Gen Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 armed forces personnel. Group Captain Singh was the lone survivor of the December 8 crash. He was conferred with the Shaurya Chakra in August for averting a possible mid-air accident after his Tejas light combat aircraft suffered a major technical glitch last year.

“It is ok to be mediocre. Not everyone will excel at school and not everyone will be able to score in the 90s. If you do, it’s an amazing achievement and must be applauded. However, if you don’t, do not think that you are meant to be mediocre. You may be mediocre in school but it is by no means a measure of things to come in life,” Singh wrote in a letter to the principal and students of Army Public School, Chandimandir.

The air warrior said he was an average student and barely scored first division in Class 12, but had a passion for airplanes and aviation. “I write to you filled with a sense of pride and humility. On August 15 this year, I was awarded Shaurya Chakra by the President of India in recognition of an act of gallantry on October 12, 2020,” he wrote. Group Captain Singh’s letter dated September 18 further read, “I credit this prestigious award to all those I have been associated with over the years in school, NDA and thereafter the Air Force, as I firmly believe that my actions that day were a result of the grooming and mentoring by my teachers, instructors and peers over the years.”

Group Captain Singh was conferred with the Shaurya Chakra for displaying exemplary composure and skill when his Tejas aircraft developed the technical snag. “Despite being in extreme physical and mental stress in an extreme life-threatening situation, he maintained exemplary composure and recovered the aircraft, thereby exhibiting exceptional flying skill,” the award citation said. —(PTI)