Life around ‘luxe’ watch brands can be exciting indeed, as Mitrajit Bhattacharya, President and Publisher of the Chitralekha Group, describes in 11 stories in his forthcoming book ‘Life Money Can’t Buy’. Here is an excerpt from the chapter Fear Factor, in which he writes about his experience of spine-chilling aerobatics as part of the Breitling’s jet team in Switzerland
Breitling makes the finest aviation watches in the world, but I had no idea why the company needed to own so many different types of aircraft—from L39C Albatros Czech-made twin-seater military training jets to 1940s open-cockpit Boeing Stearman biplanes, from Alenia-Aermacchi SF-260 C/D propeller planes to Pitt Special S2A aircraft and a DC30—till I was hosted by them for this rare experience of flying in some of them in Switzerland.
After a spectacular display by Jacques Bothelin and his team in the skies, it was our turn to ride the Hawks. It started dawning on me that I was about to experience something I had no clue about. The scariest thing I had done till date was to be on a rollercoaster. I was told at the briefing not to touch anything inside the cockpit and what to pull, in case of an emergency, to disengage the parachute. I was lucky that I was chosen to fly the No 1 of the formation, piloted by none other than Jacques. I made my walk to the aircraft, and in no time the engineer had set me up in the cockpit with a testing done for all the gadgets, including the microphone. The cockpit window was soon pulled over, leaving me with a chilling finality, as if someone had just dealt a killer punch right in the middle of my stomach.
Deadly thoughts were darting across my mind: What would it feel like to be there all alone in the sky, within touching distance of a fleet of aircraft flying at the same speed as mine, making the margin of error zero? Seven of the aircraft lined up for take-off, and soon, we were cruising along in the sky.
The next 25 seconds were the most testing moments of my life. I was pulled apart by this huge surge of pressure, which Jacques later told was around 4.5G. These fighter planes can do up to 8-10G, but for a shorter duration. 4.5G for 25 seconds was surely a test of endurance. I soon realized there was no fear left in me. I was bold enough to see the rest of my flight through, including the landing. Lunch on Earth was just so heavenly after that.
“This book is a journey of my life over the past decade. It’s about the out-of-the box experiences I was fortunate to have covering the ‘luxe’ world criss-crossing continents...Hope you enjoy leafing through my adventures as much as I have enjoyed ‘living’ them.”
Mitrajit Bhattacharya, President & Publisher, Chitralekha Group
“Covering events related to the luxury watches, Mitrajit has travelled the world; flying in a jet plane, riding on a gas balloon moving slowly over Mont Blanc, cheering jazz maestros at Montreaux, being a guest of a katana maker, hooting for Sumo wrestlers in Tokyo and admiring a mermaid in Capri... This book is Mitrajit’s first step. May he take more such steps, not remaining captive of the environment in which we all find ourselves, and introduce us to more such exciting experiences.”
Ravi Shastri
(In the Foreword)
