Barathwajan Araiyar Srirangam GoAir Airbus 320 Pilot

Making Childhood Dream a Reality

After over a decade of persistent hard work, Srirangam's Barathwajan Araiyar will finally be debuting in March as an Airbus 320 Pilot  

Only last month this section had featured a story on the young Natha Muni Araiyar of Srivilliputhur (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/12/srivilliputhur-araiyar-natha-muni.html) quitting a banking job to continue the Araiyar Sevai that has been handed to him by his forefather. This one is a story of a 41 year old Araiyar from Srirangam who will be moving away from full-fledged Araiyar Sevai to pursue his childhood dream after having just bagged a financially lucrative offer from a leading airline in the country.

This section had in February 2016 featured a story on Srirangam’s Barathwajan Araiyar and his passion for driving starting from cars even as a young teenager. His childhood dream had always been to become a pilot. While he had been trying hard for several years to secure a job in one of the top airlines, it proved elusive. Finally, after over a decade of unfailing effort, he has managed to land a job as a Pilot at GoAir and has just undergone training. Very soon, he will be flying Airbus 320 for which he had undergone a Type rating exam. It was after clearing this exam that Go Air called for applications for Pilots with this rating. He went through a stringent process and finally got through last year.

He told this writer on Tuesday evening soon after presenting the sacred verses on Thiru Kannapuram on the 9th day of the Era Pathu utsavam at the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam that he will soon be relocating to Bangalore with his wife and young son. His appa had struggled financially in his early days with limited facilities and wanted his son to enjoy life. Hence he tried to present everything that his son was interested in and did not stop him from pursuing his other interests. “My appa and uncles have supported me in making this childhood dream a reality. Even when after many years of exploring opportunities in this space I did not get the breakthrough, they backed me and provided the confidence that I would get it one day. They are now very happy that I have been able to achieve my goal. There are four others in our family to continue the Araiyar Sevai for the foreseeable future.”

He has also already started training his four year old son in Araiyar Sevai and he too has been presenting at the Era Pathu utsavam this year. “I brought him this year to remove the stage fear and to build his confidence. Later in life, I would like him to serve in the Indian Army.” 

Barathwajan Araiyar has been part of Araiyar Sevai at Srirangam for the last three decades. He played the role of Prahalada when he was still not into his teens on the 7th day of Era Pathu Utsavam when the Araiyars present the entire episode of Hiranya Vatham. In 1993, as a 12 year old he presented Araiyar Sevai, of the ‘Thodakka Paasurams’ of the Tiruvoimozhi verses.

In this same phase in the 1990s, his interest for driving different vehicles increased. Every Sunday he would go to a mechanic shop in Thiruvanaikaval and help out in the repair of two wheelers and cars. When vehicles broke down in Srirangam at odd hours, people reached out to him. It was during this period that his interest expanded to aircrafts. 

A couple of years after graduating in Computer Science from National College he joined an Aviation course. He had been a pilot with a Chartered Airline and straddled between his role as a Pilot and Araiyar Sevai at the temple.

It will be the biggest moment of his life when he debuts with Airbus 320 in March this year. It is likely he will be flying 40 hours a month. He is hoping that he will be able to accumulate leave and be present for the next Adyayana Utasavam that starts in the second week of December this year. 

His has been a story of how it is possible to get over repeated rejections through persistent hard work and effort. It has not been an easy path for him over the last decade. Its taken a while to get this offer from a private airline. But at 41, Barathwajan Araiyar has finally converted his childhood dream into a reality.

This section wishes him the best as a Pilot.