Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties)- these are the words he suggested once for the AAAD newsletter way back in late 90's when we were doing a newsletter submission, little did i know t that time that he would be among the stars before me and that too in  tragic way which he never wanted. That's the way my buddy Paddy chose to be among the stars we always were watching in night observations.He left all of us and went to be among those stars (i envy him for that) on a day exactly 6 years ago on 16th August 2008. While on a rescue sortie in  Leh in Helicopter he bid adieu to all of us without realizing what would happen to us, he won the race to be among the stars. I envy him but at the same time i miss him as he was a gem of a person as friend. When i heard the news of the helicopter crash, i was in a state of disbelief and so were all others....