India, Sept. 23 -- When a 13-year-old Afghan boy landed in Delhi by hiding in the wheel well of a plane from Kabul, his escape/adventure brought back memories of a similar incident - only much bigger, much more tragic - from three decades ago, when two brothers from India's Punjab tried this method to get to the UK.

They were much older, and only one of them made it. The survivor's story stood out as a medical anomaly. He went on to get residential status and worked at London's Heathrow Airport. But that's only an unfairly brief version of the story.

Theirs was a tale of daring desperation, and partial providence.

Back to the present for now.

The Afghan teenager, from Kunduz city, was spotted almost immediately upon landing and sent b...