I wanted to be an Airline Pilot since a very young age. In the late 1970s, I started gliding lessons after I was refused admission to the Delhi Flying Club, as I was hardly 15 years old. One day while speaking to my neighbour, an Airline Pilot, he suggested I meet his friend and colleague, India’s first Commercial female Pilot, Ms. Prem Mathur, who lived close by in New Delhi. I would often ride my bicycle to her home, and she would regale me with stories of her flying days at Allahabad and Deccan Airways, always leaving me mesmerized. 

Thereafter, I was introduced to Indian Airlines’ first woman Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, Miss Bhuvan Gupta and also to Capt. Saudamini Deshmukh, who had recently joined Indian Airlines as a Pilot.