|
|
the-south-asian.com May/June 2003 |
||||
|
May/June 2003 The
Flourishing Fake Art Pico
Iyer - a global Sarla
Thakral - India's 1st Technology Pakistan's
IT Markets
'Tehri
Lakeer' by Ismat 'Romance
of Mango' by
'Ittar'
- the oldest shop Real Issues The
Real Hindutva vs
Lehngas - a limited collection Books
|
|
||||
|
Sarla Thakral - INDIA’S FIRST LADY PILOT- STILL FLYING HIGH by Sanjay Austa
Back in 1936 this young 21-year-old did the unthinkable. She entered the cockpit of a Gypsy Moth and flew into history as India’s first lady pilot. Accoutered in a smart hand-woven cotton sari with the pallu demurely in place, the dainty 21-year-old confidently ascended the steps of the Gypsy Moth---a two-seater aircraft. Once in the cockpit she strapped her glasses around her eyes and took off into the blue skies. The place: Lahore airport. The year:1936 ---a time when most people still associated flying with birds. The nascent aeroplanes were considered the greatest miracle of science. There were only a handful of male pilots in India. For women, of course flying was unthinkable. That’s why Sarla Thakral’s achievement had no parallels. She was young and pretty with nerves of steel. With only nine hours of flying there was no stopping Sarla from taking that solo flight. Kings, princes, political leaders and the media feted the lady all across undivided India. " It was extraordinary," says the now 88-year-old Sarla, reminiscing about those glorious days. " People from different states began to claim me as one of their own.’’ This was as it should be, because even the men were unwilling to risk their neck in a dangerous profession that had yet to stand the test of time and was far from evolved mechanically. The fear of flying ran deep and even when the British opened the Delhi flying Club to Indians in 1929 you could count the students on your fingertips. One of them was P D Sharma, Sarla’s future husband. Once married, far from telling his wife to sit at home and wait on him as was expected of a proper Indian woman in those days, Sharma persuaded his wife to train as a pilot. His family after all had nine pilots already and they were all supportive of the decision. " In fact it wasn’t so much my husband. My father-in-law was even more enthusiastic and got me enrolled in the flying club," says Sarla and adds, " I knew I was breaching a strictly male bastion but I must say the men, they never made me feel out of place." Vivid Memories However, there was some cutting criticisms from outsiders. For example the one Sarla remembers most vividly had to do with her dress. " I used to hand over my chunni to my flying aide before I sat in the cockpit. One day Rai Bahadur Roop Chand who later went on to become the Indian ambassador to America, told my husband to scold me and tell me not to be such a be-sharam and that I should not take off my chunni while flying," she says with a laugh. From then onwards she may not have had the luxury of flying in a comfortable dress of her choice but the one luxury she enjoyed was the low training fee. In those days she could take flying lessons for Rs. 30 an hour. " Learning flying was cheap because not many wanted to risk their lives," she says. Sarla obtained her ‘A’ license when she accumulated over 1000 hours of flying. She was now readying herself to apply for the group B license that would authorise her to fly as a commercial pilot. But when she was undergoing training in Jodhpur, tragedy struck. Her husband died in a crash in 1939. Jodhpur club closed down soon afterwards with the outbreak of World War ll. Widowed at 24, Sarla abandoned her plans to become a commercial pilot and ventured into diverse fields excelling in each one of them. To distract herself she joined the Mayo School of Arts in Lahore. But her parents re-married her and she settled in Delhi after partition. It was here that her degree in arts came in handy. She succeeded in establishing herself as a painter of renown with most of the big galleries exhibiting her works. . Most of her water colours have followed the Bengali School of Art. Another feature of her paintings was that almost all of them depict women. Along with paintings she also began designing clothes and costume jewellery and became an instant hit. She supplied her jewellery designs to several cottage industries for over 20 years. She had also started textile printing and her sari prints were a rage with the fashionable crowd. In the fifties she could count the virtual who’s who of Delhi as her clients including Vijaylaxmi Pandit. Today Sarla might be pushing 88, but she still has numerous takers for her costume and jewellery designs. She’s a favourite designer with the National School of Drama students whose institute is barely a kilometer away from her house in Delhi’s Bengali Market. " Every morning I wake up and chart out my plans. If there is plenty of work I feel very happy otherwise I feel a precious day has been wasted," she says. Living by herself without even a domestic help to do her chores, Sarla is indeed an example in fortitude. Fuelled with so much creativity and undying energy she says she wants to keep on doing something till she can. Affectionately known as Mati by her clients not many of them can guess or believe that the lady who stitches and designs their clothes was once a celebrated pilot whose pictures were routinely published in newpapers for her daredevil achievement of being India’s first flying superwoman! *****
|
|||||
| Copyright © 2000 - 2003 [the-south-asian.com]. Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. | |||||
| Home | |||||
