In our childhood, there would be found a few numbers of people who don’t want to be a pilot; especially, by looking at the sky, a shiver has always been felt by ourselves. What we have felt or, dreamt in our childhood days can be regarded as infantilism for not having the ardency in achieving it. But, amongst us, few people have been found who not only achieve their goals but also leave their footprints in history.
One of them is Gunjan Saxena; a person of such resolve and determination has rarely been found in the tales of history. When, as per the movie, traveling on a plane with her family, she was first introduced with the term ‘pilot’ which eventually occupied her mind though incognizant about the gender discrimination prevalent in the late ’80s. After getting the highest marks in secondary examination, she explicitly expressed her inner thoughts of becoming a pilot to her family members. But the family members were absolutely against her to render permission of leaving the hometown. Her beloved father, however, gave her tacit approval to apply in the offered course but destiny wasn’t on her side. For not fulfilling educational criteria, she had not been admitted; but, do warriors ever concede to failures? So, she kept trying and trying and, at last, when she lost all faith in fulfilling her dreams, it was her destiny that paved the way of becoming the first Indian woman pilot in history. But starting the journey was like a combat field, especially, in a male dominant field such as IAF. Inharmonious behavior by her male fellow mates shattered her initial optimism and taught her a lesson of how the actual-world looked like. Despite all the stymies, it was her inner courage and indomitable belief which made her invincible fighting with the odds. When a war broke out in Kashmir region, she had been evoked to carry out routine flights subjected to mark enemies’ position. On carrying out such flight, when one of her fellow helicopters had been crashed by the enemy’s rocket launcher, a concerning issue regarding her safety had erupted all over the country though she absolutely against it of getting back into the base camp. Coincidentally, an emergency rescue operation had to be launched to evacuate army persons from the battlefield and it was her sheer luck that she was a member of that operation. Carrying out such a risky operation and evacuating the soldiers as well as her own air force commander courageously, she was designated as “Kargil Girl”—an accolade to her spirit and valor on battlefield.
Names like Gunjan Saxena will always be remembered as a true champion who knew that whatever the surroundings would be, how severe the pain might be, dreams never impaired by boundaries and the sky was the only limit.