Avani Chaturvedi
created history by becoming the first Indian woman to fly the MiG 21 Bison,
solo-a feat that has helped shatter gender stereotypes in a male-dominated
profession.
Three weeks ago,
on 19 February, Avani Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman to fly the MiG
21 Bison, solo. Not only did this declare that a woman from a small town in
Madhya Pradesh could become a combat pilot, but it exponentially contributed to
the complex narrative surrounding gender equality in India.
Almost a year and
a half ago, in June 2016, Chaturvedi, along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana
Singh, made history by becoming India’s first female fighter pilots.
For decades,
perennial monologues by men about pregnancy, practical ‘ineptitude’ and
menopause have denied women a spot in a gamut of high-pressure professions,
including the armed forces. “There is a strong belief that combat, by nature,
is a male occupation; that the army is a male space and combat the most
masculine of all aspects of war,” wrote senior social scientist and historian,
Prem Chowdhry in her paper titled, ‘Women in the Army’, published in Economic
and Political Weekly in August 2010.
Chaturvedi has
worked hard in destabilising that belief. She underwent six months of intensive
training at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, Hyderabad, before she was
inducted into the IAF fighter squadron. “The best part of being a pilot is that
you are flying an aircraft—it is a machine. The aircraft does not know who is
sitting behind it, so the machine will behave in the same way it would behave
with a male pilot,” the 24-year-old told Mint over the phone.
Chaturvedi’s
defence family gave her unconditional support, irrespective of her gender. The
Indian Air Force, however, has traditionally been structured along immutable
gendered lines. How did her male counterparts respond to her presence?
“The first day,
I think it was quite new to them, as it was for me,” she said. But the men soon
exhibited a great sense of camaraderie. “I have a great bond with all my classmates.
Every flight-every landing, every take off-is different. There are days when
you’ll have a bad sortie, and you will feel bad about it. On these days, when
I’d go back and speak to a classmate, I’d learn that, oh, the same thing
happened to him also a few days ago. That’s when I feel that I’m not the only
one, and that it’s human to make mistakes.”
While pursuing
her B.Tech degree, Chaturvedi learned aviation as an additional discipline at
the campus aviation school. “It was during a difficult verbal examination for
Student Pilot License that our chief flight instructor, Captain S.D. Sharma and
chief ground instructor Captain Gautam Bose, discovered that Avani showed a
great understanding of aviation. Captain Bose said, ‘This girl has spark; she
is very promising’,” recalls the dean of the aviation school, Dr Seema Verma
sitting in her office. “So, we began encouraging her immensely and pushed her
to pursue her dream. Rest, as they say, is history.”
Today, the
number of girls wanting to become fighter pilots has increased. “Initially,
this was not the case, because no one had ever dreamt of it,” said Dr Verma.
“Earlier, most of my students prepped for working in commercial airlines, but
today, my girls look at Avani as a role model.”
Chaturvedi
received her Bachelors in Technology from Banasthali Vidyapith, a university in
rural Rajasthan’s Tonk district, that is providing the most advance programmes
to its students. Banasthali Vidyapith is said to be the country’s largest,
women’s only residential university educating over 16,000 students.
