Sarla Thakral

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#16/100 in #100extraordinarywomen

When we talk about all these successful ladies, the one lady who pioneered a career in aviation cannot be forgotten. Sarla Thakral was the first Indian woman to get an aviation pilot licence and fly an aircraft. From the extra ordinary support from her family to her unflinching passion to achieve her dreams, Sarla Thakral’s story is truly amazing and inspirational.

Born in 1914, she earned an aviation pilot license in 1936 at the age of 21. Her first step into the world of flying was in the cockpit of a Gypsy Moth – in a saree. At a time when there were only male faces to be seen in the cockpit, Sarla was the face of new and confident India, a fresh breeze of courage and determination. She flew the said Gypsy Moth solo and she had a four-year-old daughter at that time. After obtaining the initial licence, she persevered on and completed one thousand hours of flying in the aircraft owned by the Lahore Flying Club. It was support of two men – her husband and her father-in-law – which gave her the strength to reach the blue sky. Her husband P. D. Sharma – who himself was a successful pilot and the first Indian to get an airmail pilot’s licence and fly between Karachi and Lahore – whom she married at 16 and who came from a family which had 9 pilots encouraged her to achieve it.

She was the first woman pilot to obtain ‘A’ license when she accumulated over 1000 hours of flying. But as every successful story has its own challenges, Thakral’s life too took an ugly turn when she lost her husband in a plane crash in 1939. She became a widow at a young age of 24. She was at that time all set to obtain the ‘B’ license which would have given the opportunity to fly a commercial plane. But this dream had to wait to be fulfilled. While she was working towards the commercial pilot license in 1939, World War II broke out and civil training was suspended. She abandoned her plans to become a commercial pilot, returned to Lahore and joined the Mayo School of Art where she trained in the Bengal school of painting and obtained a diploma in fine arts. After the partition, she moved to Delhi with her two daughters.

She was an ardent Arya Samaj follower. Being an Arya Samaji made it easier for her to remarry her second husband P. P. Thakral as widow remarriage was encouraged. She married him in 1948. Sarla, also known as Mati, successfully took up costume jewellery making, saree designing, painting and designing for the National School of Drama in her later years. She supplied her jewellery designs to several cottage industries for over 20 years. She had also started textile printing and her saree prints were a rage with the fashionable crowd. One of her clients was Vijayalaxmi Pandit. If we see, Thakral’s life was divided into two parts, and she lived both of them perfectly. She did not let anything come in the way of a good life and was an inspiration to all women till she took her last breath on 15th March, 2009.

We salute the amazing lady, who took woman empowerment to a new height. We also salute her family who stood by her through thick and thin and always supported her at a time when women were not even given a chance to educate themselves. Women like Thakral are true gems and an inspiration to all of us.


Source: Google search and Wikipedia.