Dreams have no gender
Akanksha Sharma
March 7
The 8-year-old girl who sat on her terrace every evening looking at the aircraft flying high up in the sky with amazement wondering how it would feel to fly one of those, has finally achieved her dream; and over the past one year, has won a billion hearts too.
It was in January 2021 that this Delhi girl scripted history as the first woman pilot to command the Air India’s Boeing-777 who along with her all-woman crew flew the longest commercial flight in the world covering 16,000 km from San Francisco to Bengaluru. Shattering the gender glass ceiling in a male-dominated career field, Captain Zoya Aggarwal is a role model for girls across the country who want to make a career in flying. Talking to Jobs and Careers on the eve of Women’s Day, Zoya remembers how driven she was and how delighted she feels to see that girls today can finally dare to dream.
India’s Captain ‘Sully’
Even after achieving her dream, Zoya has to encounter challenges day in and out and not all days have rainbows for her. As a woman commercial pilot, she often has to battle the gender bias in the form of passengers’ apprehension on being flown by a woman. Given the nature of her job, there are times when choices are limited and she has to take a tough call. One such incident was in 2015. Just one hour into the New York JFK-bound flight and a passenger fell seriously ill. Doctors onboard said that she had only 2 hours to live without hospital intervention. Suddenly, Zoya found herself in a dilemma. “I had in front of me two equally unfavourable options. I could either return to Delhi where an intense storm was brewing or divert to Pakistan. I decided to go with the former. My aim was to maximize the survival chances of my passenger.” This, however, posed another challenge for the Captain. She had to dump fuel in order to turn back and the lightning only made it tougher. Time was of the essence and she had to think quickly. Zoya decided that the best option was to dump the fuel over the Pakistani airspace. But this wasn’t easy either. It was only after intense negotiations with Pakistani air traffic controller that she was given the green signal. She dumped the fuel only to encounter strong winds that made her change the runway thrice as the danger to the sick passenger’s life increased. After a tricky landing, the passenger made it to the hospital in time. The story doesn’t end here. There were still 350 passengers onboard who thought they’ll be going to New York and Zoya made that happen too!
“Don’t make me walk when I want to fly”, I have always lived by this quote says Zoya who has heard ‘No’ most of her life. From giving speeches at the TEDx to being the UN spokesperson for ‘Generation Equality’, today she is not only a beacon of inspiration for millions of women and girls, but has also planted the seed of determination in the hearts of many.
Recollecting how the journey began, Zoya recollects how shocked her mother was when she had requested her for a telescope as a birthday gift. “My mom wished that I was a ‘normal girl’ and should have asked for a kitchen set instead”. However, after much persuasion, she did get one and that was just the beginning of the roller-coaster ride that was awaiting her. Years went by and her passion for flying only grew stronger. With each passing day, her excitement became palpable as she was one step closer to her dream. Taking maths and physics as her main subjects in Class XII along with her unwavering focus, she was now beginning to see herself in the cockpit. Passing out of school with flying colours, she had her eyes set firmly on the aviation course and that’s where she encountered her next obstacle.
“Coming from a conservative background, I neither had much financial assistance nor the support I was hoping for. I faced resistance from my family. My teachers told me I should opt for a course that was rather suited for my gender. No one saw the pilot in me. I could see the flame of my will power flickering. I knew that my back was against the wall and my only option was to break it down.”
That was the moment the 8-year-old Zoya’s dream flashed in front of her eyes and she knew that she’d come too far to give up now.
Wrestling the discouragement that came her way, she used her ‘bachpan ka money’ as she calls it, and enrolled herself in the aviation course in New Delhi that she attended after her college hours. Balancing college and the rigorous flying-school training, she showed that nothing could come in the way of her dream to reach for the stars. Her perseverance and hard work paid dividends as she sailed through both her courses and joined Air India in 2004 after acing a grueling intake process.
Ever since, each day has been a thrilling adventure for her. Zoya’s mother, who once cried at the thought of seeing her daughter going after the ‘unattainable’, is proud of her daughter and is her pillar of strength.
Today, the aviator is inclined towards impacting the lives of as many girls as possible. “I want to make a billion Zoyas out there. I want the women to know that if I can do it, so can they. It’s all in how powerful your dream is, how determined you are. Break the word ‘impossible’ to I-M-POSSIBLE, just like I did.”
Taking challenges head on
Zoya explicitly adds, “Some situations are difficult and the only way out of them is to think out-of-the-box. Today, I am proud to share that the percentage of women pilots has risen to 12.5%, CEOs 20% and women leaders even more. Education is the only key to success. It gives young women, #bharatkibetis as I say, a platform to realise and conquer their potential.”
A role model
Being chosen as the UN spokesperson for ‘Generation Equality’, Zoya says that the aim is to give a gentle nudge to the parents and people in general in the right direction that one should have ‘free thinking’ and ‘help inspire lives’. “We all must come together to promote our girls, to make them the future path breakers and help them pursue their passion. They are the ones who will be shattering the glass ceiling. Give them wings and see them soar. The change after all starts at home.”
“Dreams have no gender and I am more than glad to be a role model for girls as well as boys.”
Getting recognised
Dwelling upon some of the moments that she found unimaginable, she says being recognised by PM Modi in his ‘mann ki baat’ was a moment she will cherish forever. Also, it was an honour for her to be at the Italian Parliament where she was called for a speech. “I feel so humbled. And I want every girl who dreams to know that they can achieve all this too. Only when you dream can you rise to the challenge. You’ll have obstacles greeting you on the way, but you need to be robust, resilient and focused.”
On being asked how does she feel looking back at her days of struggle and making it to where she is today, she has an artfully crafted reply, “It was all worth it, after all the view is best from the top.”
