Asia's first woman commercial pilot Touch the skies

                              Captain Indrani Singh

    Captain Indrani Singh

Captain Indrani Singh is not only known as Asia's first woman commander but also for the welfare work she has been doing for underprivileged children.

In 1996, Captain Singh started Literacy India, an NGO that empowered the economically poor with education and a variety of vocational activities to provide a sustainable livelihood. Singh says, "This was my personal mission. I started it back in 1996 with 5 kids and today we have reached out to over 25000 women and children." A pan-India project, Literacy India today operates from 22 centres. The 'Vidyapeeth' project educates 2500 children while 1300 women are making use of the handicraft skills . Singh says, "The project is 7 years old and its going great guns. People actually came to me and asked how do these women make such good finishing bags." After impressing Corporate India, Captain Singh is now devoting her time to make children aware about issues like AIDS, child abuse with her upcoming project called 'Gyantantra'. Captain Indrani Singh has breached the glass ceiling, literally, by becoming Asia's first lady Wing Commander to fly Airbus 300. With this endeavour, she has changed the lives of children and empowered women over the last decade and there's no stopping this pilot as she chases her dreams to see a literate India.

Setting up her non-governmental organisation, "Literacy India", seven years ago, Capt. Singh, a pilot with the Indian Airlines since 1987, has been imparting education to slum children through three of her non-formal schools, two around Delhi and one in Gurgaon, Haryana.

A student of Summerfield School at East of Kailash in South Delhi, Indrani was always late for school for which she had to face punishment almost every day. Her maths teacher used to ask her, "Which flight do you have to catch, to be so late in the class?

"His words proved to be true. I ended up being a pilot. But, now discipline is the key to my profession," she says. As a bet, she once went up to a teacher to ask which toothpaste she used. An outgoing student who took part in sports and painting simultaneously, she says, "Thanks to my teacher, I paint at times to raise funds for my social work."

She urges children to spread education. "You can always teach whatever you have learnt to someone who is illiterate." Her school-going son, she says, teaches the domestic help at home.

After achieving a successful career in the aviation industry, Asia's first woman commercial pilot Captain Indrani Singh has been molding the lives of many children and women, helping them to be self-sufficient and earn a life of respect. She started the NGO, Literacy India, which is helping more than 25 thousand women and children. Captain Indrani Singh has a dual existence. As a saviour for the ladies, she built a platform to showcase their handmade products and market them in India and abroad. In her other avatar, she has carve a niche for herself in a male-dominated industry by becoming Asia's first woman commercial pilot. Captain Indrani Singh says, "During my times there was hardly anyone flying and I was very good at flying. I was a natural flier. I didn't know that I will be making history."