Google Sunday dedicated a doodle on its homepage to Sarla Thukral, India’s first woman to pilot a flight, on the occasion of her 107 birth anniversary.

Sarla Thukral was born in Delhi, British India, on August 8, 1914, later moving to Lahore in present-day Pakistan. Inspired by her husband, who was an airmail pilot from a family of fliers, she began training to follow in their footsteps.

"At age 21, dressed in a traditional sari, she stepped into the cockpit of a small double-winged plane for her first solo flight," Google elaborated while showcasing the doodle. "Lifting the craft into the sky, she made history in the process."

Soon, newspapers spread the word around -- the skies were no longer exclusive to men.

Thukral’s ascent, which has been described as 'groundbreaking', did not stop with her first achievement. As a student of the Lahore Flying Club, she completed 1,000 hours of flight time to gain her A licence, another first for Indian women.

Later that year, Thukral began preparations to become a commercial pilot; however, the outbreak of World War II put a halt on civil aviation training. She later took up fine arts and painting at Lahore’s Mayo School of Arts (now known as the National College of Arts).


Google, on Sunday, released a striking doodle to honour the life and achievements of Sarla Thukral, India's first woman pilot. On the occasion of her 107th birth anniversary, the doodle recreated the iconic image of the trailblazer, sitting in the cockpit, in a saree. Created by artist Vrinda Zaveri, the doodle is described by the search engine giant as a celebration of the “Indian pilot, designer, and entrepreneur.”

However, World War II threw a wrench in her plans to pursue civil aviation training for which she had even begun preparation. But this did not mean, she stopped her tryst with education. “Instead, Ms Thukral studied fine art and painting at Lahore's Mayo School of Arts (now the National College of Arts). She later returned to Delhi where she continued painting and built a successful career designing jewellery and clothing,” the note added.

The same doodle was originally planned to be released last year, on the occasion of her birth anniversary. “However, when the tragic plane crash occurred in Kerala, we withheld the doodle out of respect to the event and relief effort,” Google said, adding that they do not usually run doodles more than once. “Ms Thukral left such a lasting legacy for women in aviation that we decided to run the doodle this year in honour of her 107th birthday,” the company explained.

source: https://www.shedybliss.com.ng/2021/08/sarla-thukral-google-celebrates-indias.html

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