Flying Towards the Light of Ambition

[Applause]

if there’s

one thing surfing the clouds and looking

at the worlds from 35

000 feet for the last 17 years has

stopped me

is that no dream is too big to come true

no goal too difficult to achieve and no

challenge to gigantic to overcome

it’s all a state of mind

my dream of being a pilot started when i

was eight years old

stargazing into the skies wondering

if i could possibly fly one of those

big jumbo jets would look so tiny to me

i used to see lit up in the starry skies

with the strobe lights i would catch

myself

drifting away into my dreams

big dream of flying up into the skies

one day

and then i would bring myself to reality

the mother earth why would i let myself

dream such a big dream but in reality it

seemed just impossible for me

i knew that if i had to make that dream

come true i could not do it solo

and my parents my family the society

would never let me achieve it because it

was not

the expected norm despite it all

i knew i had a passion a passion for

flying

there was a fire inside of me i was

robust

resilient and focused

i used to tell myself it’s okay it’s

your dream

dream it stay target driven

on your goal and you will achieve it

just continue

to vision and work towards that

direction

do not ever give up this is

what my inner voice told me every single

day

every single second creating

and transforming me into another human

being

the person that i have become today but

i was in 11th grade

i chose science because it was a

prerequisite in order to become a pilot

academically i was always inclined but

i came from the moderate means

my background was extremely humble

my family couldn’t afford to send me to

a flying academy

my teacher is knowing my family’s

limitation financially discouraged me to

pursue flying

and asked me to switch to humanities

instead

so i can have a more meaningful learning

towards my domesticated life

but those tears and pain only fuels my

fire further

the day my teacher told me that i’d

never be able to make it

i took that as a challenge head-on

and said to myself that nothing could

hold me back

i repeated it over and over that nobody

had the power to dictate what i could

or could not do except

for myself it’s not over

until you for yourself say it’s over

another obstacle i faced was that i did

not speak english until my ninth grade

i knew that in order to become a pilot i

needed to be proficient in english

but i didn’t let that hold me back again

i was focused determined

i used to go to my neighbor’s house and

request them to switch on the english

channels on their newly bought

television set

i was able to learn english from the

star movies and the mtvs

of the new india as it was becoming you

could say i’m the true blue

mtv generation today i can speak english

fluently in two different accents

indian and american and the switch

between them is so reflexive for me i

almost don’t even realize it myself

and i think i’ve come to embrace it

quite beautifully so

i consider that as my adaptability today

which is great also if you ask me today

i’d be able to sketch the entire career

graph

of richard quest because i have

literally washed him all across

his career as time progressed

i slowly made my way towards my goal

everyone around me was so convinced that

i could not do it

every time someone told me to give up it

propels me even further

due to my gender profile people could

not fathom the fact

or the thought of a female being a part

of the aviation industry

let alone commanding a behemoth jet like

a boy in triple

seven worth 375 million dollars

my mother was stunned and started crying

when i told her i wanted to become a

pilot

my father wasn’t very convinced with my

career choice either

and in the hope of dissuading me from

the dream he urged me to apply for my

college post my 12th grade

well god’s grace i got into pretty much

every college that i applied to

after which my father encouraged me to

go and study in the hope that i would

well naturally let go of the obsession

of being a pilot

naturally i chose india’s premier

institute

the best college of india at that time

and even now to pursue my degree

as soon as i joined the college i broke

my piggy bank

and used all the money that i had

gathered over the years throughout my

childhood

that everybody had given me to enroll

myself in a good

aviation ground school there were two

ways

to achieve my aviation goal one was more

accessible and expensive

and the other ones was cheaper and more

complex

i chose to do it the hard way to save

money

but that meant more meticulous work from

my end

i used to travel endlessly to the other

side of delhi for my aviation studies

every single day

since i did not have any time during the

weekends

and they were also more classes over the

weekends i had to study

late every single night to complete my

college

science and aviation assignments even

under the street light sunday as there

was no electricity by the time i got

home

friends go out to parties and they never

quite understood

why i would not join them but nothing

around me mattered

except for my goal i could not deviate

because of my mental and financial

pressures i had to

prove my grit to my parents that i was

serious about my aviation dream

and that it was not something that i was

willing to

let go of but most importantly

i had to prove to myself

my ambition made me quite unpopular in

college

i was never understood people tend to

gravitate towards those who are

like-minded

and well i was very different but i bore

my imaginary blinkers

and the unacceptability never really

bothered me and most definitely

didn’t defuse let alone diminish that

fire burning within

throughout those three years of college

i think my parents felt bad watching me

run around the city to attend my classes

college which led them to have a change

off hard finally and they agreed to take

a loan

to give me my wings after three years

the grueling

years of graduation and aviation studies

together

it was actually like a dual degree

program with god’s grace i cleared my

exams with good grades

it was so exhilarating but little did i

know

that my biggest challenge was yet to

come when i came back from flying

the aviation sector was in a slump

and there were no jobs around waiting

for a job was difficult with all those

unpaid loans mounting on my head

i used to teach aviation to students for

free which helped me ensure that it

didn’t fall behind

my learning curve in the aviation

industry advancements

finally air india came with a few job

openings for pilots

it was the only international airline at

that time so i was almost amongst

3 000 applicants the entrance exam for

the job was incredibly tough and

undoubtedly the most

important one of my life so far

to this day every time i step into the

cockpit

i feel a sense of wonder and pride

reminiscing the journey that i’ve had

up until now and the gratitude for

having

to battle and come such a long way all

those challenges that stacked up

against me knocking off one stack of

challenge

at a time the aviation industry is a

demanding one

and i get many questions from people

asking if i ever felt

overburdened with my hectic schedule or

regret giving up

something being where i’m today

however in my opinion the very

description of sacrifice

is a very vague one i believe

that our life is like a pie

in which 20 percent is your work

25 is your family four percent

is all your loved and near ones

and 51 massive percent is

you if you can keep that 51

alive and vibrant then i think

you are sacrificing nothing at all

if you’re happy you radiate that

happiness

into the remaining 49 into the remaining

worlds around you

i am here today simply because i have

followed and

chased my dreams i chose my path

and i’m here to bear its consequences

the good

the bad the sad the ugly the amazing the

stupendous

and the breathtaking everything i have

done

i have done it on my terms and i have

risen to

every challenge and god’s grace

conquered all of them one by one

this is something that we can implement

in order to remind

ourselves that the key to happiness is

finding your own inner voice your own

inner joy choose your path

your challenge be happy be true

be driven do not deviate and work

towards it

tirelessly when the people at the hem of

the future

have this kind of mentality it can

significantly impact the future

of this planet this beautiful mother

earth that we live in

our worlds will benefit from a more

creative

content mindful future generation

eager to pursue climb and conquer the

mountain of challenges

after all remember the view

is always best from the top thank you