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Google honours India's first woman pilot with a doodle

Thukrai made history at age 21 as the first Indian woman to conqueror the skies
Last Updated 08 August 2021, 05:15 IST

Search engine Google on Sunday celebrated India's first woman pilot Sarla Thukral through a doodle on the homepage to mark her 107th birth anniversary.

Thukrai made history at age 21 as the first Indian woman to conquer the skies.

"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,” Google said in a statement. The doodle is illustrated by Vrinda Zaveri.

Born in Delhi of 1914, she married at age 16 to a man who came from a family of flyers. Later she moved to Lahore, now in Pakistan, and began her training.

The historic moment came when Thukral, clad in a traditional saree, became the first Indian woman to fly an airplane. Thukral, a student of Lahore Flying Club, was also the first Indian woman to complete 1,000 hours of flight time to gain her A licence

Before she could take up commercial flying, World War II put a stop to it. She then moved back to Lahore, where she studied arts and then returned to Delhi, continuing her work in jewellery and clothing, establishing a long successful career.

She passed away in 2008 at 94.

“We planned to run this same doodle honouring Sarla Thukral in India last year. However, when the tragic plane crash occurred in Kerala, we withheld the doodle out of respect to the event and relief effort," the US tech giant said.

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(Published 08 August 2021, 04:49 IST)

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