Who is Sarla Thukral? All you need to know about India’s first woman pilot

On the 107th birth anniversary of India’s first woman pilot, Sarla Thukral, search engine giant, Google dedicated its special and temporary homepage logo (doodle) to her. Sarla Thukral was India's pilot, designer, and entrepreneur who flew her first solo flight (Gypsy Moth) in 1914 when she was only 21 years old. 'Thukral’s soaring achievements have paved the way for generations of Indian women to turn their dreams of flight into reality,' wrote Google in a statement. 

Honoring the Indian pilot, the Google Doodle statement also mentioned all her achievements. 

"As a student of the Lahore Flying Club, she completed 1,000 hours of flight time to gain her A license, another first for Indian women. She then began preparation to become a commercial pilot, but the outbreak of World War II put a halt on civil aviation training. Instead, 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 jewelry and clothing," wrote Google. 

 Who is Sarla Thukral?

Born in Delhi, Thukral was inspired by her husband who hailed from a family of fliers and wanted to follow in their footsteps. Her flying dreams were disturbed by the outbreak of World War II, after which she started studying fine art and painting at Lahore’s Mayo School of Arts (now the National College of Arts). Despite a break from her pilot career, she successfully developed as a designer through her work in painting and jewelry and cloth designing. 

After Delhi, the first Indian pilot had moved to Lahore which is Pakistan presently, and then again returned to Delhi to pursue her career in arts. Her husband, P. D. Sharma had died in a tragic airplane crash in 1939 while she died in 2008. She was a dedicated follower of the Arya Samaj, a spiritual community dedicated to following the teachings of the Vedas. The pilot remarried to R. P. Thakral after partition in 1948 when she moved to Delhi. Sarla was also known as Mati and became a successful businesswoman.