Today's Google Doodle honours Sarla Thukral, the first Indian woman to pilot an aircraft in the country, on her 107th birth anniversary. As the first woman pilot in India, Thukral inspired several women to take up flying over the years.
The doodle was illustrated by artist Vrinda Zaveri. Thukral left such a lasting legacy for women in aviation that Google decided to run the doodle this year in honour of her 107th birthday," the company said while explaining the doodle art for today.
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. Lifting the craft into the sky, she made history in the process,” Google stated. Her achievement was no easy task – Thukral had to complete 1000 hours of flight training to gain her A licence at the Lahore Flying Club. This was another first for Indian women.
“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. Though we don’t usually run doodles more than once, 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 said in a statement.
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In the decades since, Thukral’s soaring achievements "have paved the way for generations of Indian women to turn their dreams of flight into reality," said Google while elaborating on today's doodle.