Don’t let anyone kill your dreams, says India’s only woman Muslim pilot

[WAJsal]

Saarah Hameed Ahmed. PHOTO: HINDUSTAN TIMES

India’s only female Muslim pilot urged women on Sunday to not let the ‘community’ kill and mould their dreams.

“Don’t fret over what the community thinks of you. And don’t let them kill your dreams,” said Saarah Hameed Ahmed, according to Hindustan Times.

The 25-year-old from Bengaluru, the only known Muslim in a pool of 600 women employed in the Indian aviation sector, hosts a series of reactions when she tells people she’s Muslim.

“I just love the look on people’s faces when they discover I am Muslim,” she said.

However, the reactions are not always amusing. Saarah admitted like many others she too had to face the brunt of Islamophobia that gripped the world post 9/11 but she still managed with a combination of ‘humour’ and ‘tact.’

However, it’s not just community and other people as Saarah even faced a battle at home over her decision to join the aviation sector.

“Initially, none of us encouraged her. In our community girls don’t usually take up professions where they have to stay away from home and live in hotels without an escort,” her father Hameed Hussain Ahmed said.

However, when Saarah refused to back down, her father spoke to his friend Atif Fareed, a senior pilot in the United States.

“Fareed told me that I should consider myself lucky because most Muslim girls don’t even dream of flying. If he hadn’t convinced me, I might have made the blunder of killing Saarah’s dreams,” he said.

In 2007, when she was just 18, Saarah enrolled with a flying school in the US.

“Those days most Muslim students were being denied US visas. When she got the visa without any trouble I saw it as a final message from God,” he added.

Read: Excuse me, while I touch the sky: Meet war pilot Ayesha Farooq

The pilot committed to her profession also dreams of having a family.

“I really want to get married and have children,” she said. However, many of her suitors have either wanted her to quit her job or move cities.

“My father has shooed away people asking them to get their sons to quit his job and move cities,” Saarah said.

Two other Muslim pilots are making their way to the aviation industry in India.

Ayesha Aziz, 18, is an aspiring pilot from Baramulla, Kashmir, and she has already obtained a basic flying licence.

Fatima Salva Syeda, 26, is a licenced commercial pilot. But she has to qualify additional training before she can be a professional pilot.
Just a bright side of things.With all the negativity posted by some Pakistani members,this should counter it.
@SpArK ,@Srinivas , @levina ,@doppelganger ,@Blue_Eyes ,@OrionHunter ,@jamahir ,@third eye ,@nair ,@Ind4Ever ,@Dash ,@Zebra @Bang Galore @WAR-rior .........

 

[third eye]

“Don’t fret over what the community thinks of you. And don’t let them kill your dreams,”

She is right.

We spend more than half our lives wondering what ' others will think or say"

No one can be 25 again, the next year you can only be 26.

Do what your heart says & be the best in what you do.

 

[doppelganger]

Little chubby but.

 

[WAJsal]

We spend more than half our lives wondering what ' others will think or say"

Biggest problem in our society,hope she encourages young Indian girls to step up.

 

[Blue_Eyes]

@WAJsal brother you really earned respect from me as a Pakistani, when I joined the forum I had not thought that I will see this kind of appreciation from a pakistani to an Indian.
On Topic- salute to the lady.

 

[third eye]

Little chubby but.

What does that have to do with anything.

She has reached a platform most of us would give their right hands for.

 

[WAJsal]

@WAJsal brother you really earned respect from me as a Pakistani, when I joined the forum I had not thought that I will see this kind of appreciation from a pakistani to an Indian.
On Topic- salute to the lady.

No problem,i thought it was something worth posting,it is pretty inspiring for every one,even for Pakistanis,she has certainly inspired me.

when I joined the forum I had not thought that I will see this kind of appreciation from a pakistani to an Indian.

You know,with all the trolling and the 'Rape thread' i thought why not.A good read is what some Indian members deserve,i guess.I would urge some Indian members and Pakistani who would often open troll threads to target Pakistan or the other way around,please refrain.

 

[doppelganger]

What does that have to do with anything.

She has reached a platform most of us would give their right hands for.

It has nothing to do with her laudable professional achievement. Which was why I started with a thums up.

It also has nothing to do with very enlightened Muslim parents, who supported her all along the way to study and excel in a male dominated profession.

I just think she should now hit the gym and lose a bit of that puppy fat. Good cheek bones and overall bone structure.

 

[utraash]

Enjoyed the OP.... It worth many thanks ...

 

[OrionHunter]

“The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.”
- Ayn Rand


Women power on the rise!

 

[Bitter Melon]

Indian women pilots soar past global average

According to DGCA, almost 600 of the 5,050 pilots in Indian airlines are women.
NEW DELHI: Ground realities may be harsh for women in India, but they're still determined to conquer the skies.

Almost 600 of the 5,050 pilots in Indian airlines are women, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). At 11.6%, this is way above the 3% global average estimated by the International Society of Women Airline Pilots.

India is also seeing a steady rise in women pilots annually. The last five years saw 4,267 commercial pilots' licences being issued, of which 628 or 14.7% went to women.

One of the reasons why women pilots fare better in India than in other countries is the strong family support system they have here. "Women who go on overseas flights have to spend days away. In India, women have their mothers or mothers-in-law to take care of the kids and that ensures they can go on long flights too," says a woman pilot.

Women pilots and crew members in an Air India flight. (TOI file photo)

A direct outcome of this trend is that Indian carriers are employing more women pilots. The Jet Group, for instance, had 152 women pilots in October 2011; today it has 194 — the highest in India. "There has been steady growth of about 10% year on year in the number of women pilots joining the airline," says a Jet official referring to Jet Airways and JetLite. The official adds that 30.5% of their 13,674 employees are women.

At IndiGo, 11% of pilots are women. "That number is definitely growing. Of the pilots that joined from April 2014, 16.5% are women," says an IndiGo official.

Overall, 43% of the airline's 8,200-strong workforce is women. SpiceJet and GoAir also reported that the number of women pilots is on the rise. The merged Air India-Indian Airlines has the second largest number of women pilots at 171, and often has an all-women crew operating its longest non-stop flights to the US.

A company source says they fall short of the highest number because they haven't hired new pilots in a while.

DGCA data shows that even the crisis years of Indian aviation — 2010 to present — a higher percentage of women opted to train for commercial pilot licences. The number of licences issued in 2010 was 1,292 which fell to 858, 691 and 643 over the next three years. Even so, the percentage of women acquiring the licences from 2010 to 2013 went up from 14.8% to 16.4%.

Harpreet AD Singh, the first woman pilot to be selected by erstwhile Air India in 1988, says airlines saw a surge in women applying to fly in the mid-1980s and 2005 onwards, when private low-cost airlines took off.

The Jet Group has 194 women pilots — the highest in India. (TOI file photo)


"The erstwhile Indian Airlines was the first here to hire women pilots in the early 1980s. Captain Sadamani Deshmukh became the first woman commander then (of a Fokker Friendship) and this became a big thing that time," says Singh. "Then in 1988, I was chosen by erstwhile AI as the first woman pilot."

Singh, who is now an executive director with AI and president of Indian Women Pilot Association, claims that while the global average of woman pilots has always been 2-3%, India has been at over 10%. "We hope for a time when we no longer have to celebrate an all-women crew — engineer, cabin crew and pilots — on board. It should be a common occurrence," says an IndiGo official.

 

[jamahir]

“Initially, none of us encouraged her. In our community girls don’t usually take up professions where they have to stay away from home and live in hotels without an escort,” her father Hameed Hussain Ahmed said.

that is true... the typical bangalore muslim female is all burqa-posh and oppressed... certainly not what nasser and gaddafi would be most happy about... this because the typical bangalore muslim male is an idiot.

but cheers to this lady... she will lead the way for other muslim ladies from india to reach the skies.

“Don’t fret over what the community thinks of you. And don’t let them kill your dreams,” said Saarah Hameed Ahmed, according to Hindustan Times.

a thousand likes.

I just think she should now hit the gym and lose a bit of that puppy fat.

shut up... she will earn a fatwa from me if she does that.

 

[doppelganger]

shut up... she will earn a fatwa from me if she does that.

You do know that the umblical morphology has no link to superficial abdominal fat right?

 

[Taygibay]

And on top of the value of its modern view of Islam and inter nations respect, WAJsal can get credit for a well-timed post as International Women's Day was yesterday ( by my time, LOL more like 38+ hours in PAK ).

So add my thanks to those of Blue(rule30)Eyes and the rest, Tay.

 

[jamahir]

You do know that the umblical morphology has no link to superficial abdominal fat right?

sorry, don't want to discuss that here.