When the Pushpak Express left Mumbai’s CST on Monday for Lucknow on its 1,400-km journey, at the wheel was India’s first woman loco pilot. Assisting her was India’s youngest woman loco pilot and an all woman crew, right from AC attendants to TTEs, to mark International Women’s Day.
“Men fly Rafales, women crew take AI Boeings to the US. There is honour in what we do as well,” said Surekha Yadav, 55, India’s first and oldest woman loco pilot. Ithas not always been easy in the 32 years she has been at it. “In fact, in the initial days, women would not be assigned stretches longer than 30-40km. That has changed now, though we did practise a lot before today’s long run.”
Next to her, Manjula Inamdar, 31, joined the conversation. “No job is menial. More women should take this up,” she said.