Giving wings to their dreams!

The Indian Army is now giving wings to the dreams of young guns from the strife torn Kashmir valley. Its efforts have started bearing fruits as four young girls from what was once known as “Tora Bora of Kashmir” for being badly infested by militants, are all set to take to sky as air hostesses.

At the outset the dreams of these girls, barely crossing their teens, seems that of a normal Indian girl. But prod them further and you would realise the dedication with which they surpassed the insurmountable odds to inch closer towards their goals.

“I want to do something different,” 21-year-old Taabida from Chak Wangun, Anantnag said assertively. Donning a sky blue shirt and formal skirt and hair perfectly tied up in a French bun she was anxiously waiting for her turn to get interviewed by a private airline.

She, along with three others, has been sponsored by the army in getting training at an airhostess training academy in Srinagar. For a society, which has always seen men with uniform with distrust, the achievement is another feather in the cap of the army to bring normalcy to the valley. The vehemence opposition can be gauged from the fact, that initially number of girls and boys sponsored by the army were ten, but gradually, six of them opted out of the programme under societal and parental pressure.

Ask these four girls how the society is reacting to their newfound passion and Razia, the youngest of the four, chips in, “Things are changing…. Presently only four girls have come but, soon more will come. Seeing us they also want to become airhostesses.”

Another girl Mudassar added: “Initially we had problem in even wearing trousers and shirts. There are certain difficulties like we cannot think of wearing even formal skirts there. But one thing is for sure more and more girls now want to be in our place.”

Suraiyya has also come to the national capital all the way from the valley accompanied by her brother to pursue her dreams. “It felt really nice to go to college and have so many books,” she said reminiscing about the training period.

The seeds of this dream were sown about one-and-a-half year back, says Razia’s father Mohammad Hussain, a class-IV employee with the state government.  “While we want our kids to go higher up in life what we do not have are the avenues. The army has helped us a lot,” Hussain said.

The army has been sponsoring these four girls to get training at the Viins Training Institute and has spent close to Rs. 90,000 per girl. The idea took off when General-Officer-in Commanding Victor force Maj Gen Kuldeep Singh gave a go ahead to bring this effort under the ambit of Operation Sadbhavna in the valley. Thereafter, Commanding Officer (CO) 36 Rashtriya Rifles Colonel Mayank Upadhyay took it to himself to make it a success, informs Hussain.

He says, it was “CO sahib!!’’ who convinced us to send our children for this. “Today I am happy to see my daughter competing with the best of the girls from other parts of the country,” said Hussain, with a glint of pride in his eyes. His elder daughter is preparing for Combined Defence Services (CDS) exams to get into the Armed Forces.