Meet Laxmi Joshi: The Woman With Wings

A child fascinated by planes to a pilot who rescued stranded Indians. Brut spoke to Laxmi Joshi on how her career took off...️

Transcript

00:00This is Pilot Lakshmi Joshi for Brood.

00:30Being a pilot, not just being a pilot, I was being able to be part of such a huge mission

00:46that is just wonderful.

00:57The moment I entered the airport, the feeling, the vibe, it was all so much

01:04overwhelming for me and throughout the entire flight, I was just telling my dad,

01:08you know how happy I am to sit in this aircraft and if only one day I could fly this plane.

01:15It was all in my heart and mind, like this is what I want to do.

01:31You would sit like, you know, after my schools and after my colleges, I would just sit with him

01:46and talk, talk, talk so much about the flight, so much about the aircraft and he has been my

01:52true inspiration and motivation, my father, you know, he's always supported me.

02:01There are so many women pilots now, everyone is taking up into this

02:09force and everyone is breaking the stereotype. It's not anything anymore that a girl or a woman

02:15cannot do, a course which only a man is, you know, supposed to be doing, how it was in the past.

02:31At the time, we were in our PPE suits,

02:37hazmat suits, gloves, mask and we were using a lot of hand sanitizers, we were sanitizing

02:44the cockpit and everything was being done, all the protocols were maintained.

02:54My parents, they were a little bit, what do you call, I would not say hesitant,

02:59but a little worried because at that time, we were told that we have to stay at home.

03:04That was the only time when there was a different feeling, but it was a duty call, it was my job

03:11time, so I had to do and I'm glad that I was being able to be a part of this huge mission that we

03:18carried out and we are still doing it. We rescued so many people from USA and India as well,

03:29they would generally come and they would pass on the message through the cabin crew,

03:35you know, to all the pilots in the cockpit that, you know, thank you for bringing us back to our

03:40family and we have finally been able to reunite with them, so that was a very good part about the

03:48whole thing.

03:49Whatever you want to decide, just put all your 100%, your heart and your mind into that,

03:55there is nothing that is stopping you.