Taking flight!

We were not even aware that it was in 1910 that the first flight ever took off in India. In fact that was the year when our country was introduced to flying ever. And to the first woman to ever fly remains a mysterious, “Mrs.Sen.”

There are two reports about this first flight in 1910 – one says that the first flight took off in Allahabad at an exhibition British aviator Walter Windham on Dec 10th, 1910. Another one says that it was the Italian hotelier, Giacomo D’Angelis who took to the skies for the first time in Madras in March 1910.

But one thing is certain – 1910 was the year when India was first introduced to flights. And the mysterious Mrs.NC Sen who sat as a passenger on one of the exhibition flights at the elite Tollygunge Club in Kolkata in December 1910. But when exactly did she fly? And who really was Mrs Sen?

Debasish Chakraverty, who has been researching the Tollygunge flights for more than a year, has narrowed the search down to two possible women: either Nirmala Sen or Mrinalini Devi Sen (née Luddhi), both daughters-in-law of noted Bengali philosopher Keshub Chandra Sen.

Till date, no one has been able to trace the identity of this first Indian woman to fly but  Chakraverty hopes that the Tollygunge Club will install a plaque to commemorate the first flight by an Indian woman.

This is really a piece of Indian history and it’s great that some are taking th effrort and pain to find out more and fill in the glaring gaps. Its pretty fascinating and hope that we find out more such jewels from the past.