Twenty thousand feet
above in the air,
She sat calmly in the cockpit.
With a steady hand,
and a determined soul,
Steering the Cheetah
down the difficult
the terrain of Siachen.
The ground was a pure white,
Clad deep in snow,
And the skies a brilliant blue,
Just like the petunias she grew,
In her home's back garden.
The Cheetah rose in the air,
From a helipad so small,
One faulty sway and
down the mountain
it would fall.
Steel blades whirred above
at 450 rpm,
One last look below,
She could still see the
dazzled soldier on the ground
Still baffled at seeing a woman
At a place like Siachen.
"Don't ever dream of Ladakh "
Her instructor had told her.
Yet, her commanding officer
went ahead and got her
on the Leh based-114 helicopter.
She had passed the interviews
of Indian Air Force
after graduation.
When the other girls of her family
had got married after high school education.
Living in the suburbs of Delhi,
she never had dreamt of flying
for India.
Only a wish had her
when young; to be in uniform
and dazzle everyone.
When in std 7, her English teacher
had recited a glorious tale of
a uniformed soldier.
Twenty thousand feet above in the air,
In the highest battlefield of the world.
She was the first woman to land.
She is Sq leader Khushboo Gupta, Siachen Pioneer.
By Maanvi
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