Meet Padmavathy Bandopadhyay, the first woman in the history of Indian Air Force to be promoted to the rank of Air Marshal. Not only this, she is also the second woman ever to gain a three star rank in the tri- services.
Padmavathy was born on 4th November, 1944 in Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh to Mr. V. Swaminathan and Mrs. Alamelu. However, she was brought up in the city of New Delhi. After completing her schooling, she went on to pursue an undergraduate course at the prestigious Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi. Padmavathy’s mother would not keep in good health, and was in hospital for majority of her life. This had a huge impact on Padmavathy, who felt inclined towards helping her mother and thousands of others like her who needed medical expertise.
The Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) opened up in Pune in 1962. Padmavathy decided to apply for entrance into this college and cleared her examination for the same. She was to successfully join the first batch there. However, her parents were not comfortable with sending their daughter away from home to stay in a hostel and study in a college for five long years. Due to parental pressure thus, she missed this grand opportunity. Padmavathy was not so easily deterred though. She was determined to pursue her dream and worked hard for it. She convinced her parents with difficulty over the next one year and eventually joined the second batch of AFMC.
She chose to serve in the Air Force after her course ended at AFMC in 1968. She was then asked to intern at Air Force Hospital, Bangalore where she met Flight Lieutenant Satinath Bandopadhyaya (an administrative officer) who would later go on to become her husband.
In 1971, India was at war with Pakistan. Padmavathy was fresh out of her internship at Bangalore when she and her husband were sent to the Halwara airbase in Punjab. Their contributions at the base were so phenomenal that they both were awarded the Vashisht Seva Medal (VSM) for exemplary duty by the President himself.
She went on to gain specialization in aviation medicine in 1975, which was a new field at her time. Padmavathy’s courage deserves a grand salute, for she never let anything hinder her from exploring new avenues. In all these years, she has managed to complete 23 research projects and has a whopping 27 publications to her name.
Thereafter in 1978, Padmavathy went on to successfully complete the demanding course at Defence Services Staff College. This course is not easy to get into, and even more difficult to clear. Completion of this course holds great value for the careers of defence forces officers. What’s even more incredible is that she was the first woman to finish this course. She was clearly always on top of her league.
Additionally, she is a prestigious member of the New York Academy of Sciences. She has also served as the Director General of Medical Services (Air) at the Air Headquarters, New Delhi. She is also the first woman fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society of India, and has conducted scientific research at the North Pole!
In late 1989- 1990, she spent four months at the North Pole for an Indo- Russian physiology experiment which worked on determining if people from tropical (Indian) climate could acclimatise to extreme cold conditions. For her achievement, she was awarded the Indira Priyadarshini Award when she returned home to a proud audience.
She was monumental in the changing policies related to health for the defence forces personnel and contributed greatly to the nation in times of war. She first made history when she became the first lady Air Commodore in IAF in June, 2000. With this rank, she commanded a prestigious IAF medical unit- Air Force Central Medical Establishment. For her sustained meritorious service, she was awarded the Ati Vashisht Seva Medal (AVSM) in 2002.
Soon, Padmavathy was promoted to the rank of Air Vice Marshal. She is the very first lady officer in IAF to hold this rank. It was after this that she took over as Additional Director (ADG) Air Force Medical Services. Needless to say, she handed this responsibility with panache as well, which led to her promotion to the highest rank of the IAF Medical Branch- Air Marshal. She then took command of the Air Force Medical Services as the first lady Air Marshal of the World. If all these achievements weren’t enough to blow your mind, here’s one more- She is also the first lady to be Honorary Surgeon to the President of India!
We can only bow in respect to this Iron lady who fought her way against all odds to excel at her work.
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Probably you should be the one to owe this book by her…