Years in the past, on her final day of college, a younger Vyomika Singh queued exterior the staffroom of St. Anthony’s Senior Secondary Faculty in Delhi, clutching her autograph ebook. It was a parting ritual — one final message from academics who had seen her develop. When it was her flip, Hindi instructor Neelam Wasan wrote a line that she thought captured Vyomika’s spirit: “Vyom ko chune ke liye bani ho.” (You had been born to the touch the skies)
Wasan by no means imagined how actually that will come true.
This week, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Power stood earlier than the nation as one in every of two ladies chosen by the Indian authorities to relate Operation Sindoor — India’s response to the Pahalgam bloodbath wherein terrorists killed atleast 26 civilians. Hours after 9 terror hubs in Pakistan had been destroyed in focused strikes, the federal government despatched a second message by presenting Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Military and Wing Commander Singh because the faces of that resolve.
Singh, who graduated from St. Anthony’s in 1998 and later studied environmental engineering at Delhi Faculty of Engineering, had at all times proven indicators of quiet objective.
“Vyomika was at all times equally good in English and Hindi. She was very gifted and really humble to speak to,” stated Jyoti Bisht, 70, who taught her English in Class 11 and 12. “Even in class — not solely in research, however she was superb at taking part in basketball. Just lately, we met on the college reunion, and he or she was nonetheless the identical humble woman. However after we noticed her on TV this week, she was robust, doing her job for the nation.”
“She used to participate in loads of debates. Regardless that she was wonderful in English, she would take part and do extraordinarily nicely in Hindi debates too. She speaks so nicely,” Bisht added.
“Our Vyomika, who’s Wing Commander Vyomika Singh now, has actually made the varsity proud,” stated Manju Sahni, 67, her class instructor and social science instructor in Class 8. “I had a double accountability — to instill values in kids. Once I see Vyomika’s self-discipline and kindness at the moment, I actually cherish these reminiscences. She was at all times attentive and grounded.”
Her childhood pal Shalini Raman Parakkat, 45, now an artist in Bangalore, recalled how early the indicators appeared. “She used to say that vyom means wind and that she was meant to be within the skies. So all of us thought she can be a pilot or an aeronautical engineer,” Parakkat stated.
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“I’ve seen Vyomika from Class 7. We had been among the many few tall ladies, and he or she was very noticeable. She as soon as lifted the petite characters of our classroom only for the enjoyable of it — we took footage,” she laughed. “She was at all times a bodily robust individual.”
Right now, Singh will not be solely a Wing Commander but in addition a mom to a teenage daughter. “She was travelling to the schooling centre as soon as and was disturbed by a man within the bus behind her in Delhi,” Parakkat recalled. “She was about to get down from the bus, however she turned and yelled again at him. That braveness at such a younger age was inspiring. She got here to tuition just a little shaken, however not afraid.”
Parakkat added, “Till 2013, we didn’t know the place our classmates had been. Somewhat later I linked along with her on our college WhatsApp group, and everybody knew she was now within the Air Power. All of us had been in awe — somebody had really taken the dangers. There weren’t many ladies within the Air Power again then, however she stated in any other case and did it. It should’ve taken loads of braveness to persuade her household. She was the primary amongst us to hitch the defence forces.”
“Even after we linked afterward a video name, Vyomika was nonetheless the identical individual we had identified in class.”
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Singh spent her complete college life at St. Anthony’s. Her mom labored with the Nationwide Council of Instructional Coaching and Vyomika was one among the three sisters her childhood mates recalled.
“Vyomika and I used to go to highschool in the identical bus,” stated Suruchi Jain, 45, one other childhood pal. “I’d get in on the Vasant Kunj cease and Vyomika on the NCERT IIT cease. We at all times stood on the again, chatting about something underneath the solar. By no means within the entrance. At all times standing, at all times speaking.”
“I at all times had fond reminiscences of her from Class 8 — we shared the identical bench. Right now, individuals could assume she was a nerd or uptight as a result of she’s within the forces. However she was fun-loving and balanced — an all-rounder in all the things: stage, sports activities, research. And above all, an excellent pal,” Jain stated.
“For that age and time, she was targeted. We weren’t. However she was.”
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“One of many academics as soon as requested her identify and stated, ‘Vyomika means somebody who guidelines the skies.’ And it actually turned out to be true,” Jain added.
“In Class 11 or 12, she made a physics mission on flying kites — and now she flies with out anybody holding her hand. She’s ruling the skies.”
Wasan, her Hindi instructor, nonetheless remembers the day Vyomika got here for that autograph. “Once I wrote ‘Vyom ko chune ke liye bani ho’ in her ebook, I didn’t know she would really do it. At our alumni meet in December, she jogged my memory of that. She additionally recalled how, throughout a parent-teacher assembly, her mom was involved that she was getting distracted with extracurriculars. I had reassured her mother and father that these had been necessary too. Vyomika stated that day I saved her from getting scolded at residence.”
The sky, as soon as imagined, is now hers.