Tea seller’s daughter makes it to IAF
A teenage daughter of a tea seller from Madhya Pradesh was awestruck by the television footages of relief and rescue operations carried out by security forces in flood ravaged Uttarakhand in 2013.
So much so that Aanchal Gangwal, a student of Class 12 then, decided to join the armed forces herself. Given the family’s financial condition, she though knew realising the dream would not be easy. But she never gave up.
The 24-year-old girl from Neemuch district finally lived her dream when she was selected earlier this month in the flying branch of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
“I always knew that I had it in me to make it,” Aanchal said. She now wants to soars into the sky flying a fighter plane.
The journey thus far, however, was not easy, she recalled.
Clearing the Air Force Common Admission Test was not a cakewalk. She faced the interview board five times and was only successful in the sixth attempt.
She was among the 22 selected from all over the country and the only one from Madhya Pradesh to clear the test when this year’s result was declared on June 7. Five of those selected are girls. Over six lakh students appeared for the exam.
It was sheer determination and belief in herself that made her stick to her dreams of joining the armed forces, she added.
A product of Metro H S School in Neemuch, she was the school captain and class topper. After schooling, securing a scholarship, she went to Vikram university, Ujjain. There she was part of the basketball and athlete teams.
Meanwhile, she was looking for a job and started appearing for competitive exams.
She cleared the police sub-inspector’s exam and even joined the training, but she realised that the tough schedule would never allow her to prepare for her dream job.
“Fortunately, the results of labour inspector exam also came at that time. Here the schedule was easier and I got chance to prepare for the AFCAT,” Aanchal said.
Ever since her selection, she is flooded with congratulatory messages pouring from all over. In a message on Twitter, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had congratulated her. A few days ago woman and child development minister Archana Chitnis visited her home and feted her.
Her father, Suresh Gangwal who runs a tea stall at the Neemuch bus stand is a proud man today. He stood behind her daughter’s dream.
“Thanks to my daughter, now everyone in the area knows about my Namdev tea stall. I feel very proud when people come and congratulate me.”
He never allowed financial condition come in the way of his three children’s education.
“I took loan to send Aachal for coaching in Indore, and also financed my elder son’s engineering study. My youngest daughter is in Class 12.”
She will join a year-long training in Hyderabad from June 30. Now, her dream of flying a fighter plane beckons her.
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