If you’re having a bad day, this story will inspire you and make you wonder about human perseverance. Indigo airlines recently tweeted this story about Shrikant Pantawane which appears in thier airline magazine this month.
Shrikant who was a young auto driver changed the definition of determination when his efforts led him to being one of the commercial pilots with Indigo airlines. He drove an auto-rickshaw to support his family but even while driving an auto continued his studies. Shrikant always wanted to be a pilot but he thought only those in the Indian Air Force could only be a pilot.
Once when Shrikant had gone to the airport to deliver a parcel, during a conversation with cadets he learnt that one could also become a pilot even without being inducted in the Indian Air Force. His conversation with a tea-seller outside the airport apprised him of a pilot scholarship program by the DGCA. There was no stopping for Shrikant after this.
He made the cut for the scholarship and before he knew it he was at a flying school in Madhya Pradesh. At flight school he topped every assessment and got his commercial pilot license, but recession cut his dreams short. Shrikant took a job with a marketing company and kept afloat.
He kept working at the executive job but recently got a call Indigo informing him that he had been included in their pack of pilots as First Officer.
Shrikant still sits behind a wheeled vehicle, but now its not his auto-rikshaw, but an aircraft!
