Meet Zoya Agarwal, The Air India Pilot Who Created History By Flying World's Longest Air Route

"In all these years, nothing has come easy to me," says Zoya Agarwal

An all-women cockpit crew created aviation history in January this year by flying the world's longest air route. Now, Air India Captain Zoya Agarwal, who commanded the San Francisco to Bengaluru flight, has spoken to Humans of Bombay about her childhood dream of becoming her pilot, how she worked to achieve it and how she made history as the first woman in the world to fly across opposite poles.  "In the 90s, growing up as a girl in a lower middle class family meant that you weren't allowed to dream beyond your means," says Ms Agarwal. Still, at the age of eight, she knew she wanted to become a pilot. "I'd go to the terrace, look at the aeroplanes in the sky and wonder, 'Maybe if I was flying one of those planes, I could touch the stars," she says.  Initially, she was hesitant about telling her parents of her dream - especially when she overheard her mother saying that Zoya would have to be married off into a good family when she grew up. However, Ms Agarwal says she "couldn't hold back" after completing 10th grade and told her parents she wanted to become a pilot. While her mother started crying, her father worried about the expense of pilot training.  Still, she defied their wishes and took up Science in Class 11 and 12. "I excelled in my 12th boards and took up Physics for graduation," says Ms Agarwal. Alongside, she applied for an aviation course - paid for by the money she had saved up over the years.