Maithili Pursued Dreams Doggedly, an Inspiration for Girls in Our Area

Over a thousand people gathered on Tuesday in Nhava, a fishing hamlet in Panvel taluka under Raigad district, to bid adieu to Maithili Patil, one of the ten crew members on board the Air India Ahmedabad-London flight which crashed in Ahmedabad last week shortly after takeoff.

- G Mohiuddin Jeddy

NAVI MUMBAI: Over a thousand people gathered on Tuesday in Nhava, a fishing hamlet in Panvel taluka under Raigad district, to bid adieu to Maithili Patil, one of the ten crew members on board the Air India Ahmedabad-London flight which crashed in Ahmedabad last week shortly after takeoff.

Patil, 23, was the first girl from the village to find employment with a commercial airline, and the entire village had erupted in celebration when she got the job. When her family was informed of her death following the crash last Thursday, her mother, Pramila Patil, maternal uncle Jitendra Chavan, and a cousin had rushed to Ahmedabad. They brought her body to Mumbai on Tuesday via a 5:40 a.m. flight.

When the body reached Nhava around 11 a.m., cries rent the air as her friends, relatives, colleagues, and local politicians, including Panvel MLA Prashant Thakur and Uran MLA Mahesh Baldi, thronged the route to pay their respects.

"Daughter, I never wanted to give this farewell to you," her mother, Pramila, wailed. "I had big plans and dreams, but you have broken them all and left."