Hover To Her

An elite group of first-generation women hovercraft officers of the Coast Guard are now assigned combat roles 
 

- Namrata Biji Ahuja

The sea is rough as gusty winds blow over the Gulf of Mannar, a strip of sea off Mandapam on the east coast of Tamil Nadu, the point closest to Sri Lanka. Assistant Commandant Shirin Chandran of the Indian Coast Guard turns on the wipers to clear the windscreen of her favourite machine. It is that time of the year when there is a slight nip in the air in an otherwise hot location, which is nine degrees from the equator.

Shirin and her colleagues Anuradha Shukla, Vasundhara Chouksey and Sneha Khatayak belong to an elite group of first-generation women hovercraft officers of the Coast Guard, who have mastered the amphibious machine so well that they are now assigned combat roles at sea. While Shirin and Deputy Commandant Anuradha are part of the 79 ACV (Air Cushion Vehicle) squad-ron at Coast Guard station at Mandapam, Sneha is posted at Haldia in West Bengal and Vasundhara at Okha in Gujarat.