Audrey Maben, India’s first female microlight flying instructor, and her daughter Amy Mehta share more than just a penchant for adventure. Sadaf Shaikh discovers a resplendent family heirloom that the pair hopes to pass down the generations.
Two identical pairs of chestnut eyes greet me when I meet the mother-daughter duo of Audrey Maben (43) and Amy Mehta (19) who shot to fame last November for being the first Indian women to attempt a circumnavigation expedition in a microlight aircraft. They spare me only a cursory smile before plunging headlong into conversation with each other. Having flown in from Mysuru, the city that she calls home, Audrey cannot wait to swap stories from the past few months with her daughter, who has driven down from Pune where she is currently pursuing a degree in visual art and photography. it is some time before the two bring each other up to speed on their lives and are finally able to give their attention to the shoot.
Ideally, the pair should have been able to spend a great deal of time chatting with each other if they had been given the opportunity to be together in a cockpit for almost 80 days during their dream journey. However, as it goes with bureaucracy in India, there wasn’t enough time to get the paperwork in place for the quest and Audrey and Amy's lofty ambitions could not be fulfilled. The matriarch wistfully states, “if one takes a hard look at the lives of the women in India, they would realise that we are a long way off from uplifting our gender. For me, flying is quite symbolic; it involves emancipating women from their chains. When I was approached to take on this mission, I didn’t bat an eyelid before accepting because I had complete faith in my capabilities.”Amy, who has been airborne since she was a practically a foetus, is all praises for Audrey’s determination. “She instilled an enduring sense of self-confidence in me and groomed me into a responsible, independent individual at a very young age. I was free to explore my likes and dislikes and she always encouraged me to articulate my conclusions with assertion.”
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Denne historien er fra September 2018-utgaven av Verve.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Making Amends
This generation’s penchant for thoughtless consumption gets Madhu Jain roiled up, and she wonders if nature is getting its own back for our missteps…
Diamonds With Provenance
In keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Tiffany & Co. and chairman and president at The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, enlightens Shirin Mehta on the efforts that make the jewellery giant an industry leader in transparency
SARTORIAL ECONOMICS
Sisters Tashi and Tara Mitra demonstrate to Akanksha Pandey how deviating from the mainstream can bend the way we think, live and dress
NOTES TO SELF
An anthropomorphized tiger’s perspective, a viscerally worded futuristic interpretation of loss, a critique of performative activism, a meta reflection on the earth’s crises. Told through different lenses, Janaki Lenin, Indrapramit Das, Keshava Guha and Roshan Ali’s stories — written exclusively for Verve — attempt to make sense of the fraught reality that we exist in today
The Eternal Optimist
As Generation X and xennials grapple with fully transitioning to conscious living, young millennials and Generation Z are leading the charge to reverse human-caused environmental damage. Sahar Mansoor, founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based zero-waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, has a simple overarching philosophy: consume less and stay positive. Verve gets deeper into the mindset of the action-oriented earth advocate
Redemption SONGS
Indian music festivals have been demonstrating a refreshing sense of responsibility in terms of their ecological impact. Interacting with stakeholders who strive to make these large-scale events greener, Akhil Sood investigates the reasons behind the improved attitudes of audiences and the increase in corporate support.
earth hour
Crafted using nature’s elements, these dials draw inspiration from the many heterogeneous materials and hues around us.Verve turns its lens onto a mesmerising few
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Children are holding adults accountable for both the grim future they are facing and the toll this is taking on their mental health. Madhumita Bhattacharyya initiates conversations with families of young climate activists and observes the extent to which parenting has changed in the face of catastrophe
NATURAL JUSTICE
Most of us are only just waking up to the urgency of climatic action. When the stakes are so high, what can individual action solve? Mridula Mary Paul, an environmental policy expert, is proof of the tenacity needed to effect systemic change. It’s not glamorous, and the rewards are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop her from aiming big, finds Anandita Bhalerao
Along For The Ride
Navigating Indian streets as a woman is hard enough. But what is it like while riding a bicycle? Bengaluru-based Shreya Dasgupta, a regular cyclist, speaks to five urban women about the pros and cons of this increasingly popular means of transport.
