Sarla Thakral was born in New Delhi, India in 1914. Most of the information concerning her early life is not known. At the age of 16, Sarla got married to P.D. Sharma. Her husband came from a family that was familiar with aviation as there were nine pilots in the family. Coming from such a family and also being the first Indian to get an airmail pilot’s license, he encouraged her wife to pursue aviation. Sarla got enrolled in a local flying club and started her training. She was a natural pilot as, after only 8 hours of training, her instructor felt that she was ready to fly solo. She flew the plane and landed it safely. In 1936, the 21 aged Sarlaearned her aviation pilot license. After the first license, she was determined to go up the radar by completing over 1,000 hours of flight. She persevered and flew a plane belonging to Lahore Flying Club that led her to attain the goal. After finishing, she became the first Indian woman to achieve an ‘A’ license. Her life started changing after her husband, Sharma died in a plane crash in the year 1939. With a family to take care of and now a widow, she had to get into something to get a livelihood. She was determined in advancing in aviation where she headed to Jodhpur for a commercial pilot license training. Unfortunately, the world war had already begun, which led to the pausing of all kinds of civil training. With no hope in aviation, she turned to art, where she enrolled in Mayo School of Art and trained in the Bengal School of Painting earning a diploma in fine arts. She started a business of designing and selling costume jewellery that had market among Indian women. After India gained independence, Lahore was no longer safe for her, so she moved to Delhi with her family. It is here where she met R.P. Thakral who she got married to in 1948. Based on her career in art, she started business on painting, jewelry, and costume design which grew, and she became a successful businesswoman. A great pilot she would have been. Nevertheless, she never gave up despite the challenges, but she searched for fortune in another field where she greatly excelled. On 15th March 2008, Sarla died at the age of 94 leaving a glorious legacy behind.