“Mum! Dad! My CAIE result’s out,” exclaimed Hala, sitting in front of her laptop on her study table.

Her mother ran from the kitchen and moved closer to Hala, after carefully putting the flat bread from the stove on the plate. Her father, who was peacefully reading the newspaper, sprang from the sofa, still clutching the newspaper in his left hand.

“What is it?” said the impatient Sarah, Hala’s friend, who had gathered at her house to wait for the result together.

Smiling ear to ear, Hala finally broke the dreadful silence, “I got A* in biology, physics, additional mathematics and chemistry. The rest are As.”

“That’s amazing. Let me see mine,” said Sarah.

Her father kissed Hala’s forehead and had stars in his eyes when he said, “Once again, my daughter has made me immensely proud.”

“A* in biology? Then set to be a doctor and walk in our footsteps, huh?” said her mother who was a cardiologist

Meanwhile, Sarah announced her results, “I got As in all subjects, though maths and biology are exceptions, with A*s, as expected.”

Sarah noticed that Hala didn’t seem as cheery as she had been when she had announced her results. But hers were better than Sarah’s and she was not someone to be jealous. Perhaps it was what Hala’s mother had said that had made Sarah ponder. Hala had mentioned once that she might not become a doctor, but why was she anxious? Both the girls went to Hala’s room.

“Hala, is something wrong? You seem lost,” said Sarah.

“Hmm, nothing. It’s nothing,” Hala said after thinking a little, still staring at the blue sky from the window in her room.

Sarah knew that Hala won’t tell anything until she was ready, so she excused herself to go to her house and share the big news with her parents. Soon, Hala’s elder sister came from her medical college and was excited by this news. She rushed straight to Hala’s room and congratulated her.

“You don’t seem so happy?” asked Bajjo.

“Bajjo, do you expect me to be a doctor as well?”

There was a short silence after which Bajjo replied, “Well, don’t you want to be? When you were little, all you could think about was being a doctor, that’s it.”

“That was because I was told that good girls become doctors and good boys become engineers. Why is there never an option? I want to become a pilot, Bajjo! I want to see the world from above. I want to go out in the world and see how it’s like,” Hala replied with persistence.

Hala went over to the window and watched the clouds as though imagining herself flying through the clouds already.

“Someday, you’ll see me from this same window and I’ll be flying outside in the aeroplane, dancing with the clouds. I’d be rolling and gliding and swimming with the stars,” Hala pointed to the sky through the window. “I’ll feel what freedom actually feels like. Leaving the earth when I feel like there’s a burden in my heart and coming back all refreshed, with all my fears melted away.”

“Okay,” Bajjo sighed clearly from the exhaustion of the university, but also from the thought of the upcoming drama in the house, “Come to the dinner table first.”

Afterwards, they all ate Hala’s favourite Chinese food ordered by her father, to celebrate her good grades. She finally decided to voice out what she had been thinking ever since she had given her board exams. Though Hala had planned out the whole conversation in her head, she didn’t seem to be ready for it. Her palms were cold, yet shivering, frozen toes and butterflies in stomach. It was dessert time now and while her sister was serving the ice cream, she decided to make her move.

“Dad, I … I don’t want to pursue medical science,” said Hala in a determined manner and continued. “I want to study aviation. I want to become a pilot.”

Dad replied in a composed way, “But beta, you’d be happier studying medicine. Aviation isn’t for girls anyways.”

“I’d be happier doing what I love. I’d rather spend my life learning to spread the wings that you gave to me, rather than throwing up while dissecting human bodies.”

Dad explained to Hala that she should go into the medical field because they had already paved her way towards medicine by being excellent doctors with their own private clinic setup, which she would join someday. Beside, being a female, aviation studies can prove to be very demanding. And a bigger challenge would be that to study aviation, since she will have to move to another city which offers her a chance to study and learn flying.

Though Hala’s parents could afford giving her adequate education for becoming a pilot, as they would have done for MBBS, they feared that her femininity would be a stumbling block in her progress in her field.

Her parents told their concerns to her, but as they always encouraged her to be firm in her decisions, she did not want to change it. She said the sky was not the limit, but her home.

Bajjo tried to take Hala’s side and told their parents that aviation might be a road not taken and though it is different from the conventional career choice for a female, if Hala really wants to do it, then she should.

“Sweetheart, you should think again about your decision. You know it’s not going to be easy. No one is going to take you seriously and you will have to hear all kinds of remarks from others,” her dad continued after sighing. “This profession might be unstable and you will have your lows. It will be also very tough, but if I am spending this much money, you should also study wholeheartedly.”

“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ve been thinking about my decision ever since our trip to Dubai seven years ago. That trip made me fall in love with aircrafts and flying. I’ve been thinking of those clouds and how the world looks from above since then,” Hala looked at her dad and flashed a million-dollar smile, “I won’t let you down, I promise.”

In the next two years, Hala completed her intermediate studies from a college and enrolled in a flying academy. Gradually, Hala realised that getting the permission from her parents was only the tip of the iceberg. The next four years, as warned by her father, were extremely tiresome. She had to study round-the-clock and the relatives didn’t make it easier either. They always said that “medical was safer for girls”.

But she wasn’t going to give up because planes always take off against the wind, not with it. It is well said that until you spread your wings, you have no idea how far you’ll fly. She also demonstrated that her gender will never be a hurdle for her job and that people can respect and admire her as a pilot.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 5th, 2023