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 5.40am flight.
When the body reached Nhava around 11am, 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.”
Maithili had last spoken to her mother around 11am on the day of the crash, just before takeoff. “She had promised to call once she reached London. But that call never came,” said her uncle Jitendra Chavan.
Jitendra Mhatre, former sarpanch of the village and a relative, said Maithili had achieved her dream of becoming a cabin crew member despite financial difficulties. Her father Moreshwar was a welder who had only recently found a contractual job with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for a monthly payment of ₹20,000.
“The family did not have regular stable income but her father tried to give her the best. And she did not let limitations come in the way of her dreams,” Mhatre told Hindustan Times.
When she got the job with Air India around two years ago, the entire village had celebrated her appointment. “It was as if our daughter had made it. She gave so much hope to other girls in our village,” said Mhatre.
Maithili had been working hard to ensure her siblings received a good education and did not face difficulties, the former sarpanch noted. Her younger sister Drishti is currently studying BTech while her brother has completed class 10.
As Maithili’s coffin made its way through the village to her home, it was wrapped in a yellow dupatta.
“She was a Krishna devotee and would dance to his hymns. Since yellow was Radha’s favourite colour, we wanted our Radha to dress up similarly,” a relative said by way of explanation.
When the body passed the Lady Khatun Marium School, where she had studied from nursery to class 12, teachers and students lined up to pay their respects. Daisamma Paul, the principal, fondly remembered her walking over 20 minutes to school everyday.
“She was a very loving and caring simple girl and a teachers’ favourite. She was also a house captain in class 11,” said Paul.
Maithili had visited the school just two months earlier to talk to students about opportunities in the aviation industry, the principal added.
A condolence message from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj University in Panvel, said, “Our alumnus Maithili was a dedicated aviation professional, admired for her commitment, grace and passion for the skies. Her journey from being a student at our university to becoming part of India’s national airline inspired many.”
A colleague who did not wish to be named said Maithili had recently started working on international flights.
“So she was very excited. She had done seven international trips and was on her eighth,” she said.
Around noon, Maithili’s body was taken to the crematorium and the funeral pyre was lit amid chants of Radhe Radhe.