The Indian Navy has given me the opportunity to be the best version of myself: Surgeon Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai
Surgeon Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai on breaking glass ceilings in the Indian Navy “After a successful command, I could not have been happier than to hand over the Flagship Hospital (INHS Asvini) of the Indian Navy to a fellow woman Flag Officer. It is indeed a defining moment as it tells the nation and the world that women in India have now reached significant numbers in the higher ranks of the Armed Forces and that merit and not gender is the basis of appointments,” explains Surgeon Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai, the senior-most woman officer in the Indian Navy. On January 30, she handed over command of INHS Asvini to Surgeon Rear Admiral Arti Sarin, a unique event in the annals of the armed forces in India, for it involved two woman Flag Officers. Excerpts from an email interview. What inspired you to join the Navy? Coming from an Army background, I was exposed to the Armed Forces from childhood. My father was a surgeon in the Indian Army and passed away just before I joined college. He ...