Women are mentally tougher, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh told a city audience last month.

“We are tougher mentally. I am mentally stronger... the consistency in us is more than anything because we are trained. The mental structure is such. So, if we believe... what we have, the inner voice, if we listen to the power within, there is nothing, there is no bias, there is no hurdle. This is what I have felt in myself,” Singh said to applause at Town Hall.

The air force officer was one of the two women who briefed the world about India’s strike on terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK on May 7.

Wing Commander Singh was in Calcutta on April 12, touching many with her “fearlessness” and “conviction”.

“There was no element of fear or doubt in her as she spoke about her experiences. There was a conviction in her voice, and she was matter of fact,” said Seema Sapru, principal, The Heritage School, who moderated the session.

A helicopter pilot with more than 2,500 hours of flying experience, Singh has flown over India’s varied terrain — seas, deserts, mountains, and valleys.

She has led numerous operations through the jagged edges of the Himalayas and the treacherous Northeast.

In November 2020, she led a 28-day-long two-aircraft mission in Arunachal Pradesh where the task was to recover men and material stuck on a snow-covered peak close to the border, with no suitable ground for landing.

Singh accomplished the task with the “low hover”, a flying technique that required skills and planning, considering the tall trees in the vicinity and rapidly changing weather.

“I invited her to come and speak to our students, not just because she is a woman but because of her courage and conviction. She told the audience that the machine (helicopter) does not know the gender of the flier, whether the person navigating it is a man or a woman,” said Sapru.

Voluntary social service organisation Inner Wheel District 329 hosted the meet in the city on April 12. Singh, from the Indian Air Force; Commodore Diviya Gautam from the Indian Navy; and Colonel Nisha R Kulhan from the Indian Army were in a panel discussion on women empowerment called ‘Inner voice, Power within’.

“Singh was excited to be in Calcutta for the first time, and she had no airs about her achievements. She came to the venue from Fort William in a cab,” said Sumita Roy, one of the organisers of the meet.

Indrani Basu Mullick, chairperson of Inner Wheel District 329, said the speakers motivated a 400-plus audience with their “indomitable spirit” and their experiences in facing tough challenges.