Years ago, on her last day of school, a young Vyomika Singh queued outside the staffroom of St. Anthony’s Senior Secondary School in Delhi, clutching her autograph book. It was a parting ritual — one last message from teachers who had seen her grow. When it was her turn, Hindi teacher Neelam Wasan wrote a line that she thought captured Vyomika’s spirit: “Vyom ko chune ke liye bani ho.” (You were born to touch the skies)
Wasan never imagined how literally that would come true.
This week, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force stood before the nation as one of two women chosen by the Indian government to narrate Operation Sindoor — India’s response to the Pahalgam massacre in which terrorists killed atleast 26 civilians. Hours after nine terror hubs in Pakistan were destroyed in targeted strikes, the government sent a second message by presenting Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Army and Wing Commander Singh as the faces of that resolve.
Singh, who graduated from St. Anthony’s in 1998 and later studied environmental engineering at College of Engineering, had always shown signs of quiet purpose.
“Vyomika was always equally good in English and Hindi. She was very talented and very humble to talk to,” said Jyoti Bisht, 70, who taught her English in Class 11 and 12. “Even in school — not only in studies, but she was very good at playing basketball. Recently, we met at the school reunion, and she was still the same humble girl. But when we saw her on TV this week, she was strong, doing her job for the nation.”
“She used to take part in a lot of debates. Even though she was excellent in English, she would participate and do extremely well in Hindi debates too. She speaks so well,” Bisht added.
“Our Vyomika, who is Wing Commander Vyomika Singh now, has really made the school proud,” said Manju Sahni, 67, her class teacher and social science teacher in Class 8. “I had a double responsibility — to instill values in children. When I see Vyomika’s discipline and kindness today, I really cherish those memories. She was always attentive and grounded.”
Her childhood friend Shalini Raman Parakkat, 45, now an artist in , recalled how early the signs appeared. “She used to say that vyom means wind and that she was meant to be in the skies. So we all thought she would be a pilot or an aeronautical engineer,” Parakkat said.
“I’ve seen Vyomika from Class 7. We were among the few tall girls, and she was very noticeable. She once lifted the petite characters of our classroom just for the fun of it — we took pictures,” she laughed. “She was always a physically strong person.”
Today, Singh is not only a Wing Commander but also a mother to a teenage daughter. “She was travelling to the tuition centre once and was disturbed by a guy in the bus behind her in Delhi,” Parakkat recalled. “She was about to get down from the bus, but she turned and yelled back at him. That courage at such a young age was inspiring. She came to tuition a little shaken, but not afraid.”
Parakkat added, “Until 2013, we didn’t know where our classmates were. A little later I connected with her on our school WhatsApp group, and everyone knew she was now in the Air Force. All of us were in awe — someone had actually taken the risks. There weren’t many women in the Air Force back then, but she said otherwise and did it. It must’ve taken a lot of courage to convince her family. She was the first among us to join the defence forces.”
“Even when we connected later on a video call, Vyomika was still the same person we had known in school.”
Singh spent her entire school life at St. Anthony’s. Her mother worked with the National Council of Educational Training and Vyomika was one amongst the three sisters her childhood friends recalled.
“Vyomika and I used to go to school in the same bus,” said Suruchi Jain, 45, another childhood friend. “I’d get in at the Vasant Kunj stop and Vyomika at the NCERT IIT stop. We always stood at the back, chatting about anything under the sun. Never in the front. Always standing, always talking.”
“I always had fond memories of her from Class 8 — we shared the same bench. Today, people may assume she was a nerd or uptight because she’s in the forces. But she was fun-loving and balanced — an all-rounder in everything: stage, sports, studies. And above all, a good friend,” Jain said.
“For that age and time, she was focused. We weren’t. But she was.”
“One of the teachers once asked her name and said, ‘Vyomika means someone who rules the skies.’ And it really turned out to be true,” Jain added.
“In Class 11 or 12, she made a physics project on flying kites — and now she flies without anyone holding her hand. She’s ruling the skies.”
Wasan, her Hindi teacher, still remembers the day Vyomika came for that autograph. “When I wrote ‘Vyom ko chune ke liye bani ho’ in her book, I didn’t know she would actually do it. At our alumni meet in December, she reminded me of that. She also recalled how, during a parent-teacher meeting, her mother was concerned that she was getting distracted with extracurriculars. I had reassured her parents that these were important too. Vyomika said that day I saved her from getting scolded at home.”
The sky, once imagined, is now hers.
