Press Trust of India

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI : Captain Tania Sher Gill at 5’ 10’’ stands tall but when she leads an all-men contingent during the ceremonial parade on the Republic Day, she will stand taller.

The 26-year-old officer of the Corps of Signals, had recently created history by becoming the first woman Parade Adjutant to led all-men contingents during the Army Day function.

Asked if she was feeling nervous or afraid of the big day, a graduate of the Officers’ Training Academy (OTA), Chennai, said: “We have worked a lot during the parade rehearsals, trying to perfect the moves. There is no fear or nervousness.” On January 26, the trailblazer officer will lead the contingent of the Corps of Signals, making her “family of faujis” and the nation proud.

Wearing olive green and holding a ceremonial sword, as she marched down the Rajpath during the full dress rehearsal of the Republic Day Parade on Thursday, she was the cynosure of all eyes.

“It was a feeling of immense honour and great pride, a sense of achievement and worthiness, and absolute blessing,” said Gill, the fourth generation in her family to serve the army.

Gill says she came from a family where “army tales and anecdotes” were part of dinner table talks and morning walks and joining the armed forces came “very naturally” to her.

“I had applied while I was in the final year of my engineering course and later got selected. After my training at OTA, I got commissioned into the Corps of Signals in 2017. When the selection was on for the parade adjutant, I knew that if I would get selected, I would be the first woman to do that job in the parade’s history,” she said.

The Army Day Parade felt so fulfilling and the R-Day Parade will be “another feather” to her cap, she added. Hoshiarpur-born Gill, who holds a BTech in electronics and telecommunications from Nagpur University, said her great-grandfather had taken part in World War I. “He (great-grandfather) was part of the Sikh Regiment, and he had taken part in the Burma theatre. My maternal grandfather also belonged to the same regiment, while my paternal grandfather belonged to the 14th Armoured Regiment (Scinde Horse) and my father served in the artillery regiment. Army life runs in the family,” a proud Gill said.

Asked what message she had to give to young women who are chasing their dreams, Gill said, “When we don the uniform, we are just ‘faujis’ (jawans or officers), gender is immaterial, all that matters is merit. Caste, creed, or any other thing also doesn’t matter in the Army”.

“And girls and women chasing their dreams should just believe in themselves. It doesn’t matter if some people think they are any less than boys and men. I would tell them just focus on your goals and pursue the goals with passion,” she said. The Punjab-born did her schooling in multiple cities and counts photography, travelling and music among her hobbies.