Meet Mulund’s Dare-Devil Woman Firefighter!
Gone are the days when Indian women were restricted to household chores or did simple women-oriented jobs. However, the 21st-century Indian women have broken the chains of discrimination and are engaged in doing demanding and challenging jobs that were once limited to males! Interestingly, the country’s Defence Minister, who heads the armed forces, is a lady, Nirmala Sitharaman. On March 8, Mulund saluted such daring and bold ladies on the occasion of Women’s Day. Home Times, on this occasion introduces readers with Mulund’s Dare-Devil Woman Fire-fighter, who is working as Fire Officer at Mulund Fire Brigade and at the young age of 23 supporting her underprivileged family!
Meet the enterprising and valiant Sultana Pathan, the Fire Bridge Officer working, who is just 23 years old but has the distinction of rescuing several lives during fire calamities. Speaking to Home Times, Sultana informed, “I joined the Fire Brigade in 2017 not by choice but by circumstances as I had the responsibility of looking, my family.”
Going down memory lane, Sultana said, “I hail from a small village called Sangola in Pandharpur (Maharashtra). My father is a farmer and my mother is a housewife. I have 2 younger brothers. Since income from farming is scarce hence I had to take a job at the young age of 21 to support my family and curbed my dream of making a career in sports.”
Recalling her childhood days Sultana said, “I was not good at studies but was a frontrunner in every sport. I win National Level medals in boxing, wrestling, and kabaddi. I was fascinated with Kabaddi and wanted to make a career in Kabaddi but my duty of taking care of my family was bigger than my dream. Hence when I saw an advertisement for the job of fire brigade personnel in the newspaper, I immediately applied. Thanks to my interest in sports I passed the physical test with flying colors and was selected for the coveted post at a young age.”
It may be noted that though Sultana has pumped all her energies into her job but still she has not quit Kabaddi. After her work, she makes sure to practice Kabaddi.
Initially, Sultana was employed at the Byculla Fire Station. There she worked for 1.5 years. For the past 6 months, she is working at Mulund Fire Station. As a fire officer, Sultana has rescued many lives during major fire calamities like the unfortunate Tilak Nagar gas cylinder blast or the building collapse at Memomwadi. On being quizzed about the number of people’s lives she has saved, a humble Sultana said, “During a fire crisis, our priority is to save maximum lives and bring them out to a secure place. The sight of joy on the rescuer’s face gives us immense solace and that is our biggest gift. The number of people we rescued never flashes our mind.” “In addition, the number of people we saved is irrelevant because what is important is our devotion with which we plunge our self into the fire to save the life of others, risking our lives.”
Besides saving people, Sultana also had the privilege of saving many birds and animals. Many times, she had even lifted men double her weight. Elated at her job she said, “The major asset of this job is that besides seeking inner solace on rescuing the lives of a people, we are also fortunate to get the blessing of the people whom we save. I believe blessing is the biggest reward a person can ask for.”
Sultana Pathan believes that more and more ladies should join fire brigade and contribute their services to the society but she avers that women should not seek any special treatment because fire brigade treats both male and female at par. She asserts fire brigade job is the best platform to serve humanity.
