Alakode (Kannur): Within a month, Gopika Govindan, a youngster belonging to a village in Kannur district of Kerala, will see her life’s ambition to become an air hostess come true.

Along with realizing her dream, Gopika is all set to earn the honour of being the first air hostess from the Scheduled Tribe communities in the state.

Gopika is the daughter of Chappili Govindan and Biji of Darappankunnu Colony in Alakode panchayat in Kannur, who belong to the ‘Karimbalan’ scheduled tribe.

She is now undergoing training with Air India in Mumbai. Residents of Darappankunnu are overjoyed that a person from the colony would soon be flying as an air hostess.

Childhood dream
Gopika dreamed of becoming an air hostess since her schooldays.

After earning a degree in Chemistry from S N College, Kannur, Gopika searched for ways to realize her ambition.

Even though many private institutions offered training courses for youngsters aspiring to become an air hostess, Gopika’s parents could not afford the fees as they were daily wagers.

Still, Gopika stuck to her dream. Two years later, Gopika learnt from the ST (scheduled tribe) promoter in her area that she could pursue a customer service course under IATA (International Air Transport Association) with a state government scholarship.

Without any further delay, Gopika sent an application and was selected for the scholarship. She subsequently joined the Dream Sky Aviation Training Academy at Wayanad for its air hostess course.

After the course, Gopika faced an interview conducted by Air India for air hostesses and was selected. She soon started training with the airline and would be ready for regular duty in less than a month.