Begining

Born in Hyderabad (Pakistan) on September 16, 1944, Lila Poonawalla came to India as a refugee with her grand parents, mother and four brothers.They stayed at a refugee camp in Lonavala and then moved to Pune and made this city their home. The entire family had to survive on the pension from their father's Life Insurance Policy, who had died in a train accident when Lila was only two and a half years old. Inspite of limited financial resources, Lila, due to her determination was the only one amongst her siblings to go in for higher education. She was the only girl in the family of nine boys, her four brothers and five cousins.

"I learnt to fight for myself and for my rights. I learnt how to be a fighter and not to quit even in a male-dominated household. I was a tomboy! We were not very well off then. But, despite all odds, we remained cheerful and happy. Although my brothers had to take up a job to support the family, my mother impressed upon me, never to compromise on my education."

Lila studied at the Mount Caramel Convent High School. She remembers her school days as being fun-filled, where besides engaging herself in different extra-curricular activities like girl guide, baseball, basketball and other sports, she did find time to study too! It was at school that the seed of interest in doing different things was sown. Her abiding influencers from her cherished school days remain Sister Maribell, and Ms Sunderji, her class teacher in Standard VIII, who also taught Science and Hindi.

"It is from Ms Sunderji that I imbibed the correct moral values. She taught us how to conduct ourselves as ladies, how to dress and behave in a particular way, to keep trouble away. This helped me on the shop floor in later years. In fact, whenever I went to the workshop, her image used to appear before my eyes."

She completed her Intermediate from the reputed Fergusson College. Lila decided on two options for the future, keeping in mind the wishes of her family - a course in engineering or training as an airhostess. As being an airhostess was not a viable choice, Lila was allowed to pursue Mechanical Engineering.

Quite a few eyebrows were raised when I told my friends in school that I wanted to be an engineer. In fact, they all burst out laughing. And it was that challenge that pushed me ahead to prove myself. For, I have always wanted to do something different. "

She was the first female mechanical engineering student at the Government College of Engineering, Pune. Being a woman in a male-dominated engineering field made Lila even more determined to prove herself. However, it was not only studies that she pursued, there was time to play cricket and participate in college fests too. She graduated with flying colors, with a First Class Degree, in 1967.

"Having been brought up with the boys I did not feel threatened nor challenged on the engineering college campus where there were boys and boys all around. In fact, in my workshop, the boys would always try and help out and I never looked at it as a concession. For me, at the end of the day, the task was most important... not I."