Mrinalini Sen (3 August 1879 – 8 March 1972) was a Bengali writer in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. On 19 December 1910, she became the first Indian to fly in a plane.

Life

Mrinalini Devi was born in 1878, into the Luddhi family of

Bhagalpur Bhagalpur is a city in the Indian state of Bihar, situated on the southern banks of the river Ganges. It is the 2nd largest city of Bihar by population and also the headquarters of Bhagalpur district and Bhagalpur division. Known as the Si ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

, India. She was married to the Raja of Paikpara, at the age of 12 and became a young widow a few years later. She met Nirmal Chandra Sen, the son of

Keshub Chandra Sen Keshub Chandra Sen ( bn, কেশবচন্দ্র সেন; also spelled Keshab Chunder Sen; 19 November 1838 – 8 January 1884) was a Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within ...

and a civil servant, in a social gathering. After placing her brother on the throne of Paikpara, she eloped and married Nirmal Chandra Sen. She had four children - NC Sen (Jr), Srilata, Arati, and Anjali. Both were prominent members of Calcutta’s elite society, and it was during the late 1900s when Mrinalini Devi got the chance to undertake the historic flight on 19 December 1910 and become the first Indian to fly in a plane. In 1910, the Belgian pilot Jules Tyck had brought a Farman biplane and a Bleriot XI monoplane to operate the first manned flight out of India. A

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...

report dated 22 December 1910 mentions that the Belgian baron,

Pierre de Caters Baron Pierre de Caters (25 December 1875, in Berchem – 21 March 1944, in Paris) was a Belgian adventurer, aviator and car and motorboat racer. In 1908, he was the first Belgian to fly an aircraft. He was also the first Belgian to receive a ...

, took off on a biplane from the grounds of the

Tollygunge Club The Tollygunge Club (Bengali: টালিগঞ্জ ক্লাব), popularly called Tolly, is a country club in India, located in Tollygunge in south Kolkata. Sir William Cruikshank established the club as an equestrian sports facility i ...

with Sen seated behind the pilot’s seat. The occasion was also covered by French newspapers and a British magazine. Immediately after the historic flight, both moved to England and returned to India before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

began. She wrote poetry and they were often published in the '' Desh'' magazine. She died on 8 March 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Mrinalini Bengali writers 1879 births 1972 deaths Writers from British India