She entered as a 'special case.' She left as India's first woman engineer

The untold story of Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha, India's first female engineer who entered college as a "special case" and rewired the future.

The corridor of the College of Engineering, Guindy, buzzed with the usual noise of young men laughter, chatter, the clatter of boots on red oxide floors. Then, suddenly, the sound dipped. Heads turned. Conversations paused. A young woman, draped in a crisp cotton saree, walked in clutching her notebooks close to her chest. Her eyes stayed low, but her steps did not falter.

It was 1940, and Ayyalasomayajula Lalitha had just become the first woman ever to enter the engineering classrooms of Guindy.There were no other women around no hostel room waiting for her, no restroom she could use, no precedent to follow. Only rows of curious, skeptical faces.

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