Amid anti-aircraft fire, threat from shoulder-fired Stinger missiles and between menacing, ragged mountain ranges, she flew at least 15 sorties in her Cheetah -- a small, but India's most faithful helicopter. In some places in Batalik and Drass sub-sectors, she dropped food and supplies to ground troops; elsewhere, from atop dangerous peaks, she picked up the dead and evacuated the wounded. Though based in Udhampur, she is currently stationed in Srinagar: the only woman among dozens of fighter and helicopterpilots.

``There is no difference between us, in fact no one treats me differently,'' she says softly. ``I wanted to do this, and I am happy I was given an opportunity.''

Now, as the curtains slowly fall on the bloodiest Indo-Pak conflict in 28 years, Gunjan finds time to say her ``little story''.

When she was 10, she first read about Icarus and started dreaming that she would fly too one day. When she was in her teens, she was determined she would. And she told her father Lt Col (retd) A.K. Saxena. ``He was not taken aback. Rather, he inspired me to ahead. My brother (who is in an officer in the Army) was equally encouraging.''

In 1991, soon after she passed her Class 12 exams, the girl from Lucknow shifted to Delhi. ``I wanted to join a flying club, and get a pilot's licence. But at same time I didn't want to fly civilian aircraft.''

So she had to wait for three years. In the meantime, she joined Hansraj College in Delhi and picked up nuances about anthropology. She learnt about the Neanderthalman, studied about the first Homo-Sapiens and went on to graduate with a BSc (honours) degree. But Icarus kept recurring in her dreams.

Why anthropology then? ``The subject is just as fascinating. And the only other career option I had, if flying didn't work out.'' But it would. One day, in 1994, she saw an advertisement in a newspaper which said the Air Force was enlisting women pilots. Gunjan applied, wrote the exam and passed with flying colours. Along with 25 others she joined the first batch of woman pilots.

During the course of the almost two-year training, she had a choice: Fly helicopters or transport aircraft. She opted for the first and landed up in Kargil in the beginning of this month. In between, she logged in over 600 hours of flying.

``Soon after the conflict started, and I came to know that Cheetahs were being widely used, I lined up for combat duty. My seniors agreed and I started flying in Kargil,'' she says easily. What she doesn't boast about is that piloting any aircraft in thisregion requires exceptional skills.

Or that there was a constant threat of being shot down. She had been ready for any eventuality, she says. And every time she went up, she carried an AK-47 rifle and a small pistol. ``I was anxious, but not scared, on the first day,'' she says. ``Then after seeing our jawans in the battle zone, I was determined to battle all odds. I couldn't let them down, I couldn't let my country down.'' She didn't.