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(A long pending post triggered by the recent Chandrayaan launch)
Like any boy of his age, the vast night sky with stars and planets fascinated him. He learnt to spot half a dozen constellations and a few planets like Jupiter and Venus. In spite of his tryst with Asimov, he never wanted to be an astronaut. He had been hearing stories of the strenuous training involved in preparing oneself to become an astronaut. The story had a tragic end, else he could have said he knew India’s second astronaut.
Much before ISRO became an acronym and was still an abbreviation, he could list out the chronology of all missions; he took pride in knowing the expansions of SLV-3,ASLV, SROSS and APPLE,IRS,INSAT etc without having a clue of what any of those words meant. Any opportunity in school to flaunt what a Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit or a Geo Stationary orbit was cleverly utilized. His dad keenly explained him the meanings, good for him as he could impress teachers in school.
GSLV-F04 Lift Off
Like any ISRO home, his house bore a sepulchral silence on mission failures, which were many(be it ASLVs or the PSLV) during those times; the number of failures enough for imbeciles to come up with jokes like I.S.R.O rockets make the life of Indian fishermen vulnerable(as they may fall on them). He took jokes on I.S.R.O personally, why would he not for something that fed him. The sweets that his dad brought home after every successful launch reflected the euphoria that everybody shared.
He would look at stickers and posters of satellites and launch vehicles, feel good about them and keep them safe. For him the display of Launch Vehicle models at home were signs of opulence.
He felt elated and delighted at the sight of such stickers on scooters and cars; something like a mixed feeling of association, happiness and superiority passed through him.
The young boy looked expectedly at the grey colored VSSC buses to see if there were people he knew inside. He felt big, arranging passes for the whole class for ISRO visits, not to forget the brownies he got from teachers. Every time when someone asked where his dad worked, his answer took himself a notch above.
He sweated and bit his nails in anticipation watching live telecasts of launches. He accumulated sleep debt watching many Baikonour and Kourou launches. He still reminisces the countdowns that he counted along like a duet and the smoke filled uncertainty he shared just after any lift off.
His passion has not changed a bit. He still gets a high talking about I.S.R.O
For the population that thinks a toss is bigger than a countdown and KANK is an easier acronym than SHAR, hope someone tells them space matters. A media that is over the moon with stars, may you look at what is happening on the moon in reality.
I take a bow before this force to reckon with, that has out done itself in every step.
Update: Post featured in Reuters India
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Tags: apple, aslv, chandrayaan, chandrayaan-1, desipundit, gslv, india, insat, pslv, slv-3, sross, trivandrum
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50 comments
@thej May be you will like what I wrote http://tinyurl.com/5t7u4x
Blog Updated http://tinyurl.com/5t7u4x (My story of growing up with ISRO)
I share the pride that little boy (now a big boy) has!
Many years agao I stayed at Sriharikota for a basketball match (we won the gold) and they took us all round the centre. It was memorable.
Aliya
It was a nice read…
I felt bad that until today I never asked about your parents.
I can see the words are coming straight from the heart of truely proud indian SON OF A #@$% (ISRO)ian
Keep it rolling… (the good writing and the chandrayaan)
“Nikhilum Chandrayaanum pinne naanum” is at http://www.simplymalayalees.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=717
Kudos to the ISRO! Over the moon, we all are… but your pride shines through with a sense of belonging that we can only feel, with envy, for having been part of the family as it were!
Artfully narrated too, the third person account, this time more effective than the first person..
Great job, Nikhil!
it was a great read..
ISRO is India’a pride…Kudos to the men behind the scene who worked tirlessly to make these missions a reality..
Maash…
I feel so proud after reading this post for so many reasons..
Proud to be your friend.. Proud to be a malayalee.. Proud to be an Indian.
“I take a bow before this force to reckon with, that has out done itself in every step.”
I join you. Rocking post!
I never knew this part of you! And Kudos to the all the extended ISRO family for everything they did for India!
Straight from the heart post!!!
Kidu post aliya. Yeah i can relate to the Geo synchronous orbits nitbit for the teachers. I actually wanted to be an astronaut. Where did that dream disapear?? But then i also wanted to be an Oceanographer. So there. Congrats to entire ISRO team for making sure of the tricolor’s presence on the moon. Wonder though shouldn’t we able to prove if the controversial conspiracy theory of human landing on the moon is true or not?
Nikhil,
Great Post man! Brought back many memories of my father’s days at ISRO. I jus can’t imagine what the celebrations will be when India (ISRO) launches man on moon. When the US did that in 1969, many people just stared at the moon at night unable to imagine that there was a human on that heavenly body!
Rocking Post! Really well written.
yup.. that is a moment which made me proud…
The day is not too far away when Rediff will consider having a special section on ‘India in Space News’ just like the one they have for cricket.
Or maybe not anytime soon.
am sure we all view the moon differently these days.
well brought out
Nice post da. Proud moment for all of US. Bow for all those great scientists at ISRO/VSSC who dedicated their career for this noble mission.
Awesome post. I can relate to this post so well coz I lived in a neighborhood where majority were ISRO employees, most of our parish members were ISRO families as well as we stayed close to VSSC. I used to beg to these people to give me one of those launch vehicle models that were proudly displayed in their homes.
. Even I’ ve accumulated lot of sleep debts in the process. There was a time when I harbored the dreams of becoming a space scientist or an astronaut ( the times when Kalpana Chawla was in the news).
The excitement while watching the live telecasts of the launches, you’ve put it so well
Hats off to ISRO for their sustained efforts, the moon is now ours too
Excellent post, Nikhil.
That sounded so much like it is coming from the heart!
Keep up the good work!
Hope that boy takes his friend (thats me) around ISRO someday. Waiting for that day.
this is the kind of post we call direct dil se….
i take a bow too!
did you make uncle read this one?
Well written!
For many youngsters ISRO is a synonym of India’s success. The moon mission has catapulted India to heights which Vikram Sarabhai himself wouldn’t have dreamt about. The Space and related fields would become even more charming once the Space Institute starts churning out its products..
Good Good … nice post … I join countless others who are proud too .. of ISRO and its achievements
As someone pointed out earlier, this is the kind of post we call direct dil se post. Kudos to you too for the achievement
I do remember the PSLV jokes which used 2 go around quite a bit a few years ago. Never thought how the ppl associated with them would feel about those. Anyway guess its payback time for u now.
So time 2 bask in the glory
Yo! Just read your Chandrayaan blog… ! Cool entry man. Was so nostalgic .. especially the LV stickers on our walls and sweets after successful launches…! And yeah of course you a big show off at school
Aww! Damn sweet!
Don’t let the pride deplete….the boy has everything to be proud of.
Its with a different perspective we look upon the Moon now…
@Ps
I can imagine how proud you would have been.
Thanks
@Agni
Thanks saare.
And oh my! New thread in SM for me
@Usha
Thanks for the visit.
Ho!Feeling a li’l intelligent now. D
@Praveen
Thanks dey!
@Layman
Thanks da.
@Prats
Thanks dude.
@Deepti
Thanks lady! Indeed it was.
@Vivek
Thanks aliyo!
May be the Man Mission to Moon will go find that.
@Karthik
I knew you would like it.
Thanks aliyo!
@-xh-
Thanks machu
@GWBE
I am sure that will happen soon.
@Gazal
Thanks madam.
@Ren
Thanks machu.
@jj
Thanks.Did you manage to get those models?
I can get you, if you still on the look out.
@Abhishek
Thanks dude.
@Thejesh
Sure dude.We can plan a Trivandrum trip.
@maxdavinci
Thanks for the visit. Thengueu saar.
@Parul
Thanks da, na,will make him read.
@scorpiogenius
Thanks maashey.
Ya,Space Insti is a good step in making this field popular
@Sumeet
Thanks dude.
@Naveen
Yes,its been payback time for quite some years.Booo all those losers.
@Nirmala
We know it da
Showoff, me :O
@Chutney
Thanks.
@prats
Never.The boy will be proud for ever.
[...] the recent Chandrayaan launch, Nikhil gets nostalgic about [...]
new face..amazing read…and glad to know this side of ya…
This is Really nice stuff… And i almost had a big argument with you without knowing the depth of ISRO love …Cheers…
Ram
interesting.. i’ve never been a big fan of anything science-y or space-y… so good to see someone so passionate about it
Science for me was a subject taught by a boring teacher.. ChandraYAWN
ISRO over the years have taken India higher and higher literally.
Proud of it
Ah I got a taste of this little boy’s pride and joy on the eve of Chandaayan-1′s launch! Loved this write up
. All big things become bigger when someone adds emotion to it. You have just made this whole deal a lot bigger!
good post… since my parents worked in VSSC i can relate to ur post very well…… this post brought back a lot of childhood memories
I liked it pal.
@jinxed
Thanks Jina.
@Ram
Now you know, why we had that argument.
@shuba
oh!I thought everyone liked science.
@tenalirama
Sad that you don’t like science.You are missing something then dude.
@Cris
Thanks lady!
@indu
Thanks for stopping by.
Good to see someone from the VSSC family here.
@Santosh
Thanks, that is a compliment I know.
Hi little spaceman of then and the great proud space watchman of now. Sky reaching imagnations and hopes. Good post. Proud to read.
@Annie auntie
Thanks for dropping by. Liked your comment.
that was good nikhil..
a couple of my classmates were involved in the launch!
Great post. Straight from the gut!
@maddy
Thanks maddy. Small world
@Cynic
Thanks
Wonderful post.We are all proud of ISRO.I too used to stargaze a lot and prided myself in identifying all the visible planets.
This would sound like a broken record, but very nicely written post.
ISRO is one success story that all India can be proud of, in otherwise bleak times.
Good posting, visiting for the first time. Liked your way of writing very much…keep it up
@Charakan
Thanks.
@amreekandesi
Welcome here.Thanks
@Sri
Thanks for dropping by and the comment.
Hi,
Excellent narration. Your pride did flow through to the readers and that is a great measure of the effect of this post.
Glad to hear about Reuters picking up the post.
Keep them coming,
Cheers,
Salil
PS : Unfortunately, I am among the imbeciles who took potshots at ISRO for all the rockets they drowned in the Bay of Bengal
*Now* I understand this post.
Happy new year maash
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