Photo Credits:- Abhinav Jain
“Let’s stand here” Tarun said after making out the
silhouette of the crudely drawn lines beneath us.
“I guess that’s pretty much the ISRO logo” I replied to him,
and took my place next to him; soon Pankaj joined us with a banner held above
his head congratulating the ISRO scientists on their success.
I was dripping wet as I stared up at the main building where
the photographers were poised to capture the students who had formed ISRO logo
in the quadrangle as J N Tata stared down at us, drenched but equally proud,
clutching the main building close to his chest.
It was a festive mood as over hundreds of IIScian’s had
turned up to celebrate the successful entry of the Mars Orbiter Mission into
the Martian orbit that too on the maiden attempt, a feat unachievable by the
attempts made by many others. Already tagged as a cost effective mission that
has mocked the movie “Gravity” for spending more money than the amount invested
by India in this mission, our little invention will soon be in proximity with
“Curiosity”. 24th September from this day hence shall mark a day
that witnessed a historic moment that has by all means satisfied those Indians
like me who wanted to witness atleast one trice of our country’s rich history.
The unexpected and unfathomable surprise of the day occurred
when a few of our alumni who were scientists now at ISRO turned up and excitedly
shared their triumph with us. The hundred is not a mistaken figure as it was
evident from the rapidly vanishing sweets that I was distributing along with
the others. One last sweet was left in my box and I gave it to Javed, who
commented “half-half” and gave me half of it back which I happily ate.
The thrilling prospect of exploring the red planet, our
closest neighbor and the quest for extra-terrestrial life, possibilities of
which have been over exploited by authors and directors, is soon a reality! The
proud Indians finally dispersed back to their labs, where there knew one day
soon, an achievement awaits them, that will serve as a turning point as today
had been for our country. And with high spirits they would work now.
Everyone was gone, the faculty hall was locked, it was time
for us to leave too. I and Tarun started walking away from the main building.
“I guess the posters we put up in the mess really helped” I
commented beaming.
“Yeah! So many people turned up, inspite of the rain”
We were walking back to our hostel, proud and with a silent promise
and overflowing excitement to meet Dr. Radhakrishnan, chairman of ISRO during
Samanway 2014.
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