And for a Friday arriving in Trivandrum due to bereavement in the family, but also a week dominated by India’s Moon “Conquest”, some thoughts….. some musings…..
Almost every kid in school, every Indian was praying as the TV screens started the countdown for Vikrant to shift from Horizontal to Vertical position to land on the Moon Surface. The confidence of the entire country was boosted and the National Heroes of the day, Dr. Somnath and his ISRO team. More than 400 of large, medium and small enterprises who formed this mammoth network of Public and Private sector enterprises which is a unique feature of India’s Space programme, making it not only globally cost competitive but with cutting edge technology, reliable and manned by some of the worlds best and talented low salaried Engineers. Whilst large Indian companies like HAL, L&T, Godrej, BHEL are all well known, imagine the technicians of Venkateshwara Aerospace who made the landing legs of Vikrant; they almost stopped breathing as the final landing seconds approached, or little known Himson Ceramics from Surat, who have very good experience with the Chemical Industry. Ceramic materials are non metallic compounds including oxides, carbides, or nitrides with very high melting points, low wear resistance and a wide range of electronic properties. India has currently less than 3% of the World’s Global Space Economy. With the success of Vikrant landing and robot Pragyan successfully emerging out and sending pictures of the Lunar surface, .India has showcased to the world its scientific prowess. Indian Space Industry will grow to more than one lakh crores in the next few years. Hope this success encourages our young school kids to continue to do well and study Maths, Physics and Chemistry in Schools!!!
One of my very favourite relatives in TVM, a former Commander of the Border Roads Organisation, a gentleman officer to the core, yet a very endearing, loving, caring, elder Patriarch of the family, breathed his last peacefully at age 90, as desired by him at his own house; no hospital, no ventilator. God’s gift to the fabulous human being he was. May his Soul be at peace. And that reminds me of the excellent social service done by the volunteers of the NSS to hand-hold and guide the Children, both American citizens, thru all the rituals befitting of the Person whose Soul was being liberated. We all join in Prayers. God Bless!!!
Trivandrum, like the rest of Kerala, is getting all decked up for the most important festival of the year, Onam, and this year it’s going to be special. With ISRO’s umbilical cord with Trivandrum and Kerala, the “conquest” of the moon is huge reason to celebrate in Kerala, the elegant way, the enjoyable way, the SEEGOS way.