That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind?
This hot burning topic has captured everyone's eye primarily on twitter and facebook. The success of the mission has been brought to a matter of money and Nation’s priority. Indeed, The mission has been publicized like a state owned industry has produced a low cost, fuel efficient flying “nano”.
Well, I failed to understand why we are obsessed with one side of the coin irrespective of our knowledge and common sense. It’s important to look both sides before choosing head or tail.

I am neither here to pose a rosy picture of the mission nor to grow thorns. This is my personal analysis after reading about mission. Choice is completely yours whether to opt head or tail.

1. No Doubt that the money spent on this mission could/should have been spent somewhere else which could have provided the immediate benefits. The total money spent on the mission has been 450 crores. The country serves more than 120 crores of people which means 3 rupees 75 paise (apx) was the cost each person has to bear for this mission. Mission on Mars has a cost of Rs 7 per Km but we are too happy paying more than this to travel in auto and cab every day.

2. India is a home to more than half of the hungry people and I wonder how 450 crores would feed all of them? On the other side, current food security programme is going to cost 1.2 lakh crore each year to the government.

3. Most of us have closed our eyes to the real facts and figures and some of us have deliberately turned the eyes in order to prove there points. The budget allocation is for space programmes is 0.35 percent of the total budget and out of this, only 7-8 percent has been spent on the mars mission.

4. The country runs few of the biggest schemes in the world in terms of money allocation, administration or governance like ICDS which has the budget of Lakhs of crores. Our lack of ignorance has also made us to accept the fact that the funds from these programmes have been diverted to such “futile” space programmes.

5. ISRO is not a hungry fire which sucks all the money invested. Many sound minded among us are unaware of Antrix Corporation Limited which is the marketing arm of ISRO for promotion and commercialisation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO. The Antrx has recently launched five satellites including one for France. Such efforts are not visible because we have lost the art of appreciation. This commercial arm generates a profit of more than 100 crores annually for its commercial operations. I don’t know where the money is being spent and how but this is a small step towards self-reliance. It would further add to the forex reserves of the country which plays a vital role in the health of economy these days and indirectly affecting inflation.

6. As a part of our foreign policy we have started playing a greater role in the continent. I affirm to the fact that India is racing with China in arms, space programmes, marine technology, etc rather it should focus on GDP and poverty but this would further improve the further credentials of the country as a soft power nation which many of us have failed to see. 450 crores is not the amount to create so much of hue and cry when we are committing billions of loans to our neighbors which is broadly known as Gujral-Doctrine.

7. ISRO should focus on the immediate needs of the country rather than investing something which would generate benefits to the future generations but at the same time, we are always bragging about brain-drain in the country, such missions can install the trust in the country and would attract the coming engineers and young scientist who choose to fly out of the country for growth.

8. ISRO has internal problems. Its employees have been suffering from family problems due to over involvement in such missions. Many of us are also aware about the law-suit filed against ISRO by Airtel for not meeting its contracts on time but we have failed to go deep into the technology which is used in the mission which has application in weather forecast, computer technology, health and medicine in future which could further be used to solve larger problems.

9. It is important to focus on issues of Malnutrition, Malaria and other chronic diseases but those who dare to dive deep bring the stones. The universe is an unknown hallow. If we remain obsessed with our current problems and issues we would never dare to think beyond and find solutions. ISRO has installed a new methane detector in the mission while NASA had already claimed that there are no signs of Methane on mars but the matter of fact is that ISRO’s Instrument would scan the larger area of the Mars while NASA reached the conclusion by scanning a small area only.

10. It seems ISRO has learnt a lot from the recent elections campaigning. It has brought its focus only the Mars mission leaving aside all other pending or stalled missions due to problems in Geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle which can carry payload up to 2500 Kgs but at the same time space research is not a futile waste. We have failed to recognize the success of mitigation efforts during the Phalin Cyclone in Orrissa which has saved millions of lives. This was possible only due to accurate weather forecast.

P.S – I tossed the coin and it’s still above due to 1/10^th of Gravity. :D :P

5 Seconds

This particular piece of writing was written three years back when i experienced earthquake for the first time. A lot has changed between the time when this post was written and when it it being being published on my blog ! A fresh new start again with a past reminder. 

I was lying down on my bed, earphones were in my ears, mobile in my hand, eyes hooked on T.V, lips were whispering something, mind was somewhere else; may be in some deep thoughts about the life that I was trying to figure out from last two months. I tried everything, from the latest noisy illogical comedy T.V serials to the movies like Zindagi na milegi dobara, from the killing silent moments in life to the highest forms of vulgarity in rubbish discussions with friends but i was failed in my every step, then an experience of fIvE seconds cHaNgEd mY LiFe fOrEvEr.  ddddhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr(5, 4 , 3, 2, 1 ) yes it was a bloody scary sHoCk and technically we call it "eArThqUaKe".. In fractions of seconds my eyes travelled from TV to the wall and it was shivering like a kid who just came out of the bathroom in the chilly winter season..my lips stopped whispering and they kissed each other suddenly like a girl and a boy kissing for the first time, a message flashed on my cell phone's screen "dude, Earthquake"., before giving a thought to the message that i received, my mind went twenty one years back and then again came back to that moment. My hands were literally paralysed and I looked at my sister who was sitting like a sloth on the bed with stretched haunches and legs from one end to another, I said "Earthquake ". I had doubts in my mind whether it was really an earthquake or I was into a dream.(?). I came out of my room and looked out the street and heard some voices of women screaming and penetrating to my ears "reeee...Usha...Bhukamp...hoo., oye bhukamp, haawww..geeta bhukamp...it seemed like as if people had come out of their homes to celebrate the joy of triumph for something or it was the best moment in their lives that they ever came across. Everyone around me was so happy that they experienced a natural disaster (thank God, it was of low intensity.. otherwise.. we have seen the consequences many times in the past). Yeah, i was also there, experienced the same and had the full right to enjoy for experiencing the thing which is being experienced by only lucky ones and sometimes they become unlucky too. For me it was not just an earthquake or a shock, it was like a door of a wonderland which I couldn't open in 21 years of my life was opened naturally in just 5 seconds. It was not like a wonderland of Alice which was full of fiction rather this was a real wonderland with full of reality. Things around me were same but the perspective of looking @ them was totally changed as for the first time in my life I experienced and realised that life is too short. From the last 2 months I was trapped immensely in the past that my life was stopped and those 5 seconds were like as if someone had removed an old battery from a stopped clock and had put a new one into it and the clock started working again and so did "I". Life is too short and Unpredictable too (yeah, i know you all know this :D). Nothing is permanent and no one is immortal. So laugh a lot, love like you have never been hurt because every single second you spend upset, is a second of happiness that you will never get back. Don’t be afraid that your life will end ( yes,it will and it has to) rather be afraid that it will never begin again.. So before another eArThQuAkE comes, "STOP EXSISTING AND START LIVING"