The story of my love. How it all began, and how my love for it manages to go strong with each passing day….
It has been a long time since I blogged, the last post being a story that I wrote just as an experiment. Right now, I’m in the middle of my final school holidays (read boring) undergoing a strong dose of coaching classes and school – ah yeah! The ground reality is that we ain’t have any ‘summer vacation’! Anyways allow me to go ahead and indulge into the details about my love-life!Well if you didn’t manage to pick up the hint in the title that spoke my heart out, this post is on me and my love ASTRONOMY! The one word that defines me. The one word that drives me! The word that makes me, me! You can say it binds every quark within my body (in reality, a gluon is assigned that job!) and keeps me alive. The emphatic expressions aside, I’d like to share with you how I got interested in astronomy and how my relation with it has been and lastly, how I managed to benefit from it!
Flashback. It was a hot March afternoon, in the year 2003 when I was enjoying being fed by mother before being packed off to school (Mushtifund Primary is in the evening). The TV was on and I was just another odd kid who was interested in watching the news (DD News to make it more odd!) and it was nothing other than love at first sight. Unfortunately, the start of my story was the end of another saga. It was the end of my hero’s life.
March 1, 2003. Let me take you back in time when the folks of our country were awaiting the return of this lady, the lady who dreamt of soaring high. And yes she did that and much more. Kalpana Chawla was destined to be a true citizen of the universe and never set foot again on this planet. Here is an extract that i grabbed online that encapsulates the whole episode.
Incidentally, the very morning this happened, the members of the Association of Friends of Astronomy (AFA-Goa ; will elaborate later) were returning from a star party the very same day as this incident. If this unfortunate event did not get me palpitating with the shock, it at-least got me glued to what was going to be my passion till date.When the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the orbiter's left wing was damaged by a piece of insulating foam falling off the orbiter's external fuel tank. That proved fatal for the seven astronauts when they re-entered the Earth's atmosphere days later. The world watched as the shuttle disintegrated as hot atmospheric gases blasted inside the breach, melting the ship's structure.
From what I can recollect, it did not have any immediate effect on me, but it rather got me thinking about all the stuff that man was literally up-to in this modern era. I was just in the 3rd grade and had a keen interest in science and all the stuff around me. Although I did not open up toy cars like Einstein (I preferred whamming them on the ground instead), I had a fair share of what I called ‘chemicals’. I used to go around mixing dish washing liquids, random ointments, tables, syrups and even that brand of sweater wool washing liquid. The worst (to my joy) that I managed with the mixture was to remove the polish from the bed. Not bad, I think! It was better then loosing my radio to constant w
As I already posted on the AFA-Goa wall on FB, One of the book that I awaited the most was not a Harry Potter, nor a Chetan Bhagat. It was a Amar Chitra Katha on Kalpana Chawla's life. I still think it is one of the best gifts that I got from my parents till date. The one book made a huge difference as in it brought me closer to what she was like and how hard she worked. Years on, I opened up the book yesterday and was almost in tears as it was an emotional moment for me. In fact, that was the reason behind me making this particular post!In 2004, NASA launched the Spirit and Oppor
The next few years past by without any drastic happening. It was steady climb uphill. I’d like to mention a few important things in here. Firstly, there was this computer course at Boston’s Cyberkids that I used to attend. This was the place where I was introduced to a lot of nature related activities and yeah, AFA. We had a lecture held over there by the members of AFA and I was also taken to the Panaji observatory where I had my first shot at constellations and yeah the sexy Saturn! It was moment worth treasuring for life. If you have yet not have had a peep at the Moon or Saturn through a telescope, you better do very soon!
The next big thing was AFA itself (no prizes for guessing that!). I was a AFA
The day I (re)entered into AFA, I was hooked forever! Till date, I call it my second home. It is responsible for the person who I am. People like Rakesh Rao, Satish Nayak and our own Videsh Khandeparkar (Vidu) have been really good in guiding every young mind that steps in. Today, I can say that I have vi
Then came along the best trip of my life. That was the tour to watch the Total Solar Eclipse of July 22nd, 2009. It was such an amazing and lucky that we were all left asking for more! It was one of the most memorable experience one can ever have. If I go to write on it, it will take me at least two posts. I insist that you check out Suyash’s here and here. Some of my trip photos are here. If you ever plan a back-packing trip to Varanasi, count me in!
AFA is not only about astronomy or science. At the end of the day, we are a
My future lies ahead of me, and I am looking forward to rock it! Certain plans are underway, and I hope that the outcome is in my favour. Till then, I have decided that I’m never ever going to compromise with my passion and dedication towards astronomy. For if there is anything left to support me when everyone in this world deserts me, there will be only astronomy with me. Only astronomy!
Yours Truly,
Midas Touch
4 comments:
nice! u won't believe how much we have had in common! :D
even i remember, as a kid, i use to crush leaves n mix them in oil, take the liquid in a dropeer n relese it drop by dropn in the rain water. the colors prodced by the oil in the water used to make me euphoric, thinking i created a chemical! :P
those were the days. i aspired having an underground lab like dexter!
n even i wanted to join PEC n become an astronaut!!! :D
thanks a lot for bringing back all those memories. cheers to geekhood
Wow!! I didn't know we had soo much in common dude! :D Very funny, the places we start off with, and the place where we end up in!! Guess we will never have those crazzzy good ol' days back again!! :P
there are so many memories actually. i remember i use to gather those flint pebbles, wash them n bury them. then dig them out again, wash n bury again.then again take them out.somehow i thought all this was imp n made them produce a better spark when hit against each other :D
i use to have this plastic briefcase in which i kept all kinds of stuff. magnifying glasses, droppers, syringes n all. it ws like my mini lab.i even told a teacher i wanna ba a scientist when i grow up :D :D
to be fair to myself, my aspirations have been coherent thruout. jus that i moved to more specific terms to express them. so 'scientist' became 'astronaut' which became 'pilot' which finally turned to 'aerospace engineer' which i intend to become someday :)
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