Thursday, September 25, 2014

Mangalyan - So what's the big deal?

Apparently ISRO shot off a rocket and it put a satellite around Mars. Now, unless that satellite can take a top angle shot of Deepika Padukone's assets and get the Nation's largest daily to tweet about it on the lines of "OMG! Deepika's assets are visible from Mars", what is the big deal? The way it goes these days, ISRO needs to arrange for Mangalyan to do exactly that if it is to get TOI to seriously tout its achievement loud enough to be 'heard over the clutter in the Social media". After all, who cares, otherwise, if one more satellite orbits Mars than was the case previously?

The Nation is, of course, delusional in putting up a Mars mission when so many live in poverty. US, Europe and Russia have, of course, eliminated all poverty in their countries, and the people there live in lands of milk and honey. Thus, they can indulge their fantasy to play with fireworks, and, of course, when they do it they are doing it merely in a scientific spirit of inquiry, which has no taint of any delusion whatsoever. India, though, ought not to indulge in any such activity and, if it does, it is purely delusional with no taint of scientific inquiry. We can put up factories to produce fancy cars, splurge huge sums on the latest in Smart-phones and Tabs, erect huge statues to our leaders, get peppered with ads of deodorants and foreign travel - in short, we can indulge ourselves in any manner whatsoever on Earth without having poverty thrown in our faces BUT it can only be delusion that drives us beyond the limits of this planet.

The taint of that delusion carries to the people who worked to make it a reality. After all, what does it matter that these people were able to so precisely engineer the rocket - in a country which has elevated 'chalta hai' to a fine art - and so accurately compute the orbital mechanics that they managed to insert the satellite in Mars orbit without hitch. They did it in their very first attempt - something that no single country had managed before. BUT - big deal - what is the use of such efficiency and such effectiveness when it comes in the service of a mere delusion? AND, after all, even if all these things were about as difficult for a small payload as it would be for a larger one, it was a small payload after all. Better to have a world record payload crashing into the Indian Ocean than a small payload actually orbiting Mars. AND, of course, much better to concentrate on the all-important performance of CSK in the Champion's league T-20 tournaments.

So, well, what if we are used to saying, "It ain't rocket science" to mention that something is not as difficult as rocket science AND this IS rocket science in which the ISRO guys have managed to come off with such flying colors? It is not like they have won the World Cup for India, is it? Even the Prime Minister needs to mention that this small achievement of ISRO's needs to get SOME acclaim - much like hockey players plead for some attention from a cricket-crazy nation.

So, okay, just because Mr. Modi was present there, we will sort of mention them for a day or two - unless someone has tweeted about some other starlet's legs in the meantime. We cannot all be deluded into pampering the egos of the ISRO guys when more important things like this plague the Nation.

28 comments:

  1. From what I have read, this is going to help develop satellite, communication and remote sensing technologies that are being used to measure coastal soil erosion, assess the extent of remote flooding and manage forest cover for wildlife sanctuaries. And perhaps enable us to predict natural disasters such as a cyclone. Beyond that I am clueless. If the aim was to inculcate a scientific temper, Arnab squandered it yesterday by indulging in a slanging match between the BJP and the Congress on who should take the credit. The lone scientist on the panel was seen scratching his head on prime time.

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    1. For the use of Science, I can only use the answer that some famous person gave in the past - "What is the use of a new-born baby?" You cannot predict.

      I saw this more of a "Yes! We can" moment - that India can achieve such quality and such precision. Whether or not people find Mangalyan useful, they ought to be proud of the ISRO scientists who managed this tremendous feat. AND, instead, we converted it to the "Yes! We never will" moment by almost totally ignoring it.

      AND - what credit for either the Congress OR the BJP? Credit for the fact that ISRO operates on a shoe-string budget? All credit is due only to the ISRO scientists for succeeding despite the odds being against them. The government was responsible for the odds being against them.

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  2. Very aptly put Suresh ! I am getting rather tired of having poverty thrown at our faces every time.Look at the amount we lose in scams, the number of fools in the govt. who have costed us a fortune,the amount government spends on cleaning up after its citizens, the citizens who would rather spend all their money on festivals & occassions rather than on education.. what happened to priority then ?
    An informative article if you have'nt read...http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/11/11/3888174.htm

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    1. I get rather irritated with this 'poverty' nonsense - We spend humungous sums on matters of little import - yet another communication satellite so that some 200 more inane TV channels can get bandwidth and we are all applause. A epochal thing like the Mars mission and all the poverty breast-beaters crawl out of the woodwork.

      Even if you grant the 'uselessness' of the mission, what is the use of someone eating broken bottles for 10 hours at a stretch or some such thing? If that chap gets into the "Guinness Book of World Records", we go gaga about it. An achievement of THIS magnificence and all we can do is pooh-pooh it?

      I get the feeling that we, as a people, have become incapable of dreaming big. All our focus seems exclusively parochial. AND, yet, we still tout our Taj Mahal - a mausoleum, of no utility and certainly not built in times of widespread prosperity. All achievements gain magnificence only in retrospect, it appears.

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  3. Good one, Suresh. I am glad that the event got the coverage and the accolades that it did. It was a proud moment for the country. I was put off with satirical tweets and status messages on Mangalyaan yesterday. Looks like some people have nothing better too. The state of news in this country is truly pathetic as you pointed out about Deepika episode. Seriously, this is what we what to read and see and then read and see some more retorts and counter retorts :(.

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    1. What I wonder is whether there would have been such coverage had not Mr.Modi chosen to visit them then.

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  4. Suresh at his best ! I am going to quote you from this post on my debates on Mangalyaan :D

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  5. Since Mr. Modi was present, the event got decent coverage in the electronic and print media. I do hope he continues this practice. Otherwise, ISRO's achievements will be eclipsed by starlets' body parts!

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  6. As the famous saying in Chennai goes, avan moonjile yen peechan kaiya vekka.

    Avan in this case being all the detractors who said ISRO can't do it.

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    1. Haha! Sometimes you can express yourself properly only in the idiom of our own tongue, right, Jairam?

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  7. I dont mind the undivided attention the mission got for a few days. Every news gets it peak time....they had their's.

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    1. This, for me, is not merely news, Red! It is an epochal achievement. I get rather angry with the idea of this feat getting about as much, if not lesser, coverage as SRK's latest release or a reshuffle of the bureaucracy.

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  8. Agreed. It is a massive achievement but the way they throw it in your face really gets to you. The whole farce around which party gets credit made my blood boil. Frankly I was put off by a lot of statuses as well i sa on FB, it made me glad I was offline all these days.

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    1. If credit is due, it is due to the ISRO scientists. I have no idea exactly where the parties come in :)

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  9. I love the fact that we actually managed to put the rocket in orbit of mars, now we can outsource those missions in India too :P but this line // in a country which has elevated 'chalta hai' to a fine art// loved it, might lift it for some post. :P

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  10. Suresh, you have said a lot in this short post. And have said all the wise and thoughtful things, disguised under your quintessential humor and wit! Loved it.

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    1. Thanks Beloo! It irked me that the ISRO scientists, who come closest to Karma Yogis in this country, do not get the acclaim they deserve.

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  11. I feel there are many good things about our country that goes unnoticed. Our leaders and media must give them proper attention and credit instead of talking of horny legs.

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  12. People have their own perspectives and one can't avoid them. But I don't think it was Mr Modi's presence alone that got the media attention. Even before Modi came on the scene the media had started mentioning things like India was going to be the 4th nation to achieve this feat, etc. I agree that our media have their priorities wrong. But what determines the priorities? Readers, I believe.

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    1. Perhaps! But, then, who will take the leadership role in changing the priorities? If all of us let it lie will things change?

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  13. Sometimes i wonder what would we lament about when poverty is minimised. We take great comfort in citing it as the greatest impediment of development. The media is hell bent on picking out the miserable and sensational news for its front page. I was disturbed to see MOM and the hapless tiger incident of the Delhi zoo sharing same footage

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    1. What irks me the most is that we bring in poverty to stall anything good.

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  14. The achievement WAS epochal,and doing it on a shoestring budget makes it doubly so.It reveals at the same time, how much importance our leaders give to scientific progress.
    On second thoughts--how can they give more funds--very little remains after the humongous scams :( .

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