{"id":5349,"date":"2016-06-19T11:38:30","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T06:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5349"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:05:53","slug":"isro-chandrayaan-2-space-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=5349","title":{"rendered":"In a Nation Divided Over Politics, How ISRO\u2019s Chandrayaan Brought Us Together"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><div class=\"container page-content\"><p><span class=\"dropcap\">L<\/span><\/p><\/div><p>ife was eventful for those of us growing up in \u201980s India. In 1982, we showed the world what a swell job we could do of hosting the Asian Games. We also watched the events on the first-ever coloured television sets in our homes. Two years later, the nation watched in awe as our Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conversed with Rakesh Sharma, our first and only cosmonaut in space. The visuals of Wing Commander Sharma, surrounded by the crew from Soviet Union, was an image that would be etched in our minds and hearts forever. He was a hero, a legend, and as<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/politics\/nathuram-godse-martyrs-day-mahatma-gandhi\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Gandhi, <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">who sat in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m4bWUIIo3qg\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">makeshift studio<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a hand-drawn illustration of a chariot flying over the clouds and the flags of the two countries next to her, read out from a paper \u2013 we did not have teleprompters at that time \u2013 we absorbed every word that was said. \u201cI hope your mission will inspire the youth to be courageous and make our country space conscious\u2026\u201d<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was nine years old, watching the big moment unfold on a tiny Sonodyne screen on Doordarshan in our Kolkata home. And like any curious child, my mind was filled with questions which I kept throwing at my baba.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thirty-five years later, I relived the moment with my six-year-old daughter. She is not allowed late nights, but yesterday was an exception. Eager-eyed we were waiting for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/humour\/investigation-statue-of-unity-no-memorial-used-to-launch-space-missions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chandrayaan 2 <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to make a safe landing on the south pole of the moon.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decades later a lot has changed and a lot hasn\u2019t. There was no grainy DD transmission, but a laptop screen around which she huddled with her father. She definitely is more curious than I was at her age, having watched videos of various space missions \u2013 including our own successful Mangalyaan. But she was as excited about watching <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/satire\/isro-satellite-scientist-traffic-mumbai-travel\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ISRO\u2019s<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> mission as I was when I watched Rakesh Sharma smiling back at millions of wonderstruck Indians. It had all the makings of a life event.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1567838148.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-54159\" \/>\n<p><figcaption>\n<p>Long agonising minutes after the initial euphoria told us that the moment would not arrive \u2013 that Vikram, the Moon Lander and Pragyaan, the Explorer had simply lost contact.<\/p>\n<p>Manjunath Kiran \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today was no different. Yet it was a difficult morning trying to come to terms with. Long agonising minutes after the initial euphoria told us that the moment would not arrive \u2013 that Vikram, the Moon Lander and Pragyaan, the Explorer had simply lost contact. A heartbroken ISRO Chief K Sivan\u2019s voice cracked up as he announced, \u201cThe communication from the Lander was lost.\u201d<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the Chandrayaan heartbreak was not to be nursed by the ISRO scientists alone. We were in it together. At 2.30 am, a generally cynical India, looking to snap out of an exhausting week, was brimming with positivity.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sharing pictures of ISRO scientists carrying parts of the satellite on a bullock cart, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IndiaHistorypic\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">@IndiaHistorypic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> wrote on Twitter, \u201cIn 1981 ISRO <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/science-spirituality-and-the-psychobabble-of-sadhguru\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Used to Carry India\u2019s First Communication APPLE Satellite On Bullock Cart. And Today Chandrayaan 2 Landing\u00a0 Missed by a Whisker. In Next Attempt We Will Succeed and Succeed We Will. For<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/isro\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> @ISRO<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Impossible Is Nothing.\u201d<\/span>\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p>But the Chandrayaan heartbreak was not to be nursed by the ISRO scientists alone. We were in it together.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mainbhiengineer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">@mainbhiengineer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said, \u201cChandrayaan 2 landing might have failed but so many common people watching and talking about Indian space mission at 2 AM isn\u2019t less than being on Moon.\u201d<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chandrayaan\u2019s success then is not all about Vikram, the Lander, or Pragyan the Explorer. It is about a billion Indians and the singular dream for the future that, despite our differences, we continue to share.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chandrayaan\u2019s success is about the fact that it has managed to bring the spotlight back on scientific inquiry, engineering skills, on empirical research, knowledge and hard work. As <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/humour\/pm-modi-fitness-challenge-hum-fit-toh-india-fit-tan-ki-baat-leg-day-edition\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prime Minister Narendra Modi <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">said of Chandrayaan, \u201cThere are no failures in science, only experiments and efforts.\u201d<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a country where leaders peddle cow urine\u2019s curative properties and talk about evil-eye effects, where we marry toads to appease the rain gods and the Indian Science Congress has become a gathering where logic goes to die, this is a big positive. The beautiful irony is that India for once was fiercely googling and talking about \u201crough breaks\u201d and \u201cfine breaks\u201d and payloads and a Vikram that was different from the Vikram-Betal lore of yore.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chandrayaan, like cricket and PV Sindhu, brought us together in jubilation. It proved to be a great unifier. At a time when we are divided by politics, ravaged by floods, and crushed by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/economy\/indicators\/indias-economy-suffers-car-crash-pain-spreads-to-villages\/articleshow\/70974726.cms\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">economy on a freefall<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the moon mission is the dash of positivity we so badly need. For those minutes most Indians with access to the internet and smartphones forgot what they had been bickering over \u2014 the isolation of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/kashmir-article-370-social-media\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kashmir, <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which of their neighbours was left out by the NRC \u2014 and kept their eyes on the screens, hoping for a scientific and engineering miracle. We prayed to our different gods perhaps, but asked for the same thing. Let there be a landing.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u201cfailure\u201d of Chandrayaan 2\u2019s most anticipated mission, is a gentle reminder of the power of the people and their optimism.\u00a0<\/span>\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p>Chandrayaan, like cricket and PV Sindhu, brought us together in jubilation. It proved to be a great unifier.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has been scoring abysmally on several indexes. We have been repeatedly accused of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/lead\/the-growing-power-of-the-lumpen\/article28335539.ece\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">violating human rights<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, lynching our own, committing atrocities in the name of caste, gagging courageous journalism that exposes systemic failures, putting <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/india-women-workforce-education-womens-rights-culture-marriage-employment-a8915011.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fewer and fewer women at our workplaces<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and not doing enough to save the environment. It is at this nadir in our global narrative that Chandrayaan gives us a modicum of dignity. The world watched as we stayed up all night to create history, and not rewriting it to suit any political ideology.\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last night, my daughter, who was done waiting for Vikram to appear, began to play a game of snakes and ladders. When it was time to break the news to her, that there will be no landing, she quipped, \u201cThis is just like snakes and ladders. You have to keep trying. I love India.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hit rewind to April 2, 1984. The PM asked Rakesh Sharma the question we all wanted to ask: \u201cWhat does India look like from space?\u201d<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You could sense the pride and joy in his voice as Sharma said, \u201cSaare Jahaan Se Accha\u2026\u201d I remember my little heart growing big with pride.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, I don\u2019t know if we could rightly be called <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/doodle\/pv-sindhu-asian-games-badminton\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSaare Jahan Se Accha,\u201d <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">but when rise above and look around, perhaps we can better see just how small our differences are in the grand scheme of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pop-culture\/deadpool-pansexual-superhero-queer-universe\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">universe. <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thank you ISRO, you brought us together again in hope, prayer, and pride. Mission accomplished.\u00a0<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a time when we are divided over politics in Kashmir and Assam, ravaged by floods, and crushed by the economy on a freefall, Chandrayaan 2 has ushered in a dash of positivity we so badly need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":320,"featured_media":5352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[9114,1835,5621,1371,9119,1372,6208,218],"class_list":["post-5349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-chandrayaan-2","tag-heartbreak","tag-hope","tag-isro","tag-landing","tag-moon","tag-prime-minister","tag-space"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In a Nation Divided Over Politics, How ISRO\u2019s Chandrayaan Brought Us 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