Mission Mangal

After years of being conditioned in a cynical and pessimistic society,  focusing primarily on what India as a nation is lacking in...I couldn’t  help but recognise and acknowledge that hint of pride swelling in me as I watched the movie ‘Mission Mangal’ loosely based on the real-life events leading on to the Mangalyaan Mission.

The Mangalyaan Mission of ISRO or the Mars Orbiter Mission or the ‘MOM’ as we have come to know it popularly, is a space probe, orbiting Mars since 24th September 2014.

This was India’s first inter-planetary mission and it made India the first Asian Nation to reach the Mars Orbit and the first nation to accomplish that feat in its very first attempt. The only other space agencies who have beaten ISRO in the race to Mars are the ROSCOSMOS, NASA and the ESA. The cherry on the cake is the fact that ISRO remarkably completed the entire Mangalyaan mission at one eleventh the cost of NASA’s MAVEN to Mars...at a cost of just 4.5 billion rupees — or about $74 million. Compare this to NASA’s own MAVEN Mars Orbiter, which had a total mission cost of around $672 million.

Even at the possibility of sounding naive, I have to admit that at the theatre today, I experienced a sense of pride at what we have achieved as a nation. Perhaps this is where we are lacking primarily...we have forgotten to attach pride to our national attainments. We are lacking in self esteem.

Today, it is regarded as foolishness and imbecility to harbour a feeling of exaltation and delight in an occurrence that should rightfully give rise to national pride.

We as citizens of India, need to attach that sense of pride to our achievements in order to feel confident. One achievement may be preceded by multiple mistakes, but let us forget the mistakes for a while and focus on the feats.

There will always be sceptics and cynics and again there will always be believers and the optimists.

It is perfectly alright to question, but is it fine to be nihilistic?

It is for us to choose!

Adding one last fact:
ISRO was founded on the 15th of August 1969, exactly one month after, NASA put the first man on the moon. And here we are today, breathing down their neck. Can you beat that??!