A Tryst with History at Shar

Opportunity knocks

As I was going through the e-mails that I had received, there was this mail from Vikram announcing a visit to Sriharikota to witness the historic launch of INSAT-4C by GSLV-F02. On reading it I suddenly felt an urge to join the gang. After all, permission had been obtained for only ten students. But then again, as usual I started thinking over it again and again. Should I go or not, can I go or not? If I go then I’ll have to suffer in the sun and struggle to reach Shar and so on … excuses to prevent me from going! On the other side, a rare opportunity that comes once in a lifetime that was not to be missed. India is to launch its own INSAT from its own rocket for the first time! Also it would be such a valuable experience for me who was stuck in the house due to the boring holidays. Oh God! When will I come over this self-cynicism? Just then, my brother passed by. I told him about this nice chance offered by IIT wherein students can go on this trip sans any fee. He wasn’t interested, but pounced on me saying I should go instead of being a ‘gosha’. Sigh! I was pondering over this for nearly half an hour. Imagine, sitting and thinking for thirty minutes, unable to decide even this simple thing! With a heavy heart, I replied to the coordinator Sai Prasad, asking him to include my name in the list. After mailing, I started feeling a little lighter and more enthusiastic. I went told paati about it and she was happy that I was availing this good opportunity. But then again, it wasn’t sure whether I would go or not. I waited till night to get confirmation from Sai that I was also to be included in the gang but only if I joined the Physics club, which I quickly did. That Friday night, the 7^th of July, I slept happily dreaming about the satellites, stars and rockets!

The next day, I thought I should learn more about the launch itself, about GSLV, INSAT, ISRO and so on. But as usual, my laziness got the better of me! Whole day, I was simply watching TV, orkutting etc. In the afternoon, I informed appa about this planned trip. He was immediately excited and asked if he could also join. May be; make it a family event wherein all of us can go to Sriharikota in a car! Unfortunately, only IIT students and that too only ten of us were given permission to visit. Not giving up, he immediately phoned one of his old friends working at Shar. Someone else spoke in Telugu and appa handed the phone to paati, who asked the other person something in golti! Oh boy, ‘maatladu’? Say, what? Anyways, finally we learnt from the friend that SDSC doesn’t allow public visitors during the launch. What a disappointment! But I was to go ahead with the trip anyways. Appa advised me to go from here by bus or train. But we hadn’t finalized our mode and time of travel yet.

On Sunday morning, I mailed Sai and asked about the itinerary. The whole day I could think of nothing but the trip. How will we go, when should we start? Will they allow us inside SDSC? It went on throughout the day but still no reply from Sai. In the afternoon, chithappa and chithi came to visit. On seeing Deepu, appa suggested that we go on a family outing to some movie. But being a Sunday, all cinemas were running houseful! Finally, they all went to Mailam. But I couldn’t, since I had to wait for the info about the trip. Balaji also didn’t want to go as he had booked tickets earlier with his friends to watch Superman returns! Appa and chithappa tried pressurizing me into coming. But with paati’s full support, I succeeded in staying at home! I didn’t want to go out anyway. Hour after hour, I checked my mail. Sai hadn’t replied to my mail. What do I do? With butterflies in my stomach, I waited till night for his reply but none at all! Finally, I decided to ask someone else in that group. Anush was online and so I started chatting with him. I found out that almost all the others were third years; I was only second year in the gang. Anyways, I enjoyed chatting with Anush and went on with it for nearly an hour! He told me about the itinerary. We were to leave from Central at 8.30 AM and go to Sulurpeta in Andhra. From there, we catch a bus or taxi and reach Shar by 1.00 PM. Each had to bring his own lunch. And in the end, he told me to phone Sai and inform him about my coming. Duh! Why didn’t I think of calling him before? Silly me! Of course, the clash of titans – Federer and Nadal was going on. Watching that with one eye and the computer with the other, that was an ordeal! Once the match got over, and the Fedex won of course, I called up Sai and he seconded Anush about the trip. Ah! Finally, some relief! The plan had been finalized. But uh oh! I didn’t tell maami about this. Anyways, what the heck? I’ll have some Curry noodles in the morning, I thought. That night, I couldn’t sleep till 11 PM due to all this excitement. And I put some enthu and took a print out of the info given in the ISRO website about the launch. Too bad I had to miss the clash between Italy and France in the football finals. But the trip is more important and I had to wake up early the next day.

The Big Day arrives

Having set the phone alarm at 5.30 AM, I managed to get up only at 5.50 on Monday. After finishing the routines, I settled to read the papers. I don’t know what’s with this magnetic effect of The Hindu that I went on till 6.30 reading it! Then maami came and immediately I informed her about my plans for the day. Paati asked her to make me idlis for breakfast and for lunch. After finishing my bath and breakfast at 7.15, I was in a dilemma over how to reach Central by 8’o clock! Maybe, my moped or by bus? Appa started shouting that I was late and asked me go by call taxi. Why waste money, I thought. Finally I went by auto, a cool Rs.130! As he went at his own pace, I started getting tensed. Would I reach on time? What if I miss the train? Oh no! God, help me! Finally, the good autowala got me to Central by 7.50 itself. I immediately rushed to the Suburban station only to find that the other junta were yet to come! Painmax! After buying the tickets, we waited for the train to come. In the meanwhile we all chatted and got to know each other. There was Sai, Vikram and Anush. Also present were Nagarjun and other Telungans, I forget their names. En route, we were joined by Sivateja, whom I had known from the Sanskrit classes. I greeted him Sanskrit and he replied in it as well! At Tondiarpet, we were joined by Sabhapati sir from IVL, whom I had known from the NSS trip. And so, the journey went on and on. It was a long journey but we discussed about the satellite and the launch. I had brought news articles about it and was reading it. My print-out proved quite popular with everyone taking turns to go through the info. And fortunately I had taken my MP3 player along. Listening to my favourite songs and showing it to the others as well! I wrote down the whole lyrics of the ‘Anbendra mazhaiyilae’ song from ‘Minsara Kanavu’ and showed it to Sabhapati. He was impressed with my Tamil and corrected my spelling mistakes.

Finally, we made it to Sulurpeta at about 11.30 AM. A sleepy little station in the middle of nowhere! After having the lunch we had brought, we set about searching for the bus stand to catch a bus to Shar. Ultimately, we had to walk nearly one and a half kilometers in the hot sun. But no bus there either; the knowledge that we had missed the last Shar bus by just 5 minutes added to our agony! In the midst of all this Sivateja had bought some sweets made of flour and jaggery called ‘Sununda’. It tasted somewhat like the ‘Maaladdu’ we make. While I was relishing it, the policemen there advised us to take a share jeep. Just as I was wondering why there were so many policemen, a cavalcade of cars passed by. With sirens on top and guided by Ambassadors with armed guards, it was the governor! Of TN or AP? Maybe both. Who cares when you are being baked by the sun and fleeced by the jeepwala! Ten of us were cramped into the jeep and the heat was relentless. The whole area looked like a semi-arid desert. Or maybe it was a dried up lake. The hot air blowing through made it even more difficult for us and that too in this remote place. After traveling like that for nearly half an hour, we had finally arrived at The Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota known shortly as Shar. Wow! The place was so beautiful and green; more or less like the IIT campus. I couldn’t believe that such a place was possible in this semi-arid area. At the entrance gate were placed two giant models of the GSLV and PSLV. Maybe we should have taken a group photo there. But there was no time to lose as we had to enter before 1.00 PM. We went through the security check at the gate and submitted all our electronics including the mobile phones and cameras. Too bad, they also took away my MP3 player!

A place in History

Anyways, there we were. At the doorsteps of one of India’s most respected institutions. A place, from where India has launched many of her successful satellites. A place, where some the most advanced space technologies are being developed. A place, where great men like Dr. Abdul Kalam and Prof. Satish Dhawan have worked to make our lives easier. Surely, this centre has its name etched solidly in India’s history. Entering it gave us a great sense of pride and patriotism. We had come to witness this monumental launch and become a part of this historical occasion. The security guard had issued us a gate pass. As we were walking inside the serene campus that reminded us of IIT, we realized how early we had come. It was only half past one in the afternoon and there were three hours to launch. Once we entered the two-storey high administrative building, we figured out that this was where we were to be put up. What? We can’t go further inside! The launch pad would be kilometers away. The official there asked us to take rest and have some refreshments. We had to see launch from the terrace itself! I enquired about the distance to the launch pad. The building was nearly seven km away while the VIP dais was a cool twelve km away form the launch pad! That’s better we thought since there were television screens in the building showing the rocket in position.

We then moved to the office of the Controller’s PA. At least the room was cooled by air conditioners. Ah! What a relief from the sweltering heat outside. After chatting for some time, we went out to get some grub. Anush and I had brought idlis while the others walked around in search of a canteen or a mess. And find we did a small shanty with a few stools and a table. They cooked the food then and there, white rice, sambhar and potato curry. Just a simple meal for Rs.18 and of course they gave me potato chips for free as a compliment. Very good natured people indeed! But Sabha sir asked them for a bill. A bill, from these poor people! However, suddenly they got scared and reduced the price to Rs.10! But why? Anyways, we paid the amount and left. Then, Vikram went back and paid then the remaining amount! Sabha sir was annoyed but Vikram argued with him that we should help these poor people. How kind of him! After having some cold drinks, we returned to the room and many of the junta dozed off, just a quick nap. I couldn’t sleep sitting and so I was writing the lyrics of the ‘Thirumaal Perumai’ song! As we lazed about, a guy came and announced something in Telugu. We were startled! I heard it as coffee! But it turned out he had announced that the TV in a neighboring room was now open and we could go and watch the pre-launch telecast. Some of us went and sat in that room while the others continued with their nap. The sofa was huge and comfortable! I suppose that was the Controller’s office but what the heck! The TV had no cable and the only channel was the direct DD feed about the launch. And they kept showing the same picture continuously for one hour. Sickening! Some silly journalists were sitting and posing. But we could see the governors sitting in the front, including Surjit Singh Barnala, the sardarji with his big turban and beard! Finally at about 3’o clock they made an announcement that the launch had been delayed by an hour. It seems some pipe connections had a problem. And also the weather had become cloudy. We wondered what we would do if the launch were to be postponed to the next day! Stay back or go home? Keeping the dilemma aside, I started reading the reviews of Arindham Choudhary’s book ‘Count your chickens before they hatch’. I didn’t know that this ponytail guy was such a respected economist. Little did I realize how false the title would turn out to be in the context of today’s event!

After being there for a while, we went up to the terrace at about 4.45 PM. The terrace was filled with people. Everyone from little kids to old guys had turned up. I suppose they were the family and friends of the people working at Shar. As we stood chatting about INSAT and GSLV, more and more people started pouring in. In about half an hour, the whole terrace had been filled. All the security guards had also come up to see the launch. All the people were looking eastwards, as if they were sure that is where the launch pad was. Also the tall trees, a few hundred metres away from the building blocked the view of the horizon. It had also started becoming cloudy. We were all praying that the launch should go ahead. The tricolour was flying high near the entrance. It made me overflow with national pride. Just then, an announcement was made - ‘T –15 minutes’!

The crowd became excited. Everybody turned eastwards and stood with apt attention. I could also see scores of people atop other tall buildings in the campus, all eagerly awaiting the launch. Again an announcement - ‘T –10 minutes’! We spoke about the time, effort and money that would have gone into making this project a reality. ‘T –5 minutes’! We had put so much fight to come here and witness the launch. ‘T –1 minute’! Oh God! All of us were extremely excited and anxious. After all, the rocket would be visible only for a few seconds. ‘20 seconds’! All eyes were fixated on the tree tops that hid the horizon. ‘10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1 and lift off! GSLV-F02 carrying INSAT-4C’. We could here applause after that. And lo! The great rocket appeared above the trees in the sky. A brilliant blinding flash of yellow and above it the ‘thin’ rocket! The crowd broke out into a huge applause and whistles. I myself couldn’t help but clap wildly. Looking at the 410 tonne rocket that has been successfully launched by my country, a satellite that would revolutionize communication in India, a few tears of pride rolled off my eyes! Slowly the rocket disappeared into the clouds. Immediately everyone scrambled downstairs to see the scientists congratulating each other on TV. I ran as well. But Sai had stayed back to see the sky.

Sheer Pride to Sorrow

On the TV, there was this sign ‘No signal’! What! I thought they would replay the clips of the launch from close up and also that of the scientists at mission control cheering the victory. The whole crowd stood there looking into the blank screen for a few minutes. I then came out of the room and the junta gathered. We were sharing our amazement of that few seconds. Then the PA, Mr. Ramanujam came out and we thanked him for giving us this opportunity. I went ahead and even congratulated him for the successful launch. He just smiled and bid us goodbye. We then took our bags and went downstairs. There Sai joined us and told us that he saw some sort of ‘fireballs’ falling from the rocket. And then an orange-violet cloud had formed. Then Naga came with the most shocking of news – the launch was a failure! We couldn’t believe it. I was speechless. He went ahead and told us that the rocket had failed in the first stage itself! It seems he had heard it from a security guard. None of the scientists were around to confirm the news. Maybe that’s why the TV feed was cut off! I still wasn’t convinced. So many crores, so many years, so many scientists – their efforts could not have gone in vain. After all, India has had a continuous streak of 11 successful launches. This historic one just cannot fail. In a few moments, the whole building seemed deserted. All the people who had come to see the launch had dispersed. We also got going to the gate. All the while this heavy sense of sorrow, disappointment, disbelief accompanied me. While coming, we were happily chatting. But now, everyone was silent. The solemnity of the occasion was so overwhelming.

At the gate, there were a few ISRO buses waiting. But a private bus came just then and we quickly boarded it. As we were returning to Sulurpeta, the vast expanse of the dried up lake was evident; the orange sun looking at us as if it wanted to console us! Reflecting upon the monumental failure we had just witnessed, we were all filled with gloom. Adding to the sorrow was the fact that the Agni III had also failed the previous day. Soon, the bus got crowded. Just as we were going, some four Shar buses overtook us. It was followed by the governors’ cavalcade. By about 6.30 in the evening, we reached Sulurpeta. Munching on the sunundas, we were walking briskly to the station. I called up Balaji to inform about the launch failure but he had already seen everything on TV. Duh! At the station, we took a few group photos. Too bad, we didn’t take a single photo of Shar! Anyways, we boarded a train to Gummidipoondi at 7.00 and took a few group photos inside as well. While returning, we were talking about IVL activities as well taunting Sivateja about the sunundas! From Gummidipoondi we took a train back to Chennai suburban. En route, we chatted about the full moon and the Chandrayan mission etc. What will happen to the future of the INSAT series etc? I had a picture of the GSLV F02-INSAT 4C. I suggested that we frame the picture, garland it and put it up on the wall in the Physics club! Everybody burst into laughter. At least now, we had come out of the sorrow. As the train went along, we chatted about the holidays, projects and so on. Sabha sir got down at Tondiarpet. By the time we reached Central, it was 9.30! The junta were in a fix as to where to eat dinner. But I didn’t feel like eating. In fact, I still had three idlis left over as I couldn’t eat after seeing the failure!

I bid them all goodbye. What an experience the day was with all these new friends! Anyways, I’ll meet them some day or the other at IIT. I waited for a bus to Saidapet at the GH bus stop. But none came till 10’o clock. So I got into a share auto till Vijayanagar. It was 11.00 PM when I finally returned home. What an exhaustive trip! But a great experience, nevertheless. At the end of the day, it was the experience that counted for me; making new friends, visiting remote places, knowing new things and so on. I can also proudly claim that I had visited Sriharikota and witnessed a historic launch!

The launch might have very well been a failure but hey! After all, failures are the stepping stones to success. Confident that my great country will demonstrate soon that it can achieve greater glory in space science and technology, I went into a well-deserved sleep.