COSMIC CONNECTION

Riya, a young girl, yet to reach her teens, is an aspirant to become a space scientist when she grows up. She decided to celebrate her twelfth birthday in open air. Riya made arrangements to celebrate her birthday with a group of six of her close friends. She saved enough from her pocket money for last two years to throw a small and decent party to her friends. They all planned to visit the Birla Planetarium to watch the noon show of Cosmic Collision. Following that, they planned to spend some time at the Maidan area and a luncheon at New Market Scoop.

Riya was very excited from the previous night. The wintry morning of January 13 was very special for her since she was about to complete one episode of life and step to her first teen. Around 11:00 am all of them gathered in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral, happy, fluttering like gay butterflies in warm winter attires.

Moved by Riya’s enthusiasm and initiatives, all of them agreed to visit the planetarium to watch the new show. Riya loved to be in her fantasy world of outer space and extra terrestrial phenomena that occurred in the universe and beyond that. Though her friends wanted to go for a movie, Riya could convince them to accompany her to watch Cosmic Collision.

After the show, they enjoyed a horse cart ride. The warm wintry Maidan of Kolkata allured them to wallow in the grassy field and bask in the afternoon sun. They preferred to spend some time within the green scape and then head to their coveted destination of New Market Scoop. A number of vendors were moving around. The one that attracted Riya the most was a man standing at a corner of the field, selling balloons. Though Riya was too big to play with balloons, the colorful sight attracted her. Her friends preferred to sit and discuss about the new movie release of RanbirKapoor and DeepikaPaudukone lead. Riya went to the balloon seller with an intention to purchase a dozen to celebrate her birthday in a more colorful way, under the clear blue sky.

To her utter amazement, Riya found the man selling some gas balloons. In no time she purchased a dozen and then something strange happened. It was magical. A gush of chilled wind blew and swept Riya along with the bunch of those merry balloons. She began to fly. Her friends hardly noticed the strange spectacle. Riya, oblivious of this world of reality, flew away to her world of fantasy and landed at Columbia.

‘Welcome to Columbia on board Miss Riya Bose’, she was greeted by a bright crew of seven orange people in unison.

Riya was astonished to find herself in an unfamiliar place. With mixed feelings of astonishment, happiness, fear and many more she gaped at those outlandish people. They seemed to enjoy her feelings and allowed her to be at ease. Her wide eyed vision tried to unravel all the nook and crannies of the place where she was in. Within a while her bent of mind to be space scientist helped her realize that this Columbia is the famous space ship ‘Columbia’. Then who are these people? Suddenly a flash of light dazzled her realization. “KalpanaChawla and her crew”!  Riya shouted.

Yes Riya, you’re right. I am KalpanaChawla, today is February 1, 2003 and we are at Columbia, the space shuttle.

Riya was very excited; she always wanted to be a space scientist when she grew up.

“I was waiting for you Riya, my daughter”, Kalpana, the brightest of the seven stars, greeted her. Riya was ecstatic to be there at Columbia. She was more astonished to find Kalpana addressing Riya as her daughter.

Inquisitive Riya replied, “I have read a number of books about you and as far as I know you were married to Jean-Pierre Harrison for nineteen years. You left the earthly world childless, leaving your surviving husband. Then how can I be your daughter?”

The forty one year old astronaut smiled at the fresh teenager, “You’re, my dear Riya. Let me narrate you a tale. Then you’ll understand.”

Thus she began: “A little girl was born to BanarasiLalChawla and SanjyotiChawla in early 1960s in a refugee family of a small town Karnal, located along the west bank of River Yamuna, in the district of Haryana, India. Though a boy child was coveted for, the new born, lovingly called Montu, was adored by all the family members. The sleepy town of Karnal shaped the destiny of the girls there in a typical conservative way. But Montu had a mind of her own. From the very early days she was a strong willed and determined child. Her schooling in Tagore BalNiketan, though not the best school in the town, was special in its own way. The affection and committed attitude of the founder of the school left a deep mark on this tomboyish young girl. She had big dreams, dreams to reach the stars, dreams to fly beyond the mundane shackles of world.

At very early age of three to four years she first saw an airplane on their rooftop flying above their house. Since then, her fascination with airplanes and flying spread a wide network of roots within her deep insight. As a child, she always went with her father to a local flying club to watch planes. While in school, she spent her leisure time making paper airplanes and flying them.

One afternoon, on her usual return to home from school, a paper airplane dropped from her hand. Instead of falling down it began to flutter in the breezy air and dancing around her it began to fly. Oblivious of everything, Montu started to chase the puny thing but it she could not manage to bring it under control. The little soul did not lose hope and continued the chase, winged on her desire and persistence. The little airplane was an impudent brat, bewilderment, she found the airplane perching softly on the right shoulder of a young teenager, a little older than Montu, who was gazing at the afternoon sky flanking casually on a rocky knob by the misty Yamuna. Inquisitive Montu asked her what was she looking for at the autumn sky. The teenager replied that she was looking for the stars that she wanted to reach someday. Montu was surprised to find someone looking for the stars in an afternoon sky. The elder girl explained to the younger one that she had always felt a connection and stewardship for, and not just the earth but the whole universe. She also told Montu that she was a star gazer and would be amongst those bright twinkles someday, crossing all the strata of this mundane world. The girl disclosed something stranger to Montu. She told her that she was the soul child of Montu who would grow up to be someone to fly among the stars. She was that little seed of imagination that would be thriving and nurtured through Montu’s determination, diligence, dedication and imagination, kalpana. She also added that Montu’s good name was Kalpana and this name had an inner and deeper connection with Montu. This would give a shape of reality to her world of imagination and flying fantasy someday. With these words the teenager took Montu’s hands in hers and gently placed the little paper plane on her palms and disappeared in a jiffy. Montu unfolded her clasped palms in awe. Something more added to her befuddlement. She unraveled the folded paper plane to find something scribbled on it: with love, from your daughter, Riya. From that moment on Montu flared up from a cocoon to a fluttering Kalpana. She always cherished the words of Riya in her heart and soul and flared up to nurture and give shape to Riya’s dreams within her.”

At the edge of this narration the forty one year old soul-mother of the birthday girl took a pause and Riya’s astonished deep gaze stilled on her. She fell short of words.

“I am always grateful to you Riya, my dear child. You were that seed within me almost four decades ago who indulged me to fantasize about the mystery and mysticism of outer space. It is you who dug out from me the thirst and hunger to follow a steady course in search of the unknown. It is you who grew up in me the life of a relentless researcher who could make the entire humanity believe in abilities of girls. It is you who lived a determined, disciplined, selfless life within me. It is you who made me feel happy even at the moment of my last breath when Columbia blew up to fragments and ashes of my crew members along with that of mine dropped bit by bit to smear the landscape of Utah. Those ashes speak of one of the most compelling stories of our times, of times of exploration beyond the world of living beings, to search for another world with another genre of the living and the non-living. Today is that haloed moment; today is that August date: February 1, 2003”, Kalpana cast a smile of completeness on her.

Riya was literally in cloud nine. She could understand the cosmic connection she had with this lady. She could make out that the gas balloons which landed her on this outlandish place was a time machine.

“Mother”, tears of completeness rolled down her cheeks. They hugged each other and she wanted to be with Kalpana forever.

No, my dear girl, this was your birthday gift from me as you touched your teens. This is February 1, 2003. This is my time to assimilate within the universe. This is your time to get back to your time of 2021 and live my dream, live your dream, live dreams of numerous children, especially the girls to fulfill their dreams. It is time for the parents to understand the necessity of giving value and honour to the wishes of their wards so that kids all over the world grow up hand in hand with a borderless bent of mind, to give birth to a world that would be a universal native land for all.

Happy and content Riya took a grasp of the strong thread of the gas balloons and swirled through the space, whirled through the galaxies and entered back earth’s atmosphere crossing so many light years to bring some fresh light to humanity. Her thirteenth birthday would probably be the best birthday in her life.

Note: A tribute to KalpanaChawla, the Indian born American Astronaut (1962-2003).

Ref:

1.   KalpanaChawla a life by Anil Padmanabhan, Puffin Books

2.   https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/chawla_kalpana.pdf