Sky is the limit

Source: ISRO
Well, in this case, this saying holds true even literally. Because, India is only the fifth country to launch its own spacecraft to the moon, the Chandrayaan-1. It is indeed a grand achievement on part of all the scientists of India and the entire country thereby. They have definitely made us all proud, once again. This will be an inspiration to a lot of young aspiring scientists to enter the field. This will also bring a lot of research activities to the limelight in India and in turn bring prosperity. More details can be found in this press release.

I salute all the people associated with the launch of Chandrayaan-1. Watching an Indian rocket getting launched in space on TV was indeed a very exciting moment this morning. And it was perfectly cruising the expected trajectory. This mission will now lead a lot of other missions to come, including the one to Mars.

And I am sure, the moon will soon be the hottest tourist destination even in India, and songs like "चलो दिलदार चलो, चाँद के पार चलो, हम है तैयार, चलो..." will turn into reality. More so, it will attract international tourists too, owing to the obvious cheaper rates in India.

And then, literally, Sky is the limit for India Inc. (I already see Kingfisher Spacelines in the making). Way to go, Vaidnyaniks.

Go(ld)-getter: Abhinav Bindra

I don't remember the last time I read the sports page of my daily, TOI. Firstly, in India, sports has generally been equal to cricket. And I follow only Indian cricket. But that I watch personally, so I don't feel like reading it again in the news. I was totally against the concept of IPL, so I didn't bother to watch or read about it. But today's frontpage headline in TOI said "India's goldfinger" and I didn't bother to read any other news.
The news deserved it. Abhinav Bindra has given India the first ever individual gold medal in Olympics in the 10m rifle shooting. It is definitely a golden moment in Indian sport history and a huge inspiration, motivation and booster to sports other than cricket, which has become more of a business than sport. And when I went through the sports page (which I read from start to finish, btw) I came across a golden history of Abhinav's achievements. But since, I never read the sports page, I ought to miss out on all those news. But, even the media didn't glorify the events enough. I never saw him in any TV ad or elsewhere. But I know Sania Mirza and even spent a few dollars to watch her live at the Cincinnati open, even though she has a lousy sport history. Thats coz she was upheld quite nicely by media.
The final was quite cut-throat. After qualifying, Finland's Hakkinen was leading with 608.1 and Bindra at 606.7. After the ninth round, both were tied at 689.7. But the "Monk", as he's called, kept his cool and finished the final round with a 10.8er shot, a near-bullseye and finished at 700.5, whereas Hakkinen buckled under pressure to hit 9.7. The feat was remarkable beyond doubt as such a performance under pressure is like hitting a six off Brett lee's last ball of the match with 6 runs to win. Yes, I compared it with a cricket example, because thats how impossible it is. The 20-20 win was also not as great as this achievement coz it was also due to Pakistan's *&%$^#giri at the last minute that we made it. But the precision and accuracy which Bindra achieved in his last shot must have come out of a combination of tremendous will-power, skill, confidence, killer instinct, aggression among other things. We lack a lot of these qualities when we are in any type of a final, esp. killer instinct.
So I salute this champion and wish all the Indians to excel and start a gold rush. It surely must have been a proud moment to listen our national anthem play when the awards were given. Way to go guys...