India’s first moon walk on the South Pole was worth waiting for years, as in 2019,this moment was just 2 km away but Chandrayaan 2 crashed on the moon which filled entire country with grief. All the past mistakes have been rectified, failure experience was wisely utilized to reduce any risk this time by our scientists whose caliber is sublime. Ever since Chandrayaan 3 took off in July, nudging everyone in the world showing a new ray of hope of landing on the South Pole of Moon successfully and explore it where nobody could make a soft landing so far. The world was watching ISRO with such alacrity which we felt on 23rd August.
It was a historic day for India and its pride ISRO as the world was about to see our caliber on the moon, and put India’s name on its unexplored South Pole. We Indians were glued on our phones and TVs, breaking records of YouTube live. ISRO official was being heavily watched by around 8millon people which is a new record in YouTube history. The time was ticking, and our heartbeats were rapid. The orator at ISRO was continuously giving us the information about Vikram lander, while Prime Minister Modi was live, watching this historic landing with us from South Africa. This gesture shows his sheer dedication towards our space missions. He stood when our scientists failed to land Chandrayaan 2 in 2019, he encouraged and consoled them, and now he was there to celebrate this success with them with utter passion.
Around 06.03pm, amidst fast commentary by the speaker at ISRO, Vikram lander did a soft landing on the moon, making us jump with unforgettable delight, and clap for our scientists who made us savor this happiness, and feel this spirit of pride. The world clapped for our scientists, our Pm clapped proudly for this success along with us, profusely celebrating this moment of joy. The world watched how India reached where nobody ever went. ISRO released a few pictures of the Moon amidst the tumult of claps, and profuse appreciation for us.
In this moment of pride, there were many people who weren’t happy to see India reach where other countries they consider more powerful, and advanced. To diminish the joy of Indians, some journalists were frustrated to see Indian space agency to do what others couldn’t. Their frustration made them even comment that why India wasted money on competing with the world in space when they could use moment for removing poverty. They indirectly targeted India for their own frustration which Chandrayaan 3 caused them. However their opinions were similar to what some political journalists had to say.
This moon walk by Chandrayaan 3 was mesmerizing, engraving India’s successful story on the moon. This landing automatically implanted a deep sense of pride in us, albeit not in everyone. Some critics are writing why there must be no pride in this mission, because they believe India is unnecessarily trying to compete with the developed countries while our country has oodles of problems to be fixed first. On the other hand, common people in India with basic knowledge of space, are happy to feel this pride as they are exhilarated to see Indian flag on the moon. This feeling of pride is barely seen in other countries where citizens hardly give any attention to space missions. However, India is a country where everything be it little or big is celebrated equally, and collectively. Feeling proud and expressing it vigorously is certainly like clapping, and patting our scientists who worked relentlessly for this mission to succeed. From people to Pm, everyone celebrated this historic moment with the scientists and ignored all negativity coming from foreign media and indigenous colonial slaves who blindly believe that India can’t compete with USA and China.
Pride is not about competing with other countries in space, and outvie to orchestrate space power in the world, it’s about celebrating a moment of success with people who stand together and desire to explore the unexplored, and discover what is still a mystery for us in the space. Focusing on poverty which reduced in a few years in India and criticizing India for space mission, is utterly ridiculous as every country has their own problems, China has their issues, USA has their issues so have India. The world must be appreciative because it’s not a competition, it’s a race where any successful effort by anyone is useful for whole world. Pride must be not limited to an agency or a country, it must be felt by all equally and work together for making other space mission successful and explore our space more passionately.
The world was astounded when India became 4th country to have a soft landing on the moon, and first in landing on its south pole. And Indians were enthralled to behold India’s historic moon walk. Some danced, some clapped, some had teary eyes. All expressed their happiness in their ways and this headline ‘India on the moon’ instantly took over the world and remained on top. Even the New York Times that racially criticized India, had to put its unnecessary pride aside to write India’s successful story of Moon landing. That’s what is the main reason why feeling pride on our space agency which was brutally criticized by those who used to think space is just their second home to go, has done this on its own, and birthed new enthusiasm in this generation to do new space exploration and discover more opportunities in space to help human life more scientifically.
