Subramanian’s captivating tale of Varuna’s space mission, driven by curiosity, her father’s inspiration, and the quiet promise of tomorrow, is exclusively for Different Truths.
Varuna’s eye was riveted to the sky.
It wasn’t just the twinkle of the nests of stars or the unblinking stellar stare of Mars that held her gaze. She saw the rolling vistas of knowledge in the dark womb of space.
Its silence beckoned, “Don’t keep looking for signs of life alone…. Every spatial specimen has its history. You need countless millennia to learn….”
She smiled, thinking of her dad, Ramachandran. An avid YouTuber, he ran a series of videos on the cosmos, the interesting genesis of the galaxy, various planets, and the rest. It needed a lot of research and assembling of data. Though he had an MSc in physics, his instinctive grasp of astronomy and ability to bring it to the layman mattered. Where he couldn’t do it visually because of copyright issues, he resorted to oral elucidation.
“A consummate intellect he is. That’s why he did it well…” she muttered. And she gave a short laugh when recalling a perfunctory suggestion to him to do a feature on the moon and a possible crewed flight there. He accepted it manfully then and pinched her ear for her unflappable curiosity.
Yes, a crewed flight – not to the moon yet, but to dock with an international space lab and do research on a web of weather-related and scientific data. She had 15 other precocious and eager scientists in the space vehicle for the mission.
The chat with her dad took place 10 years ago, when all she thought of was TT, where she was a champion in school, though equally good at studies.
So, what had changed in 10 years now that she is in a spaceship on a mission?
***
Varuna could hear nothing from outside; the silence of the cosmos was a deep, sometimes darkly menacing and inexplicable murmur. She had seen the passing of languorous white clouds when in flight with the well-equipped, noiseless plane cruising along. That was different. For the space mission, she had undergone intense yoga hours to steel her mind and body. She did research on space advances, satellite broadcasting and use, and whatever related.
She had known all that was done – various series of satellites in orbit, observation of Earth, human biology and environmental impact, especially the uses of a space station.
“Remember Varuna… tomorrow, if by a millionth of a chance we are on a crewed flight to the Moon, we can camp here for repairs…” said Adarsh, in his late twenties, like her, with a radiant face and smile.
“Ah… fancy that… You are pitching it too far,” she smiled.
Adarsh had been her college mate, though of a different science-related discipline. They hit it off as friends from the word go, always good-humoured without veering towards romantic vibes as would be surmised.
While Adarsh munched a loaf of baked, creamed bread, she turned her gaze to the console. She thought of mental conditioning, a kind of mind fitness regime she put herself to, and ridding herself of earthly culinary temptations. She opted for the rigorous astronauts’ course for a year involving physical conditioning. No chicken feed was as if she had to equip herself to cope with a floating lifestyle for a fortnight. It meant harnessing the mind.
Adarsh was the only other Indian in the spaceship, while many cosmonauts of different nationalities had their roots of birth and education in the U.S. They had an unflinching interest in astronomy.
The journey since the take-off was long, around 27 hours, before the scheduled eventful docking was to take place. Somehow, Varuna always saw the image of a thin thread easing seamlessly into the eye of a needle whenever the mention of docking cropped up. It was an image she had encountered since childhood.
“Delicate as that,” she murmured.
***
It was about to happen. The distance came slowly down from 30 km to 15 km to 3 metres before locking with the space station. To Varuna, it looked like ages melting away with encrypted detail in front of her eyes, where every second of dock seemed to signify the crossing of another milestone. All astronauts held their breath for an interminable moment before the yelp of jubilation.
“Bharat has reached another spatial flashpoint…,” said Adarsh.
Varuna breathed easily; only she knew how much she cherished and coveted the moment. She muttered in his ear, though he only half heard it.
“Many more to come… Adarsh”.
They all floated into the arms of a variegated crew of cosmonauts waiting inside the space station.
Varuna had gotten used to floating in microgravity, but reaching one above in the spaceship was funny.
It took some days for them to settle down to health-related research and share their exultation with the people on earth – those in spheres of power and outside. Their research was, after all, attuned to making space travel commercially viable and exploring therapeutic solutions to cardiovascular and muscular degeneration stresses known on the ground.
And not to be scared. Varuna hated to feel or be scared. She had grown like that.
Varuna couldn’t stop wondering and basking in the eye-catching size of Bharat.
***
Ramachandran’s heart skipped a beat when the space vehicle took off. He smiled and uttered a prayer to Lord Shiva for regeneration, for which he was known. He had been praying for years because the spell of uncertainty could never be warded off. Regeneration and decay always followed each other in cycles.
Did he know that he would attain a modicum of success in life? Or would Varuna someday go on space travel?
Now he would have to wait a fortnight for her safe return and bubbling recount of experiments and experiences in space. Only prayers could be his companion here.
It was a nerve-tickling wait. The passing of a fortnight was as stressful to him as was the docking of the spacecraft with the space station at Varuna.
And she was to return tomorrow after a two-day layover in Delhi, where she and Adarsh were to meet the chief executive officer of the nation. There was only a brief ping from her in a cackling tone…
“I am learning to walk on Earth, Appa… after all that floating in space…”
Varuna returned to radiant signs of relief and a shade of expectation in the faces of her parents. They spoke a lot, naturally so. She had a lot of immeasurable novel things to say. She spread an air of optimism about her research.
But she capped it all with a clincher. On hearing it, Ramachandran was not amused.
“I will be in the crewed flight to the Moon, AppaAppa… maybe a decade later.”
Picture design by Anumita Roy
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