Not for him the flamboyance and tea-drinking ways. Piyush Pandey of O&M India prefers the Indian chai version and is set to surprise us with his Hindi poetry collection

Though candid enough, Pandey chooses his words during our conversation and reveals only as much as he thinks he should. Short, pointed answers, loaded with information, is the way he likes to go, and one misses a general feeling of camaraderie that usually settles into interactions with him.

Or maybe he’s just tired, since it’s nearly six in the evening and he had mentioned a day full of meetings when I had spoken to him the same morning. Or maybe he’s just a morning person, what with his two cuppas of chai in the morning. “I am a desi and love my chai instead of the usual tea,” he says, adding how he’s a big fan of adrak (ginger) chai as well.

Talking of tea, Pandey remembers with fondness his days with a brew company in Kolkata. It was his first job and turned out to be a lot of fun, what with young people from the same college, working in the same company, being looked after well and playing a lot of sports. “It was also a great learning experience about life, and had a lot of do with personality development,” he says, reminiscing how the job gave him an opportunity to interact with successful people at that time. “There was Arun Lal, Dr Vece Paes (tennis player Leander Paes’ father), Charu Sharma were all working with us. You learned something or the other from them – their mannerisms, how they conducted themselves and so on,” he says.

Despite the pretty picture though, Pandey started to get restless in the job after a while. A chance meeting with two friends who were in the advertising industry made him stand up and take notice, although he confesses he didn’t even know about the profession at that time.

Cut to today, Ogilvy & Mather has become India’s best creative agency according to the Cannes rankings. Additionally, Pandey has created history with the Abbys naming his campaign for Cadbury Dairy Milk “Campaign of the Century”, and the TV commercial for Fevikwik “Commercial of the Century”. At last count, Pandey had been given 900 awards nationally and internationally. For the man himself, however, the real appreciation lies in the fact that people on the street congratulate him for his work and tell him how much they love it.

Interestingly, this is only his second job, when he joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1982 as an account executive and took to the advertising world like a duck to water. “I loved the informality with which the advertising agency operated, and the place full of young people, the friends I made,” he says.

He was also encouraged to step into the creative department and his first campaign, “Chal meri Luna”, caught headlines. One campaign led to another and today the ad guru has some of the most enviable campaigns to his credit – Cadbury, Pidilite, Onida, Le Sancy, Polio campaign with Amitabh Bachchan, National Literacy Mission, SBI Life Insurance, Titan, to name a few. Most recently, it is the Fortune Refined Oil’s “Ghar ka khana ghar ka khana hota hai” (Nothing beats homemade food), and BJP’s campaign for Lok Sabha elections that he is particularly proud of. “I feel if you don’t have three or four pieces of work every year, you should start planning your retirement,” he says, lending a peek into his competitive personality.

Pandey is also proud of penning down the lyrics for the historical “Mile sur mera tumhara” campaign. An idea conceived and conceptualised by Suresh Mallick, the campaign was first aired on August 15, 1988, and had some of the most prominent personalities becoming a part of it. “He wanted a song that crosses languages and cultures and be simple enough to reach the people of India,” he reminisces. And when Mallick did not get an answer from the people he approached, he asked Pandey to do it. “I was a bit overawed but then I wrote it and he pushed me into writing it better,” says Pandey. He doesn’t like the new version, though.

But is there something he wished he had done?

“The Times of India’s ‘A day in the life of India’,” he says, without blinking, “A truly Indian campaign, it was like R K Laxman on film.” Talking about the creative process, Pandey adds how he has always had Lakshman rekhas (limits not to go beyond) while working on campaigns. “You must definitely stretch an idea but you must also know the limit of that stretch,” he warns, “Or you stretch is so much that there is a feeling that this is not me at all, this is against my culture and I react violently to it.”

He doesn’t sidestep the question of what went wrong with the Kurl-on campaign that caused outrage for a Malala Yousafzai poster, which showed her being shot and bouncing back. “I feel it was blown out of proportion, but I have cautioned my colleagues that what you may think is positive may not be perceived as such,” he says. He adds it is dangerous if something is open to interpretation so much.

Delving more into the creative process, Pandey reveals how his creative process includes being true to oneself and one’s surroundings. “After having done three decades of work, we still haven’t scratched the surface of India,” he feels.

Retirement plans? “Since no one has asked me to retire, I haven’t thought about it,” he says, laughing loudly. And although his work is a natural high for Pandey, he is also busy writing a book, which will be “a bit of biography, and about the truth of life.” He also plans to publish his Hindi poems shortly.

But what if he wasn’t in the advertising world – would he still have been a tea-taster? “Oh no, no. Either I would have been tired of it or they would have thrown me out,” he laughs, “I think I might have been trying to express myself to people in some form or the other,” he signs off. In other words: an advertising person.

ElECTioN// The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) created history in Haryana by securing a clear majority on its own for the first time and finished as the singlelargest party in a hung house in Maharashtra, leaving former ally and runner up Shiv Sena high and dry.

Manohar Lal Khattar, a 60-year-old RSS man and first-time legislator, was sworn in as Haryana's new chief minister on October 26 in Panchkula. Khattar is Haryana's first non-Jat chief minister in 18 years; Jats have for long dominated politics in the state as the single biggest chunk of voters. Along with Khattar, nine ministers – six holding Cabinet ranks – and three ministers of state with independent charge were also sworn in.

The event was attended by high-profile politicians such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, some Cabinet colleagues, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and RSS leaders.

In Maharashtra, the BJP’s gamble of breaking from the Shiv Sena to contest the Maharashtra Assembly elections solely on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma produced a bumper harvest of 122 seats — a near trebling of its 2009 tally, and only 22 seats short of the halfway mark. Soon after, the NCP that won 41 seats dramatically announced its “unconditional support” for the BJP.

The Congress emerged as the third-largest party in the House, winning 42 seats. Raj Thackeray was the other big loser, his MNS winning just one seat. The BJP’s Maharashtra unit president Devendra Fdnavis and Union Transport Minister are the BJP’s possible candidates for the chief minister’s post. The Shiv Sena has announced that it is ready to support whoever the party picks as the next CM for Maharashtra.

ECoNoMy// According to data released by the government in October 2014, food inflation fell to a nearly two-and-half year low of 3.52 per cent. Wholesale inflation fell to a near five-year low in September, owing to a sharp decline in fuel and food prices, raising hopes following an equally steep fall in consumer inflation that the Reserve Bank of India may begin to cut interest rates sooner than expected to boost the faltering economic recovery.

Inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) eased to 2.38 percent in September, compared to a year ago, well below 3.74 percent in the previous month and lowest since 1.78 per cent in October.

Food inflation has been declining since May. The sharp drop in WPI inflation comes just at the back of retail inflation declining to a record low of 6.46 per cent in September.

Wholesale inflation in onion contracted to 58 percent in September, as compared to a contraction of 44.7 per cent in August. While inflation in vegetable basket as a whole shrunk to 14.98 percent in September, rate of price rise in potato was 90.23 percent from 61.61 percent in August.

The data revealed that inflation in milk, eggs, meat and fish continued to decline in September as well. However, there was slight increase in the prices of fruits during the period. Inflation in manufactured products, such as sugar, edible oils, beverages and cement, fell to 2.84 percent in September as against 3.45 per cent in August.

CalaMiTy// Starting October 12, the strongest tropical cyclone of 2014 within the North Indian Ocean, and the most destructive tropical cyclone to ever hit India, Hudhud left behind a trail of devastation.

At least 96 deaths have been confirmed, a majority of them from Andhra Pradesh and Nepal, with the latter experiencing an avalanche due to the cyclone.

Hudhud caused extensive damage to the city of Visakhapatnam and the neighbouring districts of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam of Andhra Pradesh. Damages are estimated to be nearly ₹70,000 crore, with assessments still underway.

Images from INSAT-3D, which became operational in January this year, played an important role while tracking Cyclone Hudhud, which hit the east coast of India on October 12. It originated from a low pressure are over Tenasserim coast and adjoining North Andaman Sea on October 6. It concentrated into a depression over North Andaman Sea the next day morning, while moving north-westwards. On the same day the region and associated wind speed was about 25-30 knots. The wind speed was relatively higher in northern sector of the system.

According to satellite observation, intense to very intense convection was seen over Andaman Sea and adjoining area on October 7. It made landfall on the coast on October 12 inflicting maximum damage to Visakhapatnam district.

bag Nobel Peace Prize

awardS// Indian and Pakistani relations affect international relations. Another clear picture of this view emerged when an Indo-Pak and Hindu-Muslim combination of Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai shared the Nobel Peace Prize honours for 2014 for their work on promoting child rights in the troubled sub-continent. Satyarthi, who runs NGO Bachpan Bachao Aandolan (Save Childhood Movement), has been “focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,” the Nobel committee said.

Satyarthi’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan has rescued over 80,000 children from trafficking and slavery. He has also been involved with the “Global March Against Child Labour”, and has been credited for enactment of national, international legislations on child labour and education. Satyarthi told PTI he was delighted with being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and called it”recognition of our fight for child rights". “I am thankful to Nobel committee for recognising the plight of millions of children who are suffering in this modern age,” Satyarthi said.

Malala, the 17-year-old Pakistani girl of Pashtun origin, who was shot by the Taliban for advocating women rights and education in Pakistan, has stunned her critics and attackers with her strong stance on education for women. Malala survived the attempted homicide and was transferred to the UK with her family, where she got proper medical treatment and went to school, and has since become a worldwide symbol for the fight against oppression of women and the right to education. She is also the youngest Nobel laureate.

oil aNd ENErGy// The government has lifted diesel price controls and raised the cost of natural gas, giving market forces greater sway as it seeks to attract energy investment, boost competition and cut subsidy costs. The decisions marked some acceleration in reform measures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Lower prices of diesel and a smallerthan- expected rise in local gas rates will help Modi fulfil an election pledge to curb inflation and pull India’s economy out of its longest slowdown since the 1980s.

A litre of diesel will cost about 5.7 per cent, or 3.37 rupees ($0.05) less for consumers, while prices of locally produced gas will go up by a third from next month. The first cut in diesel prices across the country in more than five years, triggered by falling global oil prices, will further help ease inflation that is already tracking lower. Diesel makes up nearly half of India’s fuel demand and its usage is set to rise as Modi wants to boost the employmentgenerating manufacturing sector to generate growth and jobs.

Diesel deregulation will significantly reduce subsidy payouts by Oil and Natural Gas Corp, GAIL (India) Ltd and Oil India Ltd. These companies sell crude and refined products to state refiners at discounted rates to partly compensate them for losses on fuels sales at regulated prices. The move to market-based pricing will boost the role of private players like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil in India’s retail arena.

The government has reworked the gas pricing formula approved by the previous Congress-led government and restricted the rise in local gas prices to $5.61 per mmBtu from November 1. The prices will be revised every six months. The previous government had suggested for raising domestic gas prices to $8.4 per mmBtu from the current $4.20 per mmBtu. About 80 percent of the additional revenue due to revision in gas prices will go to state-run companies ONGC and Oil India.

There’s more to Indian cinema than Bollywood. While we do need a regular Dhoom 3 once in a while, a greater variety of film styles and nuanced stories will find a larger international audience and benefit the Indian film industry

WHEN DHOOM 3 was filming in downtown Chicago in 2012, I would walk by the grip trucks on Wabash and Lake, see the road closures on Lower Wacker Drive and feel a thrill to see Dhoom 3 on the signs as opposed to Superman or Transformers which had filmed here in the years prior.

I wasn’t alone to feel this way. There was always a contingent of South Asians who waited to get a glimpse of Aamir Khan or Abhishek Bachchan. My friends’ Facebook pages were updated with photos of the stars’ trailers, a bike stunt with the bridge over the Chicago River up, and selfies of them with a superstar barely visible in the background.

Through all of this, there would also be a group of curious onlookers wondering what Dhoom 3 meant at all. People have heard of Bollywood. “Aren’t Indian films always musicals?” I’m asked in class when the topic comes up. Well, yes, sort of. Depending on how you define musicals. “Well, so, is Dhoom 3 a musical?” comes the query, this time a little hesitantly. Yup. It’s also an action film, a thriller, and a romance. And then finally, “Do you mean there’s a Dhoom 1 and Dhoom 2 as well?” My students didn’t even wait for a response this time, promptly going to YouTube with “Hey, check it out”. A few of them got through Dhoom 2. I could hear the subdued hoots and hollers from the film “cage” (aka equipment center), down the hall as the romantic songs start abruptly and then crash into chase sequences, followed by an action-packed fight. “It makes no sense,” they exclaim, mesmerised, as they immediately bend their heads to watch the next scene on the laptop.

Many students from Chicago area film schools interned on the film’s production. This ensured filled seats in theatres when it finally released here — the first Indian film to screen at IMAX theatres. Along with screening at boutique multiplexes in South Asian neighborhoods, the movie was also widely distributed in mainstream theatres, thus ensuring a visibility that international films do not always receive.

The glamour, the melodrama, the larger-than-life situations that Bollywood routinely encounters often finds an enthusiastic audience on account of the novelty. On being asked for her impression about the Indian films she had seen, a friend, April, wrote that her favourite part about Bollywood is that “Expression is magnified in many senses of the word and it helps the viewer escape reality instead of reminding one of reality”. In her view, Bollywood cinema is more like running around on a playground having fun, instead of having a deep existential awakening that Hollywood hopes to provide us with.

As a filmmaker and a film teacher, I take pains to clarify in conversations about Indian Cinema that Bollywood is but one facet of a diverse, multilingual and multi-cultural industry. I explain that the largest film industry in the world boasts films produced in over 20 languages, but for a primarily English-speaking audience, it is often hard to distinguish one Indian language from another, encapsulating all Indian popular cinema under the umbrella of Bollywood. That there are that many languages spoken in the country is a surprise to even the most aware viewers.

However, while there has always been an awareness of Bollywood in big cities such as NYC, Chicago, LA and others that have a large Indian population, I also notice a growing interest in Indian popular cinema that goes beyond Indians, film students and film critics. The growing number of organisations and film festivals focusing on Indian art, culture, and films has inspired an interest in films from the subcontinent. New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles boast of South Asian or Indian-themed film festivals over a decade old; other cities such as Chicago, Washington DC, and Tampa Bay have introduced their own festivals over the past five years.

All these events showcase films that not only cater to a South Asian diaspora but also initiate newcomers to the world of Indian cinema — true, disparate, diverse Indian Cinema. For instance, this year, the Fifth Chicago South Asian Film Festival screened Geethu Mohandas’ Liar’s Dice (India’s entry to the Oscars), Sange Dorjee’s Crossing Bridges (first film in the Shertukpen dialect), Batul Mukhtiar’s Kaphal, Venu’s Munnariyippu, Sridhar Rangayan’s Purple Skies, and Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout, over the course of one tightly packed weekend.

What all these feature films have in common is their shorter lengths. The films varied from 88 minutes (Monsoon Shootout) to 118 minutes (Munnariyippu), but all fell short of the more common 170 minutes+ of Indian popular cinema. The shorter time reflects how the narrative structures and storytelling in these films are more accommodating to an international audience, who found three-hour feature films with numerous plots and sub-plots, and a lack of visual/ narrative continuity too tedious to watch.

The recipe for a typical Bollywood masala film — add melodrama, three dances, two fights, six songs, one sacrificial death, bring all to a boil and wait for a film to emerge at the other end – makes for a delicious dish, but most appreciated by those who grew up immersed in particular mythologies. Stories such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and other tales make us comfortable with film narratives that span multiple generations, have multiple plots, and many, many characters.

In contrast, Monsoon Shootout focuses on three perspectives related to one event; Liar’s Dice explores the issues of migrant labour through the eyes of a young woman in search of her missing husband; and Crossing Bridges, a contemplative film, looks at a different kind of displacement with questions about identity, culture shock and readjustment.

Dhoom 3 is one facet of an Indian Cinema that is seen as extravagant with its overdramatic narrative, exotic dance sequences, and “unreal”, if not ridiculous, plot twists. But just like Hollywood is more than Transformers and Iron Man, Indian Cinema is much more than all of this. There are millions of Indian stories waiting to be told, and a growing part of the world is interested in hearing them on screen. The idea that neither the stories nor the audience need only be exposed to the more traditional mix of (cinematic) masala could mean more Indian films that tell stories of the everyday, introduce characters that could be any one of us, and focus on the details.

There will always be a place for the Bollywood that promises us escape from normal life in over-the-top proportions, but with a greater variety of film styles and nuanced stories, a larger international audience can be reached. And from that burgeoning international audience, all of Bollywood can benefit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proved that new-age real-time social media platforms are the way to reach out to the masses

When the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, stepped on US soil, there was an unprecedented sense of jubilation amongst the burgeoning Indian populace, almost likening the event to a historic moment in his tenure. Even those who didn’t necessarily air their political opinions seemed to feel a sense of pride for the man as he beat the very system that had denied him entry back in 2005. Making his presence felt on American soil, the land of a million dreams and opportunities for many, Modi hogged the limelight from the word go. Whether it was his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, appearance at a Central Park concert, address to the Indian-Americans at Madison Square Garden; his dinner meeting with Barack Obama or his visit to Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington. Not surprisingly, leaders of both countries even shared notes on their respective technology-driven electoral campaigns.

Even as our homegrown TV channels went hoarse trying to get the fervour and hype right, NaMo, as Narendra Modi is referred to, true to his style, decided that it would be the social media that would be the official eyes and ears of his visit to the grand US of A. He decided to opt for real-time tweets and updates on social media accounts to get his point and journey across to the masses. And they were up-to-date alright, what with his social media team putting out all the information with minute-by-minute alerts, photographs and press releases. Modi even limited his personal interaction with the traditional media with well-planned outings and a strategic interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

Daring, I would say, for a man of his stature and gumption to blithely ignore the desi media and not be tempted to give a sound byte to the legions of editors and mikes that were following him in right earnest.

EARLY ADOPTER OR SMART STRATEGIST? Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s choice of the social media platform as one of supreme importance and relevance was evident from his electoral campaign and victory during the 16th general elections in the country. It is well-documented and almost ready to be emulated. But what is lesser known is that NaMo’s social media strategy was formulated way back in 2002 and his emphasis on using the varied platforms to attract followers, convert nay-sayers and communicate his then future plans and dream policies has amounted to many a click on the “Follow Modi” button on multiple media.

The strategy to bypass traditional media outlets and reach supporters and followers directly using social media that is in vogue and available 24x7 has worked for Modi and the BJP immensely. It has resulted in Modi being described as “a juggernaut of political social media” by the New York Times.

Amongst politicians, Modi ranks second behind only Barack Obama in number of fans of his official Facebook page (21.8 million and counting). Both leaders are tech-savvy, tweet daily and used technology to give more power and reach to their electoral campaigns. Not just that, Modi has more Facebook fans in the US than most current members of Congress, governors and other political leaders according to an article in New York Times which cited Socialbakers, a site that tracks social media accounts.

The followers he has managed to accumulate on Twitter and for the official PMO account are amongst the fastest growing among politicians worldwide. It goes without saying that when the likes of social media bigwigs Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg come acourting to help with the PM’s policy plans using the social media, there is indeed something that he is doing right.

Thus it comes as no surprise when Modi announced his dream of a “Digital India” in his Independence Day speech and talked about bringing the poor people of India within the digital ambit. He spoke of digitalisation on two grounds — one for the citizens where the remotest of the village would be connected through broadband networks enabling online lectures, telemedicine, operating bank accounts through mobile phones; the other from the governance angle, where the poorest of people can demand various things from the government, fill forms, submit applications and so on through mobile and internet technology.

What Modi’s social media has done is that from day one of his tenure, there has been an interest in his government and policies, especially the foreign policy. But the man wasn’t going to play the social media game alone. He subtly conveyed to his Cabinet that he expected and wanted all of them to emulate him and log on for visibility, approval and sheer success.

According to a Reuters report, Twitter has been given unprecedented access to the ministers and their staff so as to advise them on social media usage. Reports also suggest that his government is all set to unblock many accounts blocked on Twitter by the handlers of the PMO India account.

MODI WAVE CONTINUES Modi has managed to create a sense of pride amongst a large section of the Indian populace, especially the educated and logged-on percentile. As a result, his “Make in India” campaign finds takers all across the globe, with Indians settled abroad seeing it as a chance to showcase their parent nation as one of opportunities and possibilities. They are more than happy to comment, discuss and share issues of governance and public interest that their PM wants heard. Whether it is discussing fighting terror using social media with Facebook honcho Zuckerberg, or planning a Swachha Bharat Abhiyan imitating the likes of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge across all platforms, the PM is bullish on participatory governance.

And it’s not just his policies that seem to be finding takers on the platforms. It’s also the man himself, who is being viewed in compassionate light with his meticulously-planned outings on Twitter or Facebook. Thus, when Modi sticks to his annual nine-day fast during Navratri and sips on warm water even as Barack Obama and his guests feasted on delectable bites, the average Indian feels proud of our humble and traditional leader who cannot be swayed!

From a Hindu leader who evoked a sense of fear amongst the masses, to one who seems easily accessible, likeable and even interested in everything his people want him to know, the image social media has built for him is steeped in normalcy.

Prior to his taking charge, there had been voices worrying about the death of free speech under the Modi regime, but he seems to be making efforts to prove his critics wrong with his ardent harnessing of social media.

By relying and trusting non-traditional methods of engaging and retaining his new-found followers and even disbelievers, Modi has shown that technology and social media can help make political progress. If numbers alone told a story, it’s not just the use of social media but making a success story of it that Modi has proven to his naysayers and old-timers. On-ground action, of course, is a different thing, but when we talk about social media, it’s the likes, shares and followers that measure success.

If this momentum is maintained it won’t be long before “Acche Din” becomes the trend to follow or emulate for every Indian online.

India's space and defence missions need whole-hearted attention and support, so that scientists and engineers can make India self-reliant in critical technologies

INDIA’S SPACE PROGRAMMES are soaring to greater heights, literally. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is spreading its wings for bigger horizons, and is confidently venturing into new areas of space research.

ISRO’s latest success is to become the first nation globally to pull off an efficient and flawless Mars Orbiter Mission, when an experiment vehicle was placed in Mars’ orbit. That was achieved by India on September 24 this year and rightly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that day from Bangalore as: “History has been created.”

“We've dared to reach out into the unknown and achieved the near impossible,” Modi said then. No better truth has been spoken so clearly about India’s space programme and what ISRO has achieved in the past two decades or more, despite several odds stacked against it.

Indian scientific institutions working on critical technologies such as ISRO faced global sanctions, wide-ranging as these were, following the Indian nuclear tests of 1974 and 1998. These sanctions were a major impediment for Indian institutions in their scientific growth, but ISRO has overcome the hurdle as no other, despite the Western nations denying it technologies that could have propelled its space programmes to greater heights.

For ISRO, these sanctions and denial of technology were like a blessing in disguise and only propelled its scientists to achieve what no Indian or world citizen has achieved before, including the development of its own cryogenic engine, the Chandrayaan programme to the Moon, and the Mangalyaan progamme to Mars, all in recent times.

In fact, the morale and enthusiasm of the Indian space scientists has been so high that ISRO has been able to beat China in the sector for the first time, with the highly efficient manoeuvring of the Mars Orbiter in the first attempt.

China is definitely better than India, what with its sheer money power, in space research, having had success in anti-satellite technology and putting its first man in space, manoeuvrable satellites and such programmes. India is no laggard, however, and is capable of achieving these technologies, even at this stage, provided there is a political will to demonstrate these capabilities in the Indian government.

ISRO doesn’t seem to be resting on its laurels and has two key ambitious programmes progressing simultaneously, though both are futuristic and may contribute greater value to the agency’s work. In the words of former Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist and recentlyretired chief of India-Russia Joint Venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missile programme A Sivathanu Pillai, India is embarking on a mission to mine the Moon to get to an energy source that could help the nation build its first “hypersonic” aerial vehicles that could touch speeds of 25 Mach or the speed of sound itself!

The energy source that India wants to reach first is Helium-III, which could propel Indian aerial vehicles to attain speeds before achieved by the world community. Pillai was quoted by India’s top news agency as saying that DRDO and ISRO were working on mining the Moon for Helium-III, which has the capability of fuelling hypersonic planes that touch Mach 25 speeds.

But this is an effort that many spacefaring nations have previously tried and failed, and at huge costs at that. That apart, ISRO is also working on putting an Indian in space, without any help from a foreign nation.

The last time an Indian had space travelled was in the mid-1980s, when a large section of the current Indian population was not yet born. In 1984, then Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, and later Wing Commander, had hitched a ride on the Soviet space vehicle Soyuz T-11 to go into space and return to tell the tale.

In preparation for putting another Indian in space, at India’s own cost and research, ISRO will team up with the Indian Air Force (IAF) soon to conduct experiments on a space capsule to test its capability to carry humans into space, according to ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan.

In the tests, ISRO will drop the capsule from high altitudes and try to simulate a space vehicle’s re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, apart from manoeuvring a soft landing in the sea for the capsule, all to test if it withstands the pulls and pressures of nature, to carrying an Indian on board into space and bring her back safely.

Though it again takes political clearance and government funding for a programme as risky as putting a man in space and then recovering him, the ISRO is earnestly preparing for the same.

Many would argue that ISRO is only trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to space programmes. But one wishes it dawns on the naysayers that when others are progressing into the unknown using that wheel and are denying the know-how and know-why about the wheel to India, it is better to reinvent the wheel rather than remain in the Stone Age of space exploration.

Space programmes have been the most successful for India when it comes to technology capabilities and it has been highly valued by the global community that approach India to place its satellites in Earth’s orbit, thus proving commercially successful, too.

No wonder all other critical technology sectors in India want to be modelled on the space sector. The Space Commission, constituted in 1972, was preceded by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948. However, now we hear cries among the scientific community, particularly in the aerospace and defence research sectors, urging the government to set up commissions on the lines of the Space and Atomic Energy Commission, but with suitable tweaking specific to these two new critical areas of national power too.

The idea of having new national commissions for both aerospace and defence research and development needs the country’s utmost attention and support, so that scientists and engineers in the two sectors get enough boost to make India self-reliant in critical technologies.