In Kerala, prayers preceded and celebrations followed the news of India’s Mars orbiter Mangalyaan’s successful insertion into the pre-determined orbit of the Red Planet on Wednesday morning. Students shared the joy with the nation by distributing sweets and singing the national anthem in several schools and colleges in the State.
Early Wednesday morning saw a group of distinguished personalities including Kerala Health Minister VS Sivakumar and others flocking to the Sree Ganapathi Temple of Pazhavangadi in Thiruvananthapuram seeking the deity’s blessings for trouble-free insertion of the spacecraft into the Martian orbit. Offerings were also made at several other temples in the State on the occasion.
Among those who offered prayers at the Pazhavangadi temple was S Nambi Narayanan, former VSSC scientist who was falsely charged in the infamous ISRO espionage case of 1995 whose son-in-law S Arunan from Thirunalveli, Tamil Nadu, is one of the key persons behind the Mangalyan project as its director.
Minister Sivakumar, Nambi Narayanan and others broke coconuts at the sanctum sanctorum of the temple seeking the deity’s intervention to remove all obstacles on the Mangalyan’s path to success. “Everything will go on smoothly. After all, everything happens as per divine determination,” Nambi Narayanan said.
“I feel proud as a citizen of India which has put into the Martian orbit its spacecraft in the very first attempt itself. This will remain a huge source of inspiration for ever for science students like me,” said Anithakumari, an MSc (Physics) student from Thiruvananthapuram. “I have already decided that my research will be in space science,” she said.
Students held a prayer meeting on Wednesday morning at the Sivagiri Mutt, a centre of spirituality founded by social reformer Sree Narayana Guru in Thiruvananthapuram, for the success of India’s Mars mission. The prayers were led by Swami Rithambarananda, general secretary of the Sivagiri Dharma Sangham Trust.
Several towns and villages in Kerala had special reasons to feel proud of and celebrate the success of Mangalyan because of the association of people from there with the project.
One of these towns was Irinjalakkuda in Thrissur district from where ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan hailed.
Alakkode in Kannur district to where Kurien Mathew, Principal Investigator of the team which prepared the sensor to find the presence of methane in the Martian ‘atmosphere’, belonged and Thrissur from where liquor Propulsion System director Chandradathan hailed are two of the other places which celebrated the success of Mangalyan Mars mission.