Keep swimming: Shubhanshu’s ‘Finding Nemo’ lesson for youngsters

Learn to bounce back from failures, never be satisfied and keep moving towards progress. These were the mantras for success shared by astronauts Shubhanshu Shukla and Prasanth Nair in an interactive session with youngsters here on Sunday.

At the ongoing Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue here, Shukla recalled the message from the movie ‘Finding Nemo’  — “keep swimming”, “never give up” — and urged the youngsters from across the country to give their best to the tasks chosen by them to achieve success. “We should learn to realise what we have. We actually try to focus on what we do not have. Respect what you have, make the best of it and success will keep coming back to you without even asking,” said Shukla in a fireside chat at the event organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Nair, who also trained with Shukla for the Axiom-4 mission last year, urged the youngsters to keep ‘Bharat’ as the role model and an inspiration, and work for the welfare of the country.

“My role model is this great country, Bharat. All great souls who have walked on this soil have been energised by this place. Whenever you do anything, do remember (that) it is not a single person that will bring you to Viksit Bharat, it is the entire nation.” “Keeping Bharat as your biggest inspiration, whatever you do, do it for the betterment of Bharat Mata,” said Nair, one of the four astronauts selected for the Gaganyaan mission.

Earlier, Shukla shared his experiences from his 18-day stay at the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission. As a young child, he said, he was fascinated by an air show, but he became a fighter pilot by accident as he filled a form for a defence course, taking a cue from his friends.

“I never thought as a child that I would be an astronaut. I do not believe in ‘what ifs’. Somehow, I tend to believe in what it is with you right now and what can you do with it,” he said.

Shukla said his learnings from his stay onboard the ISS would go a long way is India developing its own space station.

On astronaut selection, he said one trait considered during psychological assessment is resilience and how a candidate navigates failures.

“Learn how to navigate failures. There will be self-doubt. But one or two moments of failure do not define you. How you bounce back from failure, how you move on from failures or success to the next step is the key,” he said.

“Never be satisfied, always keep moving towards progress,” Shukla said.