Sushma Seth’s play on the life of the space-shuttle astronaut Kalpana Chawla highlighted her aspirations, fearless spirit and exceptional qualities of perseverance. Utpal K Banerjee reports
Not too long ago, when India was grappling with China on the land borders, a baby was born in a small Indian town, who had big dreams glowing in her eyes. Indeed, her dreams were so big that that they transcended the national land borders, earth itself, and reached for the sun, moon, stars and the galaxy. later, when her dreams would come true — making her the first Indian woman to go into space — she would still dreamily observe: “When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land but from the solar system.” That was after her first launch. And, after her repeat venture, she would already log 30 days, 14 hours and 54 minutes in space. By then, she would travel 10.67 million km and orbit as many as 252 times around Mother Earth. Again, she would say dreamily, while travelling in the weightlessness of space: “You’re just your intelligence.”
Imagination was embedded in Kalpana Chawla, her name itself. To make her dream come alive, she strove and acquired qualifications, one after another: graduation as the only female in aeronautical engineering in Chandigarh (1982), moving immediately to the USA, masters in aerospace engineering from University of Texas at Arlington (1986), determined to become an astronaut — even in the face of the challenger disaster — earning a second masters (1986) and a PhD in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder (1988). Finally, in the same year, she began working at the NASA Ames Research Center as vice president of Overset Methods Inc, where she did computational fluid dynamics research on vertical/short take-off and landing concepts. Kalpana was also a certified flight instructor for aeroplanes, gliders and commercial pilot licenses for single and multi-engine aircraft. She was barely 26; how much more could one achieve at that ageIJ
She was now only a step short of her starry dream. Joining NASA Astronaut Corps in 1995, her first space-mission happened in 1997 as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew space-shuttle, Columbia, STS-87 on January 16, 2003, Kalpana returned to space, aboard the ill-fated, seven-crew Columbia, STS-107: responsible for 80 micro-gravity experiments, studying earth and space science, advanced technology development and astronaut health and safety. On February 1, 2003, the space-shuttle tragically disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into earth’s atmosphere, with the loss of all seven members. The child who had dreamt, “One day, I’ll fly in the sky and reach the stars,” became a far-away star.
Sitaron Ke Pass-Kalpana Chawla, was presented recently at SRC as a biographical play. Conceived and directed by the thespian Sushma Seth, it was an enchanting enactment, by the children, for the children. There were four Kalpanas — the seven-year-old dreamer, the 12-year-old nature-lover, the16-year-old teenager studying hard and the 20-year-old youth — already an achiever. The events were realistic and culled from her life, concern for plants, love for animals, affection for ecology and passionate curiosity for the cosmos. While her sterling technological achievements within such a short span of life were somewhat dwarfed, confined to casual dialogues, the reality-videos on space-floating, conversations and exercises were intriguing to watch, without any inkling of the impending doom.
Excerpts from an interview with the director:
How did you choose Kalpana as your themeIJ
When I was awarded the Kalpana Chawla Award for Excellence in 2012, I was inspired to write and direct a play on the life of the space-shuttle astronaut Kalpana Chawla, aspirations, fearless spirit and exceptional qualities of perseverance, environmental caring and peace.
How did you get the authentic video-projections for the cycloramaIJ
I received them from Kalpana’s sister, who with the rest of the family also furnished me details of events from her childhood and adolescence.
That Kalpana was an accomplished technocrat, is not conveyed much…
I agree, these are kept confined within the participants’ discussion. In future, I will make the music less loud to highlight the content.
It’s a highly didactic play, what’s your main messageIJ
When the spacecraft Columbia perished, Kalpana passed from a sparkle of light on earth to a glow in the heavens. The legacy she leaves behind needs to be brought to the youth, who need an icon they can identify with. I sought to provide that icon.