Indians in space

This is a rather old topic, but something that has bothered me.

I was totally peeved at the attitude of the media, for the coverage they are/were giving to Kalpana Chawla and Sunitha Williams. Why do they keep harping that an Indian is in space.

THEY ARE NOT INDIANS. WHY DOESN'T ANYONE ACCEPT THAT THEY ARE AMERICANS?

Just because part of their name suggests a connection to India, doesn't qualify them to be Indians. At least in the case of Kalpana, she was only a naturalised citizen of USA since she married a citizen there. She was born here, studied here, went to USA for higher studies and then life took a turn for the better/worse.

Yet, the kind of media frenzy that was attached to her was shocking. I simply cannot accept the glorification of someone who has renounced the citizenship of my country for personal development. She may have had very noble intentions and you could appreciate her for successfully achieving her dream and goal. But as Indians, shouldn't we be offended that she actually stopped being an Indian to achieve what she wanted to? So why the bloody hell do we need to deify her? Why create awards and scholarships in her name? She was someone who didn't even visit India for the last 15 years or so of her life!!!

Did you know that she had already gone on a space mission in 97? Was there so much coverage then? No. She goes on an ill-fated mission (God bless her soul) and voila she is the darling of India. What rubbish...

Even worse, is the case of Sunitha Williams. She is an American by birth. Her father is a naturalised citizen who emigrated to USA from Gujarat in the early 50s/60s. I don't think that lady has ever visited India. But once again, for this space mission of hers, there's so much coverage and stories.. Yikes. It really scares me.

Agreed we Indians are bereft of role models in the realm of science, but does that mean that we glorify such people? Aren't we then giving out a message that if you want to be a successful Indian, stop being one?

To me, the one and only Indian in space till date is Rakesh Sharma. I wonder how many of today's kids actually know this. In fact, I will admit this myself. I forgot his first name. I remembered he was a Sharma. I even remembered the broadcast on Doordarshan when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked him how India looked from there and he responded "Saaray jahaan saey achcha, Hindustan hamaaraa" (It may very well have been a scripted conversation, but yet it was quite moving). But I had to use the help of Google to get his first name. So, I wont be surprised if the kids these days refuse to accept that a TRUE INDIAN has actually gone to space much before any of these non-Indians.

Jai Hind.