On August 23, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation didn’t just make a soft landing on the little-explored south side of the moon, it also moonwalked its way into a billion hearts.
As with all things Indian, however, the sense of deep pride in this victory is also complex. As I found out during these past few days, it can have wildly different implications for different people based on their age, where they live and their outlook on life.
But first, one indisputable fact that unites us all, diverse bunch that we are. Launched with a budget of about US$90 million – small change when compared to the deep pockets of other countries’ space programmes – the moon mission appealed to the Indian sense of thriftiness.
For the Indian diaspora, roughly 18 million Indians who have migrated overseas, the successful landing was not just a moment that indicated their birth country’s rising status in the new world order. It was also a refreshing change from the image of “poverty porn”, a label they have been forced to confront, especially after a spate of Hollywood movies such as the multi-Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire put the spotlight on India’s cramped living conditions in its teeming urban cities.
This stereotyping and the bias that comes with it is also the reason many Indians took to social media to resurrect an old outrage – a cartoon from The New York Times in 2014, soon after India’s second Mars mission. The cartoon showed a poor Indian farmer, clad in a dhoti with a cow’s lead in one hand, knocking on the door of an “elite space club”.
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India makes historic landing on the lunar south pole, becoming the 4th country to land on the moon
India makes historic landing on the lunar south pole, becoming the 4th country to land on the moon
Even though the intent was to show how much of an outlier India’s space programme was, it was a caricature that some Indians felt reeked of racism and stereotyping. After all, the average Indian – and, more so, an Indian scientist – can’t be represented by a rural farmer, and our average rural farmer isn’t always poor or lacking in knowledge.
The group for whom this successful launch will make the biggest transformative difference is young India. As a country with one of the world’s largest youth populations, this victory is eye-opening, conveying the message that rocket science might be out of this world but it’s not out of their reach.
Notably, this comes hot on the heels of the unscientific temperament that swept through the country after the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a time when even doctors resorted to unproven treatments and when questionable herbal medicines were pushed by money-minded charlatans.
The most conflicted group seem to be social workers and development-sector professionals, many of whom have mixed feelings. These are the people who are called on to step in daily where governments fear to tread. They confront head-on India’s many problems – such as rampant hunger, child trafficking, crushing poverty and disease – and, for them, the moon mission’s nominal budget can still seem exorbitant and wasteful.
While they say they are proud of the hard work and brain power behind the achievement, a lingering question remains. Why spend to explore another world when we can’t afford to care for this one? When someone asked me this on social media, I was reminded how, on most days, we do well when we’re firmly grounded in the present but, on others, it’s good to look to the future and dream.
In an India that’s increasingly aware of its pervasive patriarchy, those dreams are quickly changing. The new Indian woman aches to be seen and heard, to take her seat at the table.
Girls cheer in an auditorium at Gujarat Science City, in Ahmedabad, India, on August 23 after the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s landing at the south pole of moon. Photo: Reuters
When even the simple act of reclaiming public spaces such as parks and streets can be challenging, it’s little wonder that the photo of the handful of 50 women scientists who participated in the rocket’s launch and who were watching its progress from the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore was so powerful that it quickly went viral.
These scientists have inadvertently become poster girls for gender equality in an India that still emphasises how women aren’t complete without marriage. Young girls are pushing back on these absurd expectations, learning that making a perfectly soft, round roti for your in-laws can no longer be the ultimate virtue for women in this changing India.
“Girls, take inspiration from these beautiful women!” wrote one user on X, formerly known as Twitter, sharing a picture of the women scientists. “[The round] roti can wait.”
Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, southern India
