MxMIndia

Tag: Chandrayaan-2

  • Aggressive nationalism especially on television in recent years results is the new kind of patriotism that the old school has to get used to, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Chandrayaan 2: Pop Patriotism Is Here

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Late night last Friday, the nation was hooked to watching the Chandrayaan 2 landing on the South pole of the moon. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, when it became evident that the lander Vikram has deviated from its trajectory and gone incommunicado, the nation gasped together. The next day, the now-famous image of the Prime Minister consoling the ISO chief Kailasavadivoo Sivan was the subject of many front pages, social media posts and memes.

     

    Outside sport and war, there has been no event in recent memory that has managed to generate a collective interest from across the country to this extent. Live telecast from ISRO across news channels and GECs took the mission to the masses, fueling discussions in real time that night, rather than the next morning. This, perhaps, was the most important difference in this case, vis-à-vis several other space and nuclear missions India has undertaken in the past. ‘Seeing is believing’, it is said. And the live images from ISRO, including the presence of the Prime Minister there, made the entire mission come across as a lot more ‘real’ and palpable than it would have been otherwise.

     

    The events of Friday and Saturday were intriguing, to say the least. The disappointment was soon overtaken by a sense of pride at having attempted the mission the first place. There was widespread support, cutting across the political and ideology spectrum, and in general, there seemed to be a sense that India has achieved something significant, despite the lander missing its course in the final phase. There were the jokes too, all in good taste.

     

    Does a country of so many people care about its space programme? How does it affect their lives in any way? Last weekend, most Indians were not thinking on those lines. What we saw can be termed as ‘pop patriotism’, whereby a nation comes together through an event that becomes a popular symbol of its strength, and through poster boys (the ISRO chief and the Prime Minister in this case) who are helming the event.

     

    In the day and age of social media, this could be the new normal. Patriotism and national pride may be easier to evoke through audio-visual stimulus, such as the live telecast and the follow-up conversations here, than through well-researched essays on history, science or humanities. It is almost certain that a vast proportion of those who watched the telecast live Friday night wouldn’t know anything about Chandrayaan (except the obvious reference to the moon in its name) before the day. It is highly doubtful that they would know much after the day either. But when there’s a collective, social energy at work, knowledge can, and perhaps should, take a backseat.

     

    There has been aggressive nationalism on display, especially in the electronic media, in the recent years via the surgical strikes and the air strikes that followed the Uri and the Pulwama attacks respectively. Finally, with Chandrayaan 2, the media found a non-Pakistan topic to celebrate the pride of our nation.

     

    Pop patriotism may sound like a bad word, but it’s in, nevertheless. And it will be the new kind of patriotism that the old school has to get used to.

     

     

  • The Chandrayaan 2  moon-landing looked like an event manager’s delight with an omni-channel overdose of “space science”, writes Avik Chattopadhyay

    Avik Chattopadhyay: By BMKJ, it’s ISRO!

    By Avik Chattopadhyay

     

    For the last one week the nation has been obsessed with the moon, and for the right reasons. After all, a bunch of unsung people who have dedicated their lives to true scientific research were about to perform a feat that brings adulation and accolades for the nation from all corners of the world. There would be no divided opinion, no detractors and no sceptics for this. This was pure ingenuity combined with dedication and determination, ably supported by a frugal budget, out to once again prove that the “Indian” can and is above caste, politics, isms and polarisation.

     

    ISRO is a unique brand, in a brand called India.

    It is unique in its very history and legacy…right from being set up by a man who understood what scientific temper would mean for future generations, supported by a Prime Minister much maligned and ridiculed now, to inducting people purely on merit and passion, to constantly punching above its weight in the missions it takes up.

     

    ISRO is what the public sector undertaking was envisaged as by the ridiculed PM when he called the PSU the ‘temple of modern India’. It is all that a newly independent country’s aspiration was… building world-class institutions, filling them with the best talent from within and the world and then giving them the freedom to go ahead and achieve…for collective benefit and progress. That is the model of true nation building.

     

    There are no ‘reservations’ in ISRO. There are no quotas. Politicians do not recommend appointments. There are no hidden agendas to cater to. At the same time, it is very un-private enterprise like too. It works on shoe-string budgets for “launches”. It typically shuns the limelight. It believes in nurturing its employees for life, and it has 16,000+ of them. And it does not make investor pitches or shareholder presentations.

     

    In this context Chandrayaan 2 has been a curious exercise, for me as an observer. Never before has there been so much hype generated for any Indian space mission.

     

    This looked like an event manager’s delight with an omni-channel overdose of “space science”. The social media was alive and clicking with all types of messages and memes. Television programmes were created with otherwise boundary-line jesters at cricket matches being flung at us. There was even one ex-NASA astronaut who was roped in for one such circus. Poems were written. T-shirts were made. News channels found a reason enough to fill in 24 hours of content, day after day.

     

    And then the marketing wunderkids from the government flew in onto this entire jamboree being conjured. Their MBA schools had taught them about focused communication. And that had to be the moment Pragyaan would imprint the Indian national symbol and ISRO’s logo on the lunar south pole! So, the entire Chandrayaan 2 mission came out to be that single defining moment when we Indians would leave our imprint on the moon. Just like we do on historical monuments! “Ravi loves Archana” kind of stuff, literally. The entire focus was on Vikram and Pragyaan. “Fifteen minutes of terror” as the national lapped up. This was “national pride” re-defined. Thankfully the Pakistanis have had nothing to do with space or we would have had another occasion to bash them up digitally.

     

    Someone, just someone, had to step back and tell these spinmeisters to back off and give the entire mission the proper perspective it deserves. The Prime Minister sitting with the scientists there and texting away to the nation is not camaraderie. That comes from increasing the mission budgets and allowing the team to truly flex its muscles without constraints. Frugality is not a virtue expected from a space mission. It very much is from government spending on MPs’ salaries. And there is no need to have every moment of the Prime Minister’s sojourn recorded for the “wow” moments to be beamed up to the world. Some events need their correct dose of gravity and sterile distance. They need to be accorded that level of respect. Not everything is to be instagrammed or tweeted upon. Not every event is a photo opportunity until the mission is complete. Wish the same level of collective national excitement could be built on the 1st day of the harvesting season.

     

    A milestone space mission is not a ‘Mata ki chowki’.

    And for the Prime Minister to conclude his pep-talk with “Bharat mata ki jai”…completely off the mark and inappropriate.

     

    Obviously, the scientists at Bengaluru know their jobs and have already dusted off this little trespass!

     

    Avik Chattopadhyay is a senior marketer and strategy consultant. This column appears on MxMIndia every Thursday. His views here are personal

     

  • Chandrayaan 2 Live, is a moment of national pride and Star network is enabling access to this momentous occasion for Indians across 100+ countries

    Star network to showcase India’s mission to the moon

    By A Correspondent

     

    India will be carving a place for itself among the world’s space faring nations with ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 landing as it attempts to become the fourth country to land on the moon after the former Soviet Union, US and China. The Star India channels National Geographic, Star Plus, Star Bharat and Hotstar have come together to telecast the Chandrayaan 2 landing to viewers across 100+ countries. The telecast will start from 11.30pm today (Friday, Sep 6)

     

    “This event will be a historic and immensely proud moment for India. What ISRO and the team of scientists have achieved is nothing short of spectacular. The Star network believes in inspiring its viewers with path breaking content and we are delighted to provide our audience with the chance to witness the historic moment live,” said Sanjay Gupta, Country Manager- Star & Disney India.

     

     

  • All that we got was half-baked commentary and full of meaningless bluster, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Moon Mission Coverage: Hashtag Facepalm

    The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV MkIII-M1 rocket, carrying Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, lifting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, in Andhra Pradesh on July 22. Picture source: PIB

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    My heart bleeds for those who watched news television after the successful launch of Chandrayaan 2 by ISRO, on Monday. The lack of depth in newsrooms was on display in all its glory. It was as if TV journalists had regressed to childhood and were reading from the “1000 words from space travel” some hopeful uncle or aunty had given them as a third birthday present. Although, I’m being unfair to those books. If anyone had really read them, the news commentary would neither have been so ignorant, lacklustre and full of meaningless bluster.

    Recapping India’s forays into space, we got half-baked commentary, some like those old Films Division news documentary, praising only the current government (Modi’s name mentioned enough times to make sure that you don’t lose government advertising or panellists) and the rest like the class 3 child who got a D in her project on Moon missions. As many old people pointed out to me, they felt deeply nostalgic about the quality of the Doordarshan commentators of yore.

    Considering India has a wide range of qualified talented scientists, couldn’t one of them have been invited to make these presentations to a dimwit public – am guessing that is how TV newsrooms see the rest of us because that is what they give us. India Today TV had an interesting mix of science-y bits. One only focused on Modi’s greatness in getting us to the moon, with a scant reference to Vajpyaee. The other, wonders of wonders, actually mentioned Nehru and Vikram Sarabhai. The number of times “in fact”, “actually” and “of course” were scattered through the script took me back to the early days of news TV in India when in fact, you said of course, actually when in fact you didn’t of course know what actually in fact you wanted to say of course. (Hashtag Facepalm.)

    Times Now had people calling in to speak to godman/guru Jaggi Vasudev, because who else would you ask about a mission to the Moon’s South Pole. (Hashtag triple Facepalm.)

    Can’t remember which channel, sorry, the perils of surfing, extolled the virtues and prowess of the women scientists in charge of Chandrayaan-2. Inspiring stuff. But just when you got interested in finding out more, you were taken to an old clip of Indira Gandhi and Rakesh Sharma and Ravish Varma. Thanks, but come on!

    My two-bit advice: no one does space travel better than Hollywood and American television and I say this as a diehard Doctor Who fan (look it up). Before the mission’s Lander-Rover duo land on the Moon’s South Pole on September 7, watch as many films and serials as you can. There is time. Catch up on the jargon. Practice in front of mirrors. There are old stalwarts like Star Wars and Star Trek. There are blockbusters like Independence Day. There all those Apollo movies. Even the Men in Black series, for goodness sake! Anything! Please! In fact, of course, actually!

    An editor friend who watched the launch in “real time” (I only watched the later telecasts at night) regretted that he did not watch it on Doordarshan, so appalled was he at the quality of knowledge in newsrooms: “Either they don’t have science reporters or if they do, they are not good enough.” Damning maybe but from what I saw later in the evening, definitely true!

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    Of course, actually, in fact, I carried an old anger of TV with me while writing this. Watching an NDTV programme on how well TV reporters covered the Kargil war (#facepalm), the anchor then went on to ask foreign tourists in Kashmir if they were frightened for their safety, because did they know there was a war in Kashmir 20 years ago!

    Talk about encouraging tourism. But that apart, I wasn’t around, but did a TV reporter wander around London in 1961 asking tourists if they were frightened because there had been a war there 20 years ago?

    OMG! OMG! OMG!

    What have I done to deserve this? That’s a reference to the Pet Shop Boys. Look it up. Plus the Moon stuff. Please.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia