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BOOKS
Star
Dust
A venture
that fails to lift off
By
Raj Chengappa
Reach
For The Stars The Evolution Of India's ROCKET Programme
By Gopal Raj
Viking
Price: Rs 395 |
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There
is an old saying: If you reach for the stars, at least you will not come
up with a handful of dirt. Journalist Gopal Raj's largely uncritical analysis
of the trajectory of India's rocket programme with its rather ambitious
title (which even the space department may shy away from) just about lives
up to the adage. It isn't that the book is a poor read. Those with some
interest in the subject will find it useful to browse through and it will
serve as a reference for key dates and details. But unfortunately, like
many of the rockets that Indian scientists built, after a promising lift-off
the book tumbles into a sea of basic details and ends looking more like
a primer in rocket science. The impression is reinforced by the dozen
diagrams that do little to embellish the explanations.
Perhaps
I am being a trifle unfair. There are chapters, especially the one on
India's attempts to build cryogenic rocket engines, that meticulously
chalk out the twists and the turns and add significantly to the published
information on the subject. But if I am grumbling, it is partly because
the author had all the material and opportunity to tell a powerful story
but doesn't. The Indian space programme, despite its reverses, does have
plenty to be proud of. There is little doubt that its ability to build
sophisticated satellites and launch them is coming rapidly of age. India's
space research organisation may soon be in a position to hawk some of
its wares to other countries. This is no mean achievement for a country
that for a long period after its independence was better known for images
of bullock carts and bad roads.
How the
country's scientists overcame tremendous odds to put India among the handful
of countries that are on the world space map is a saga that is waiting
to be told. Raj's book could easily have been the vehicle that the space
department and the country were waiting for. But very quickly it loses
fuel and ends up being neither a thorough history nor a racy overview.
There are no surprises or astonishing revelations that would have boosted
its readability.
At times,
it even begins to read like an in-house publication (especially with its
constant reference to annual reports) rather than an authoritative dissertation
on India's quest for excellence in space rocketry. In the end, the book
fails to soar to any great heights.
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