Birth Anniversary of Kalpana Chawla
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“Her dream was that no one in this world should be deprived of an education. More specifically, no one should miss out on learning about the wonders of science. She also wanted people to exhibit kindness, compassion, love and encouragement.

She believed that the world is one. When in space, someone asked her how it felt to make it there from India. Paraphrasing the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, she said, ‘I was not born for a corner of the universe. The whole universe is my native land. The people living in this universe are my family.’ In her life, she remained true to these ideals,” says Banarsi Lal Chawla about his daughter Kalpana.

On 1 February 2003, the world lost an icon in Kalpana Chawla, who, along with six other crew members, died in the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. She was only 40 at the time of her death, but the legacy she left behind is immeasurable.

And the seeds of this legacy were sown during her childhood in Haryana’s Karnal, carefully nurtured by her encouraging father.
In an interview, Kalpana said, “It was very far-fetched for me to think that I would get to fly in a space shuttle.

I lived in a very small town in India. Forget about space, I didn’t even know whether my folks would let me go to engineering college. I think I was very lucky that we lived in a town which had flying clubs. We would see these small aeroplanes and would ask our dad if we could get a ride on one of these planes. He took us to the flying club and got us a ride.”

As for her proud father, this is what he says, “As a father, I can say that the role of a parent should not be restricting children in the name of protecting them. Let them think and explore independently. As parents, we should just keep an eye on that a child should not indulge in negative habits. Naya kadam uthaye to udne do, dhyan rakkho, koi galat kadam na uthaye. Then see how every child becomes an achiever.”