Book Review
by Anil Padmanabhan
Kalpana Chawla was one of the seven astronauts who died as Columbia space shuttle of NASA exploded on 1st Feb. 2003.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Name of the book : Kalpana Chawla, A Life
Name of the Author : Anil Padmanabhan
Genre of the book : Biography
Name of the publisher : Penguin Books India Ltd.
Edition : First, 2003
No. of pages : 110
Price of the book : 125
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This book is written by Mr. Anil Padmanabhan. He is the "India Today" chief of bureau at New York. He is more known as journalist rather then author. But he has used his best skills in this biography. His research work for writing this book is really worthwhile.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
Kalpana
Chawla was an astronaut in NASA of U.S. This book represents her life.
It shows how she dreamed to fly in space and how she accomplished it. During
this, she faced many problems, restrictions but she did not lost courage and
finally became an astronaut. This book focuses on the determination and hard
work of Kalpana.
The book is divided into eight sequential parts which represents the life of Kalpana Chawla from childhood. In prologue, the description is made about the accident in which Kalpana lost her life. After that, the story begins. In next part, the early life of Kalpna is described. This stage describes about his school days in Karnal. She was living in very conservative family. After completing schooling, she joined Punjab Engineering Collage for graduation in aerospace engineering.
From the very childhood, Kalpana had only one dream in her mind- to fly in air. She worked hard for this. At some stage of her life, she realised that her desire can be fulfilled only in the U.S. by joining the NASA. And finally she managed to get the consent for this from her parents. She was sponsored by her family friend Chugh to join The University of Texas. At U.S., she met a person named Jean-Pierre and found that their thoughts and interests were matching very tremendously. She joined NASA after completing education in UOT. Meanwhile, she also got married with Jean-Pierre. Following her dream to be an astronaut, she gave an interview for the same. She was qualified for that from 2962 candidates. After that she passed through very strict training in NASA for few years.
And at the end, the day came for which she was waiting for many years. At 19 November 1997, the space shuttle carrying her and other seven members was launched from The Canady Space Center. She was Mission Specialist in this visit. Her main work was to operate the robotic hand of the shuttle to deploy the Spartan satellite. She stayed for nineteen days in the space and returned safely.
After five years, she got another chance of space journey. The job was same- Mission Specialist. The space shuttle was also same one- Columbia. There were other six members with her. They started their journey at 16th January, 2003. But as the whole world knows, they never came back to earth. At the time of landing, the space shuttle Columbia exploded near Utah, USA on 1st February, 2003. However Kalpana Chawla done that what she used to say - "Reach for stars."
EVALUATION
Kalpana Chawla, a Life by Anil Padmanabhan will inspire millions of young women all over the world. Kalpana's sense of self worth, her determination and hard work, her brilliant success and the tragic end have been portrayed sharply, without any sentiment. The immediacy of the tragedy of this heroine from a provincial town in Haryana will invite readership spontaneously. The book has been dedicated to the memory of the seven astronauts who died aboard the Columbia space shuttle on February 1, 2003.
This book shows that everything is possible with hard-work, determination and faith. Kalpana Chawla was from very conservative Punjabi family. But with her self-confidence, she succeeded in her aim to reach for stars. She set her life goal and worked all the life for that. This book is very useful to the young generation of India. There are many persons who criticise Kalpana for her love for USA. But actually, if we see the positive aspect of the life of Kalpana, it can be very useful to us.
According to the President APJ Abdul Kalam, “The remarkable journey of courage and determination that made this India woman, hailing from a small town in Haryana, a citizen of the Milky Way will remain a source of pride for all."
CRITIQUE
According to me, this is very good inspirational book for the young India. The main message of this book is set your goals high and start working hard to accomplish them and face the difficulties bravely. The life of Kalpana Chawla is a journey of courage and determination which brought pride for India. Instead of providing just information about Kalpana Chawla, the author has tried to embark the life of Kalpana as an example of bravery and willpower. This shows that even a woman who born in a conservative family can also achieve high dream if she wishes. This book is written after very good research.
The only negative side of this book is, it is written in some hurry. The quality of the book could have been improved by some extra research. The time the writer took to write the book is somehow short than expected. Moreover, the NASA also has not given some important information due to their policy. Due to this, some questions still remains unanswered. Like, what was the main reason due to which the shuttle exploded.
However, this is a good book to read for every young reader of the India.
CONCLUSION
This is a good book to read especially for women and young ones. It teaches the lessons of determination and self confidence. The language used in the book is very easy and decent. Although there is some lack of research, it is still very enjoyable and worth its price. This is a good gift to the world of literature by Shri Anil Padmanabhan.