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Talk on - The moon and human-space exploration - By. Dr. Kumar Krishen

 The brightly lit room along with the projector and neatly arranged chairs the SSERD office premises were ready to receive the guest speaker. Just as Dr.Kumar Krishen walked in along with his blue suitcase the members of the office were running helter-skelter to make sure he is feeling comfortable. As he finished refreshing after the long journey, eager students poured in filling the space with excitement and questions.

Slowly they were directed to their seats as one of the members of SSERD begun with an interactive introduction. As it had rained late in the afternoon a certain naturally cool climate set in, aiding to the comfort of the audience. They actively answered the warm-up questions asked by their host as the programme was handed entered the over to the guest. 



As Dr.Kumar Krishen sir, entered the stage there was an instant change in the ambience along with the slight hop in his steps. He awakened the audience's mind as he dove straight to the topic - The moon and human-space exploration. 

I am certain the audience were so captivated by his talk that we didn't even realize 2 hours had passed. He explained the topics with high involvement, helping us appreciate the subject just as much as he does. 

From the Lunar Space programme to sharing his experience designing the Appolo Lunar Capsules we were transported to a different world. He explained one of his first experiments of observing the moon with a radioactive telescope in the cold winters of the U.S.A. How he built an entire microwave system and used the moon only atmosphere - it's ionosphere as a passive reflector. 



He profoundly explained the concept of Space, Time and mass simply by exclaiming,'' Time is a circle. It was never started and it will never end.'' The change in space proves the change in time, as it is only the particles with significant mass which we are able to feel and observe. 

Being a scientist of Indian origin, he mentioned how well our culture is connected with the patterns of the universe and the importance of ancient Indian scripts.

By the end of his talk, he had sparked the curiosity in many. We all were thoroughly motivated by his persistence in answering the flooding questions. Each answer contained a slight bit of humor and a great amount of body movement. He planted various sprouting ideas and thoughts within each student.

Towards the end of his talk, he autographed the book ' Why Me'. He authored the splendid book, where he described the Indian culture through crisply written short stories. Observing the lives of 6 colleagues drawn from different religions and societies it portrays a unique view of the struggles we face in our day-to-day lives. Just as his talk, his book makes one ponder deeply. 




I would like to conclude with a poem written the end of the book, confident that it will give you a short but intriguing glimpse of Dr. Kumar Krishen's personality: -

Dreams & Realities

Those distant dreams stay

future and past linger in mind,

Everything else rushes, the way 

Melting snow gushes over slopes inclined,

The fastest and dearest of them all

Time, runs as if blind


The spring days of May

When amid flowers I lay,

Letting the morning breeze on my head blow

The silvery rays the face glow

the fire of love inside me kindled

My thoughts stimulated the face of beloved.


Thoughts overplayed to the details

To the centre of heart these replayed

The wind with its movement 

swayed the flowery scene,

The scene rejoiced over the thoughts 

which made me serene


The imaginations of doing great rolled

Like the logs over the rives of my mind,

There in silence the self-arose beyond time

Preparing to reach the stars in sublime,

Then realities of life conquered

The years passed but dreams remained.


- Bharathi Senthilkumar


Sharing my experience of the talk I had attended by Dr,Kumar Krishen @ the SSERD Office, Bangalore. 

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