Achievements of former classmates often cause us to hold our heads high. So, when NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity took off, my head literally turned skywards because the chief engineer of the project was from my class!
Our batch of 1974 in Rishi Valley was a motley mix of the very brilliant, the street smart and backbenchers. The ‘very brilliant’ came in different grades. Two could solve IIT papers in the seventh standard, a few others would get high marks by paying little attention in class, and a few had fixed goals and knew how to achieve them. We were only eleven girls (in a class of thirty) and only one was doing advanced Maths and we were in awe of her. Luckily, we had no annual exams and we were promoted to the next class, which meant that there was no competitive pressure. This had its pros and cons. For the self-motivated and conscientious it worked, for the lazy and laidback, it didn’t.
The NASA engineer fell into two enviable categories – he could solve IIT papers in the seventh standard and had fixed goals. In contrast, I was an early IIT dropout; I dropped out even before attempting the entrance exam! Once, after school vacations, we were travelling back together and at the station our fathers got talking. My dad was very impressed, but I dismissed my classmate off as a mug pot. Of course, it was a case of sour grapes!
He was a very quiet and principled boy. I know that because he never allowed me to copy from him! Whereas, the second IIT question solver sat right behind me and would at least tell me the answers. So I learnt to work backwards – get the answers first and then try to figure out the steps! I hardly ever spoke to the NASA guy, except on the last day when we all walked till the Mouth of the Valley as some were catching a bus. Suddenly, 16-year-olds were leaving the safe cocoon of boarding school. We were flying straight into the unknown--some were looking forward to the freedom of college, some were unsure, but some like him seemed to already have a blueprint. He said that he would appear for the IIT entrance exams and then study in aeronautics and perhaps work at NASA. His plans and dreams have come true. And as Ingenuity goes on its mission I bask in reflected glory and tell everyone “he was my classmate!”