Jul

16

Why most Indians are natural born space travelers

July 16, 2009 posted by indiatime |

The Associated Press is reporting about a simulation experiment by Russian scientists where six men endured three and a half months cramped inside a small metal box without windows. The experiment was meant to test human endurance for long interplanetary journeys such as a visit to Mars. The 6 participants didn’t have television or any other entertainment, but had limited access to emails with a 20-minute delayed communication to the outside world.

But the conditions inside the small metal box may not have been as bad as they sound. Each man had his own private cabin, with access to a common gym and a common garden. There were specially prepared meals and access to modern toilets as in the latest spacecrafts. And each participant received almost $21,000 (close to Rs 10 lakhs) for completing the ‘difficult’ mission. Coming out of the box, the study’s participants talked about the isolation from loved ones, and isolation from nature as the hardest things they had endured.

Ha! If this is what it takes to go to Mars, more than half of India’s population would qualify in a heartbeat. They live in conditions worse than and smaller than the Russian experiment’s container. They don’t have toilets, let alone gyms or gardens. They don’t have private cabins and there aren’t ready-made nutritious meals. And most of them will never see Rs 10 lakhs even if they save everything they make throughout their lifetimes.

When it comes to matters of endurance, the rest of the world better take backseat to a majority of our population. And unlike the fake experiment where the participants knew they would get out of their misery after a specific time frame, majority of Indians have endured worse hardships day in day out, for decades. No electricity, dirty water, no sanitation facilities, incredible debt burdens, casteism, racism, sexism, you name it, they’ve faced it.

People say that India’s space scientists are fast catching up with the Europeans and the Russians and the Americans. Long before they were even close, India’s population has always demonstrated the ‘right stuff’, and has always had the extraordinary survival skills necessary for interplanetary journeys and hostile environmental conditions. Most of Mumbai’s population could probably straphang to Mars or go without water or baths for days on long interplanetary journeys. Most farmers’ families could go days without food while on a trip to Jupiter or Saturn. And most Indians would qualify very well for journeys that test togetherness amongst the most diverse group of individuals who come from different ethnicities, languages, cultures, religions, traditions, and still have to live inside a small chambers for a what can seem like a lifetime.


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4 Comments so far

  1. Light on July 16, 2009 9:59 pm

    Very very touching thoughts.

  2. anon on July 17, 2009 3:42 am

    That’s the most dumb reasoning I have heard!!

  3. frgklckij on November 7, 2009 2:15 am

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  4. Max on March 15, 2010 5:38 am

    This article reminds of the difference of fasting in the east and west. In the East, people who fast, eat nothing. In the west, for Catholics, for example, fasting means not eating meat for a day. But they can eat everything else, even fish, which they don’t consider meat. People who grow up in comfort ultimately become soft. So I think you have made an excellent observation.

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