The reason for the conflict? “Who stands on the bridge?” ❤️

The reason for the conflict? “Who stands on the bridge?”

This day, 32 years ago

3rd January 1994

#memoriesfromdiaries

[From my personal diary entry]

Women & Science: When all the men boycotted a session on Women & Science

“The air smelled of sulfur” | “The sky was always gray with smoke.”

“unnecessary secrecy” | “criminal insurgency”

Well, eminent journalists like M. V. Kamath would have us believe that, today’s newspapers are the “first rough draft of history.”

That means, when a newsworthy event happens today, it is news that provides the raw data for tomorrow’s history. Days or months later, they become documents or primary sources for future historians, literarians or creative artists, who would want to look at the newspapers we read today to understand the defining ‘mood’ of our times, when they jot down their own perspectives to the event.

Five such newsworthy items donned the day’s newspapers on this particular day, which later went on to become such powerful documents – as novels, movies and as memoirs.

The first one is on the eagerly awaited Indo-Pak Talks. The entire world was looking with bated breath at the upcoming Indo-Pak Talks, that was scheduled to happen after a long time - in over 15 months, between Indian Foreign Secretary J.N. Dixit and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Shaharyar Khan.

Secondly, rockets kept exploding in Kabul.

The rockets exploding in Kabul on 2nd January 1994, were part of the military offensive that escalated the Afghan Civil War. Just on New Year’s Day 1994, a sudden coup attempt was made against the government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani and his military commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud.

This January 1994 offensive eventually paved the way for the rise of the Taliban, who gained popularity later that year!

Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns covers the 1994 incident in a very realistic manner.

The protagonist, Laila’s house is hit by a rocket, killing her parents instantly. This reflects the reality of January 1994, when indiscriminate rocket fire from the hills around Kabul (fired by Hekmatyar’s forces) levelled residential neighbourhoods like hers.

Reproducing that particular episode from Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns that’s now become part of a memorable literary archive –

EARLY THE FOLLOWING YEAR, in January 1994, Dostum did switch sides. He joined Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and took up position near Bala Hissar, the old citadel walls that loomed over the city from the Koh-eShirdawaza mountains. 

Together, they fired on Massoud and Rabbani forces at the Ministry of Defense and the Presidential Palace.

From either side of the Kabul River, they released rounds of artillery at each other. The streets became littered with bodies, glass, and crumpled chunks of metal.

There was looting, murder, and, increasingly, rape, which was used to intimidate civilians and reward militiamen. Mariam heard of women who were killing themselves out of fear of being raped, and of men who, in the name of honor, would kill their wives or daughters if they’d been raped by the militia.

Aziza shrieked at the thumping of mortars. To distract her, Mariam arranged grains of rice on the floor, in the shape of a house or a rooster or a star, and let Aziza scatter them. She drew elephants for Aziza the way Jalil had shown her, in one stroke, without ever lifting the tip of the pen.

Rasheed said civilians were getting killed daily, by the dozens. Hospitals and stores holding medical supplies were getting shelled.

Vehicles carrying emergency food supplies were being barred from entering the city, he said, raided, shot at.

Mariam wondered if there was fighting like this in Herat too, and, if so, how Mullah Faizullah was coping, if he was still alive, and Bibi jo too, with all her sons, brides, and grandchildren. And, of course, Jalil. Was he hiding out, Mariam wondered, as she was? Or had he taken his wives and children and fled the country? She hoped Jalil was somewhere safe, that he’d managed to get away from all of this killing.

For a week, the fighting forced even Rasheed to stay home. He locked the door to the yard, set booby traps, locked the front door too and barricaded it with the couch. He paced the house, smoking, peering out the window, cleaning his gun, loading and loading it again. Twice, he fired his weapon into the street claiming he’d seen someone trying to climb the wall.

“They’re forcing young boys to join,” he said. “The Mujahideen are. In plain daylight, at gunpoint. They drag boys right off the streets. And when soldiers from a rival militia capture these boys, they torture them. I heard they electrocute them—it’s what I heard—that they crush their balls with pliers. They make the boys lead them to their homes. Then they break in, kill their fathers, rape their sisters and mothers.”

Even his Kite Runner captures the horrors of this era. In such vivid detail, he captures the uninterrupted fighting and the rockets raining down on Kabul as the reason why characters like Rahim Khan describe Kabul as a place where “the air smelled of sulfur” and “the sky was always gray with smoke.”

The third important news of the day is, Israeli PM Rabin sets new terms for Talks.

Well, this event is called the infamous and quite funny “bridge dispute” of January 1994! 😊

The duel was centred on the Allenby Bridge (the crossing between the West Bank and Jordan) and the Rafah Crossing (between Gaza and Egypt).

The reason for the conflict? “Who stands on the bridge?” 😊

The Palestinian side under Yasser Arafat insisted that Palestinian police officers must be the ones to greet travellers, stamp passports, and fly the Palestinian flag at the border.

The Israeli demand was equally stern! Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin insisted that Israel must retain “exclusive control” over the international borders.

The argument got down to the level of centimeters and floor plans.

Should the Palestinian booth be in front of the Israeli one or behind it?

Could the Palestinian flag fly at the entrance to the terminal, or only inside the building?

The dispute reached a boiling point on 2nd January 1994, because the December 13th deadline for withdrawal had already been missed.

Rabin’s “new terms” on 2nd January 1994, were meant to convey the message that he was the boss!

Israel would not move a single soldier out of Gaza or Jericho until the “Bridge Protocol” was signed exactly as per his specifications, he roared.

The dispute wasn’t fully resolved until the Cairo Agreement in February 1994. The comprise was that -

Travellers would pass through a Palestinian wing (for the symbol of dignity) and an Israeli wing (for the reality of security).

A Palestinian flag was allowed at the terminal, but Israel would remain the “ultimate authority” at the physical bridge itself.

The movie Oslo starring Andrew Scott dramatises these quirky moments. It features the dinners, the jokes, and the mounting tension of these secret rooms.

The book titled, The Process by Uri Savir, is the ultimate reference book that details these funny yet tense stories!

Fourthly, in Sri Lanka, President D.B. Wijetunge’s words on January 2, 1994, represented a significant hardening of the government’s stance toward the Tamil conflict.

President Wijetunge of Sri Lanka had infamously said that there was no ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, only a criminal insurgency led by the LTTE (Tamil Tigers)

This hardline stance eventually backfired politically. Later in 1994, the Sri Lankan public voted overwhelmingly for Chandrika Kumaratunga, who promised to reverse Wijetunge’s “new terms” and restart peace talks in earnest.

Fifthly and finally, the 81st Indian Science Congress, that took place in Jaipur, had a lot of shocks and one silverline as their outcome!  

General President of the Indian Science Congress, Dr. P.N. Srivastava lambasted the bureaucracy for the “sorry state” of science education.

Planning Commission member M.G.K. Menon accused both the government and scientists of fostering an atmosphere of “unnecessary secrecy” that hindered innovation.

The Prime Minister Mr. Rao warned that unless Indian scientists improved the quality of basic research and produced superior, competitive goods, India risked becoming a left out in the new world order.

While everyone including the Prime Minister was busy attacking and lambasting the state of affairs on the plight of Indian science and research, one particular presentation by a  Scientific Advisor to the Defence Ministry sounded very positive.

He was none other than Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam – the then Scientific Adivsor to the Defence Ministry. He demonstrated how defence research was being used for the public good.

He also proudly demonstrated it by showcasing artificial limbs and low-cost cardiac pacemakers that had been developed using carbon-fibre technology originally meant for India’s missile programs (like the Agni and Prithvi).

For the first time, in this edition of the Indian Science Congress, a session titled, “Women and Science” was held. However, none of the men took any interest in attending the session, and the session had only women participants.

PS: You may want to read Dr. Abdul Kalam’s Noble & Inspiring Visions for India on our past blogpost HERE.

Swap 10 minutes of social media time for... ❤️

Headlines, Titles, Captions | The Difference

#newspaperinlearning

Newspapers as Living Textbooks | Morning Work-out for the Brain

One thing that fascinates me while reading the day’s newspapers is – the headline, the title and the caption!

Creative news headlines, titles and captions serve as the primary tools for journalists to capture that invaluable “split-second” attention of a reader.

In fact, a headline’s creativity is often the clincher in whether a story is read or ignored.

Today’s newspapers in English have a lot of such news headlines. And yes! There were also a range of engrossing titles and captivating captions strewn all across the pages.

So what is the difference between a headline, a title and a caption?

A headline is the bold text at the top of an article or news story. Its primary job is to grab attention, and at the same time give the essence / summary of the news story. It can be punchy, emotional, or clever. In newspapers, they often omit the articles like “a,” “an,” and “the” to save space and increase impact.

Example: Scientists Discover Water on Mars

A title is usually the official, permanent name of a work - the cover of a book, a movie, an academic paper or a specific webpage.

Example: Groundhog Day, Jane Eyre, The Man-Eater of Malgudi

A caption is the text that accompanies a photograph, an illustration, or a graphic.

In their book titled, Creative Publications: Traditional Techniques and Computer Applications, by Thomas Bivins and William E. Ryan, published in the year 1990, the authors give us simple tips on when to use headlines and when to use titles.

Here goes –

A headline, strictly speaking, is for news stories, while a title is for features. 

For example, a news story on a new product might read like this - 

New software will ‘revolutionize education’ says APC president

Now, contrast that headline with the following title -

Talking to the past—Learning about the future 

The headline tells something about the story, so that even the casual reader can glean some information from reading it alone. The title, on the other hand, entices the reader or piques his or her interest. 

Therefore, a basic rule of thumb for writing headlines and titles is: use headlines for news articles and titles for feature articles. And, as with all writing, try to be clear. If your headline or title confuses the readers, they won’t read on.

They also underscore the need and importance of captions –

Sometimes viewers tend to bring their own interpretations to the photographic image. That is why captions become very important to explain the visual,

they aver!

Now let’s look at a few such engaging headlines, engrossing titles and captivating captions in today’s newspapers.

Today's The New Indian Express

Today' The Times of India

Today's Times of India

Today's Times of India

Today's The New Indian Express

And now for the wrap-up lines to this blogpost.

Why-o-why should you read the day’s newspaper?

Well, reading the day’s newspapers – both in English and in the Vernacular – makes us conscious of the world around us – a holistic awareness that TVs, Radios or Social Media can never give us.

That’s why the daily newspaper is considered the morning workout for the brain and the daily compass to navigate the world without leaving our chair!

For students especially, reading the daily newspaper is a competitive necessity.

Some of the major competitive exams in India and abroad have now moved beyond mere rote learning. 

In this context, reading newspapers helps the student to receive the in-depth context to current affairs, that text books lack! Hence, eminent critic Scupin Richard calls them, ‘Living Textbooks,’ where they not only learn about an economic policy but also get to see its real-world impact on markets and society.

Moreover, recruiters today look for candidates who can give informed perspectives and decisive insights on diverse perspectives, especially during group discussions and personal interviews. 

In addition, it helps you to master your ability to write persuasive essays and research papers. In fact, reading the “Editorial” and “Opinion” pages is like having a daily interaction with the world’s best writers. You will effortlessly learn how to structure an argument, use evidence, and maintain a professional tone.

Finally, a newspaper teaches you to use the right collocations at the right place, thereby improving your vocabulary, which naturally improves your academic writing and formal presentations.

In this regard, I am so happy to reproduce a lovely article on newspaper reading, in today’s The Hindu.

Lastly, for the proverbial icing on the cake –

In an era of one-minute clips and social media distractions, deep knowledge has now become a real superpower.

Let’s take a New Year resolution to make 2026 the year to “stop scrolling and start reading.”

Promise to commit yourself to 15 minutes a day with a newspaper to build the vocabulary and insight that will set you apart from the crowd.

Want to speak more confidently? Write more clearly? Understand the world better? It all starts with one habit: Reading the Newspaper. 😊

This year, through this blogpost, I give out a challenge to every student to take the 2026 News Resolution.

Swap 10 minutes of social media time for 10 minutes of newspaper reading time!

Your future self will thank you a million times for that!

Here’s wishing y’all happy Newspaper Reading!

“No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come” ❤️ From my personal diary, 32 years ago! ❤️

“They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”

India & Liberalisation | India and Space Research – Past & Present

How A False Case against ISRO Nambi Narayanan had brought down the Chief Minister of Kerala

“No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”

How Russia ‘halted’ its promised tech transfer to India under US Pressure

Nambi Narayanan & V. Narayanan | Quirky Similarities

An Inspirational Analysis

This day, 32 years ago, from my personal diary entry

1st January 1994

#memoriesfromdiaries

This is my second year of keeping a personal diary. Yes, officially, I was into my second year of journalling, in the year 1994.

And this particular year’s diary entries assume added significance for me, since it was from 1994 that I started documenting all the news-worthy articles in the day’s newspapers onto my personal diary.

[On an aside, back then, when I was so sincerely jotting down this diary entry, never ever in my farthest dreams would I have imagined that, a day would come when I will be posting memorable vignettes from my past diary entries on this ‘futuristic something’ called a blog or a weblog!] 😊

Coming back –

This particular day’s newspapers in English (The Hindu) had four newsworthy articles, as follows -

1. PM Rao rejects FM Manmohan Singh’s Resignation

2. TN Bill on Reservation Passed

3. Russia to Supply Four Rocket Boosters

4. In Rajasthan, the Sekhawat Government proves majority

So why-on-earth did the Union Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh submit his resignation? 🤔

And why-o-why did the Prime Minister reject his resignation? 🤔

Well, on 31 December 1993, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Union Finance Minister, offered his resignation to Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, owning moral responsibility following a highly critical report by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).

The backdrop to his resignation was the 1992 Securities Scam involving ‘Big Bull’ Harshad Mehta. A Joint Parliamentary Committee was formed to investigate the scam. In its final report, submitted in late December 1993, the committee indicted the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for serious failures in oversight.

Known for his high personal integrity, Dr. Singh felt that as the head of the Finance portfolio, he had to take moral responsibility for the lapses.

However, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao did not accept the resignation, stating that, the country was in the middle of crucial economic reforms and that Dr. Singh’s leadership was indispensable for India’s financial stability.

So what are the crucial economic reforms heralded by Dr. Manmohan Singh, known as the ‘Father of Economic Reforms’ in India?

When Dr. Manmohan Singh took office in June 1991, India was on the verge of facing its worst economic crisis ever, signalling an impending bankruptcy ahead.

Can you imagine a dire situation way back in May 1991 - just before Dr. Singh took office - when the government – as a dire financial emergency – had to airlift 20 tonnes of gold from India’s reserves to the Union Bank of Switzerland to raise $200 million.

And yet again in July 1991, under the new Rao-Singh government, another 47 tonnes of gold had to be ‘urgently’ shipped to the Bank of England to secure a $400 million loan.

In fact, this very act of mortgaging India’s gold reserves was a psychological shock to the Indian public, as gold is culturally seen as the ultimate safety net.

This is when Dr. Manmohan Singh’s role assumes a lot of significance.

On 24 July 1991, Dr. Singh presented a landmark budget in Parliament, that slashed subsidies, and opened industries to private competition, and invited foreign investment.

His reforms, famously known as LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation, and Globalisation), fundamentally shifted India from a state-led model to a market-driven economy.

Dr. Singh had famously concluded his 1991 budget speech by quoting Victor Hugo’s inspirational lines -

“No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”

This quote literally gives us the goosebumps, ain’t it? 😊

Some of the proactive measures he initiated are as follows –

First and foremost, he broke the concept of “Licence Raj” that dictated what a company could produce and how much.

Secondly, he initiated the concept of privatisation, thereby reducing state dominance. As a result, the number of industries reserved exclusively for the government was slashed from 17 to three: Railways, Atomic Energy, and Defence.

Thirdly, he pioneered globalisation in India. Before 1991, India’s economy was largely closed to foreign trade and investment.

Finally, he heralded reforms in the banking sector, thereby giving banks more freedom to set their own interest rates rather than following strict RBI mandates. This paved the way for the entry of modern private banks (like HDFC and ICICI), which modernised the Indian banking landscape.

Coming back to the second important newsworthy article featured in this particular day’s newspapers!

It is on Russia’s supply of four rocket boosters to India.

Well, well, well…. this is indeed a real gripping narrative that has all the elements of a good spy novel or a techno thriller to it.

Probably the literary being or the film director in you can try coming up with a spy novel on this episode! 😊

You see, way back in the early 1990s, the Indian space programme was inching ahead boldly, towards a major breakthrough that would change global satellite launch dynamics forever.

Towards this end, in 1991, India’s ISRO signed a landmark $120 million deal with the Russian space agency, Glavkosmos, with the avowed aim of acquiring two cryogenic engines and, crucially, the technology transfer to build them in India.

However, Big Brother United States, was not at all happy you see!

Led by the Clinton administration and pressured by then-Senator Joe Biden, the United States vehemently opposed the deal. They claimed that it violated the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), raising fears that, cryogenic technology could power Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).

Added, by 1993, Russia was facing a staring at a huge economic crisis. The U.S. offered Russia a $24 billion aid package - but with a massive string attached: Cancel the promised tech transfer to India.

Hence, under intense pressure, President Boris Yeltsin of Russia had to bow to US pressure-tactics. In December 1993, a strategic compromise was struck with India. Russia would supply seven engines (up from the original two), but without giving away any technology transfer, or training.

This way, Russia could keep the cash and the U.S. aid; India gets the engines, but is denied the ‘brain’ to build them.

But wait! Therein lies the story!

Or so the world thought… 😊

While diplomats from Russia and India were busy signing papers in public, ISRO was running a secret operation in the shadows.

Russia was secretly helping India with ‘technology transfer’ in a subtle and discreet way without Big Brother’s knowledge. 😊

Since Air India required public manifests that U.S. intelligence could track, ISRO turned to a Russian carrier: Ural Airlines.

The Ural flight containing ‘technology transfer and the blueprints’ were officially logged in as transporting Indian aircraft parts to Russia for ‘wind-tunnel testing.’ However, in reality, the underbellies of these planes were packed with heavy cryogenic stages and loads of technical manuals.

At the Khimki facility in Russia, Indian engineers worked 24/7 to photocopy thousands of pages of blueprints, whisking them to the airport before the legal window slammed shut.

Project head Nambi Narayanan later revealed that he and other senior scientists didn’t just coordinate from desks - they were on those flights, literally sitting in cargo holds or cockpits to ensure the crates weren’t intercepted by ‘American spies’ reportedly swarming Russian space centres.

Just as ISRO began integrating the smuggled technology, the momentum was halted in October 1994, by the infamous ISRO Spy Case that broke in! 

Nambi Narayanan and his deputy were arrested on charges of selling cryogenic secrets to Maldivian spies. The media went into a frenzy damaging the credibility of Nambi and his deputy.

Luckily, in the year 1996, the CBI cleared the scientists, concluding the case was a complete fabrication (by the US). Many, including Narayanan, believe the scandal was a CIA-led operation designed to dismantle India’s cryogenic programme just as it was taking flight.

This threat of denial of technology or technology transfer forced India to start the Cryogenic Upper Stage Project (CUSP) from scratch.

It took two decades of gruelling research, and finally in the year 2014, India successfully launched a 100% indigenous cryogenic engine.

“They could delay us, but they couldn't stop us.”

Today, we’ve come a long way from scratch to self-reliance.

And it is so heartwarming to see how India has prided herself on the space front.

Thought of reproducing an article in The Times of India, Chennai Edition, dt 1st January 2025, where ISRO Chairman S Somanath gives a press briefing on India’s space achievements in 2024 and informs them about upcoming launches.

True to his word, India has been a forerunner in launches in 2025.

Reproducing an article from The Times of India dated 25th December 2025, which shows how we have evolved over the decades.

From 1st January 2025 (a year ago)

It is indeed a full-circle moment for the Indian space programme, contrasting the struggles of the 1990s with a record-breaking commercial success in 2025.

While in the early 1990s India had to ‘smuggle’ cryogenic technology to survive U.S. sanctions in 1993, this article reports on ISRO’s heaviest-ever launch - ironically carrying a U.S. communications satellite!!!

25 December 2025, Times of India

What an amazing geopolitical shift it has been!

Indeed a a complete reversal of the 1993 era - where the U.S. actively blocked India’s progress, in sharp contrast to today – which saw India acting as the service provider for a U.S. company!

The article also foregrounds the fact that, India has moved beyond the original Russian technology, by utilising new indigenous upgrades to increase payload capability by over 150kg.

The mission marks ISRO’s 434th satellite deployment over a 45-year history.

On a very interesting note - quite a range of coincidences exist between V Narayanan, the current ISRO Chairman and Nambi Narayanan, the past ISRO Chairman.

Both share the same names.

Both are from Nagerkoil, Tamil Nadu.

Both are cryogenetic engine technology pioneers - One of the most complex challenges in aerospace engineering.

Both were first-rank holders in their respective degrees.

Both went through a lot of early hardships in their early life and education.

Both held the prestigious position of Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), the heart of ISRO’s engine development.

Both have been recognised by the Indian government and the scientific community for their contributions to space exploration.

When Nambi Narayanan was ISRO Chairman, in the early 1990s, the young  V. Narayanan was one of the young engineers sent to Russia during that era to train on the Russian engines. They later used that experience to lead the team that built the 100% indigenous version.

A real poetic conclusion indeed!

Well, for more on this saga, there are two must-read books from Nambi Narayanan and the second one from Rajasekharan J Nair, that reveal a lot of truths behind this bitter episode.

I’ve read the first one! The second one – I’m reading now!

The first one by Nambi Narayanan is titled, Ready to Fire: How India and I Survived the ISRO Spy Case published in the year 2016. The book provides a firsthand account of the 1994 ISRO espionage scandal, written by the man at the centre of the storm - scientist S. Nambi Narayanan.

[On an aside, the movie, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, written, produced, and directed by R. Madhavan, who also played the lead role of Nambi Narayanan, was also based on this book.]

The book details on Nambi’s personal battle for justice – on how as a senior scientist leading India’s cryogenic engine project, he was falsely accused of selling rocket secrets to Pakistan through Maldivian conduits.

Moreover, the book also serves as a memoir of India’s space journey, chronicling the evolution of ISRO from its humble beginnings under Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan.

Beyond Narayanan’s personal ordeal, the book argues that the spy case was part of a larger international conspiracy intended to sabotage India’s space programme. He argues that –

The entire case was foisted on him targeting the development of India’s Cryogenic technology, which would have made India a major commercial player in the global satellite launch market. He suggests that certain officials in the IB and Kerala Police may have been “pawns” for foreign agencies (such as the CIA) to stall India’s “inevitable march to space.”

And I quote from the book –

This was the same tactics the US had employed to stop the USSR from transferring the cryogenic engine technology to India in the early 1990s.

The US argued that cryogenic engines fell under technology for missiles. This was far from the truth.

No country, including the US, has a missile with a cryogenic engine. But already under the strain of the impending fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian facilities buckled under American pressure and changed the contract to just sell seven cryogenic engines, and not transfer the technology.

That this delayed India’s cryogenic programme by at least fifteen years is another tale.

On 20 October 1994, Thaniniram, a Malayalam eveninger, broke a story of a woman spy being arrested in Trivandrum. It spoke about a woman called Mariam Rasheeda, 38, a Maldivian spy on a mission to Trivandrum to get secret drawings of Indian rocket engines.

CPM mouthpiece Desabhimani followed up the story the next morning. Two days after the Maldivian woman’s arrest, Kerala Kaumudi, another Malayalam daily, dropped a bombshell: Inspector General of Police Raman Srivastava, an officer considered a favourite of Chief Minister K Karunakaran, has links with the spy ring.

On 13 January 1995, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by an NGO called Niyamavedi, a division bench of the Kerala High Court headed by Justice Sreedharan made some adverse comments on the CBI investigation, which did not find any evidence to link Srivastava with the case.

This led to the IPS officer’s suspension on the same day. The CBI moved the Supreme Court bench of Justice Sujatha Manohar and got the remarks expunged.

But by then, K Karunakaran was forced to step down as the Chief Minister after the opposition and a faction of the Congress accused him of shielding Srivastava and aiding the spy ring.

I felt sad for the senior IPS officer. A man respected in service and outside has been dragged into this cesspool. How? Why? I was to learn how bitter politics between two factions in the Congress in Kerala—one led by then Chief Minister K Karunakaran, and the other by A K Antony and his Man Friday Oommen Chandy—made this officer a scapegoat. It was no secret that Srivastava was one of Karunakaran’s favourite police officers.

It so happened that when the ISRO spy case broke out, a faction within the Congress party that was in power in Kerala, too, found it an opportunity to bring down K Karunakaran from the Chief Minister’s chair. This they succeeded when A K Antony, then Oommen Chandy’s leader, replaced Karunakaran in March 1995,

says Nambi Narayanan.

To sum it all up, at the end of it all, the subtle moral we glean from this episode is that –

The clouds may conspire to cloak the sun, and the wind may claim the day is won; but while the storm spends its fury in the street, the stars remain patient, and the truth, complete.

How true!

And lastly, for the icing on the cake – and coincidentally at that – today’s The Hindu dt. 1st January 2026, Editorial Page carries a very insightful article on the Advancements in India’s Space Programme.

It’s written by former ISRO Chairman S. Somanath. The article looks upon space as a “global commons” under Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. (the world is one family)

Somanath says -

India’s space journey has evolved beyond a string of spectacular missions. In June 2025, when Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla displayed the Tricolour aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was a moment of pride for every Indian.

That same spirit has been echoed earlier, on August 23, 2023, when Chandrayaan-3 made India the first nation to land near the lunar south pole.

India’s lunar programme has been truly path breaking: Chandrayaan-1 (2008) confirmed the presence of water molecules; Chandrayaan-2 (2019) mapped the moon with high precision and prepared the ground for Chandrayaan-3 (2023), which achieved the world’s first soft landing near the south pole.

When the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover explored the lunar surface for a full moon day, this led children to draw depictions of lunar landscapes in notebooks, it left researchers feeling vindicated, and inspired citizens who saw India’s story in space as also their own future.

Over 400 foreign satellites have been launched aboard Indian rockets. In 2014, India became the first Asian nation and only the fourth in the world to reach Mars orbit — and on its maiden attempt, with the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan).

The Aditya-L1 mission (2023), built through multi-institutional collaboration, is providing unprecedented insights into the sun’s corona and its impact on space weather. XPoSat (2024) is studying black holes, while SpaDeX (2024) has demonstrated in-orbit docking for future space stations and lunar missions.

On a personal note I felt that, the article looks at the brighter side of things, while carefully avoiding the seamier side.

The author has made quite a point on how space exploration fuels Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, advanced research, and workforce development.

However, as past Chairman of the ISRO, and from the rich insights he must have gained, he could also have taken time to emphasise on how the annual exodus of thousands of India’s brightest aerospace engineers who still continue to migrate to NASA, SpaceX, or Blue Origin, could be ‘stemmed’ and on strategies by which India can take efforts to retain its top-tier talent. That would have made the article a wholesome treat. 

That lacuna apart, this is indeed a timely article on how India’s space journey is more than rockets and satellites. It is about a nation discovering new ways to see itself!

PS: You may want to read this blogpost on Cultivating the Lovely Art of Writing / Journalling / Diary Writing HERE on our blog.