Sameer Dube | Founder, ANTARGYAN

*What took India 50 more years than Russia and USA to achieve soft-landing on the moon?* A student asked me this question in one of my classes. *In reply, I showed the pictures of 2 individuals to the whole class and asked the students (around 80) to identify them.* *When I showed the first photo – every student identified the man immediately* *When I showed the second photo – none of the student could identify the man in the picture* That’s when I answered the question: What took India 50 more years than Russia and USA – answer is “Our Choices !!!” 80 #engineering students can identify a film #actor instantaneously, but cannot identify the first Indian to go to space even after 5 minutes. The man in the first photo is called “#Hero”, “#Superstar” and what not. If he goes in public, people will throng him for pictures and autographs. If the man in second photo (who has actually reached the stars) goes in public, no one will even recognize him. We can spend 300-400 crores on a 3 hour movie, but scientists have to wait for 1 year for even 10 lakh of funding. And most importantly, if a big budget 400 crore movie fails on box-office, our reaction: Don’t worry, this actor will bounce back next year with even bigger blockbuster. When a moon landing mission fails at its final stage, our reaction: Why is #ISRO wasting crores of taxpayers money on exploratory missions, better use it to make hospitals, roads etc. If we really want to understand why are we lagging behind in the race of science and technology, we need not look far – just analyze our choices and preferences. It’s time to “Choose your heroes wisely” #Copied