Small Step

Homage to Neil Armstrong who died on 25th August 2012

21 July, 1969, any other day in the life of Pankaj, young man heading back home to catch the 3 PM live transmission on All India Radio. His home was the only one that had a radio those huge vacuum tube ones dotting our distant past. Thankfully he was vacationing in his home town Ranigunj, Bihar away from his college in Burdwan, West Bengal. It was a time of miracle of Man landing on the moon. Something electric was in the air that Pankaj felt, goosebumps. ‘They have a sent a rocket to the  moon and they are preparing to land as we speak’, excited all the more for his interest being Engineering. That however did not stop him from grabbing a glance of the distant moon in the afternoon sunlight lest he could find some presence of the men through the naked eye. This was also a time of stunned disbelief among the lay people flummoxed at the audacity in the Americans to even think of such an endeavor. ‘Kennedy has kept his promise’ was the studied conclusion of all the tea stall discussions among the intelligentsia.

Cycling in full blast Pankaj reached home to the already gathered crowd in his own home. “Why did it take such a long time”, said his brother waiting impatiently guarding the spot for Pankaj to sit, “They are going to talk now”. Immediately everybody so busy in chatter and the din of confusion go silent.

‘..kkhzzzhhh A small step for khhzhzh man. A Giant leap for Mankind.’

‘What did he say?’ went one, ‘He jumped on the moon’ went the second. ‘Jumped!’ went the others in disbelief. Pankaj for one was cut of from the crowd and was tuned in to receive the radio broadcast with his untrammeled hearing. Every static every coherent sound he lapped up something that would etch into his memory in years to come. Slowly the silence starts to get punctuated by the familiar chatter. The atmosphere around him, that of plain disbelief will slowly break out into a celebration- a sign of things coming back to normal. Some enterprising chai wallahs established a tea stall outside Pankaj’s house and the urchins dancing to the tarkash players. Despite the commotion Pankaj was glued to the set as many head for the exit. Then the American host of the bulletin slipped a small tidbit of information

‘If you wish to send your best wishes to the astronauts then you may write to NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058…kkkhhhzzhh’ the transmission switches to an Indian bulletin host, enough for Pankaj to register the address in memory, only one by now in front of the radio. He made sure he thought nothing else as he bolts outside the room, to grab the first tidbit of paper and a pencil to scribble the destination. Next thing without a doubt was to write a letter of congratulation to Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins. He had to write it twice because he didn’t know that international mails were to be sent over air mail rather than in-land letters.

The news spread across the town and Pankaj was both an object of ridicule and a symbol of forward thought. But it didn’t concern him so much. It is mission accomplished.

Today, August 27, 2012 wondering how the demise of his hero came to him 2 days late through the front page of Ananda Bajar Patrika, he got up, got ready and immediately head to his bank, younger son in law his chosen chauffeur. On reaching he head for the lockers leaving the son-in-law in the Bank’s waiting lounge, opens his box with its only treasure, a photograph of his heroes, behind which

‘Dt: 24 January, 1970

Dear Pankaj                                                            

We have received your letter and we are sorry for the delay in reply. It took us a while to leave moon, head back to Earth and settle back to the place we call home. We are indeed privileged to know that there is a well wisher, friend in India who was with us when we set our first step on the moon. Thousands of men and woman of our Apollo program have contributed to this and we hope that we have represented them well. Your letter is a priceless measure of this success because more than setting our foot on moon we would regard reaching out to the whole humanity as the nobler endeavor. We are humbled by the kindness you and many well wishers the world over have shown us and to the members of the Apollo Program.

Thank You

Your Friends

Signed

Neil Armstrong

Buzz Aldrin

Michael Collins’

Tarkash - Indian Drums

Ananda Bajar Patrika - Bengali Newspaper