ISRO Workshop: An Unforgettable 3-Day Experience🌠☄️💫

This blog is going to be very special for me✨. I don't know how I missed writing about my most amazing experience at the ISRO workshop! Sometimes I get so caught up writing everything in my diary that I forget I have a blog to update too. 😅

So here it is: I went to ISRO! Bangalore! All by myself—from my hometown to Bhopal, and then from Bhopal to Bangalore by flight. It was my first-ever flight, and I was traveling alone. This solo trip taught me so much over those five days. And so, the adventure began!😃✅

I traveled from my hometown to Bhopal on the 10th of October (I know, I’m a bit late with this blog😑). I reached the Bhopal bus stand at 3 AM on the 11th, booked a cab, and went to the Bhopal airport. I stayed there for around four hours before finally taking off on my first flight (weeeeee!)😄. It was an exciting journey, and I even wrote a little something while I was on the plane. I met some wonderful flight attendants and thoroughly enjoyed my journey above the clouds. I was literally on cloud nine! I also wrote the feedback form they gave me.✅✨

After two hours of gazing at endless clouds, I landed in Bangalore. I felt like a bird that had just learned to fly, with the song "Mein To Badalon Se Door Jaungi, Mein To Apna Hi Sur Paungi" playing in my head🙂‍↕️.

And then, I arrived in Bangalore! The vastness of Bangalore’s airport made me feel like a tiny ant in a jungle (my own idiom😉). With my suitcase and my dreams, I traveled 45 kilometers to my Masi’s house, which took longer than my flight from Bhopal to Bangalore🥲—it took me three hours! After that exhausting journey, I finally reached my Masi’s house, and then came day one of three at ISRO HQ in Bangalore!🥹🤩

I was super excited to meet some of the brightest minds in India😄. I joined over 150 students who were selected for the workshop out of the 2,000 who had taken the exam. The students came from various states—Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and many other states and of course, Madhya Pradesh (that’s me!😅). Most of them were either final-year engineering students or pursuing MSc and PhD degrees. A few faculty members were also invited. We were all welcomed with a kit and a prestigious ISRO ID card.😌

We all gathered in the auditorium, and it was an honor to hear from ISRO Chairman, Mr. S. Somnath sir and other ISRO chiefs☺️. I was so nervous and excited to be part of this workshop. During breakfast and lunch, I made a few friends from different states and languages. We were all united by a single language: English! (Since all of them were from different regions of India😅😅). After six hours of engaging workshops and lessons from brilliant scientists, I felt tired yet grateful😌. I learned about various ISRO missions, space traffic management and the internal workings of the organization. Chandrayaan-3 had been recently launched, and we were thrilled to hear about it from those who had worked on it in real-time.🙌

The scientists and officials at ISRO were incredibly calm and down-to-earth. I even asked a few questions, and they answered patiently, without using overly complex terms.🙌👏

Day Two✨

On day two, it again took me two hours to reach ISRO HQ by 10 a.m. I had to wake up at 6 a.m. and leave by 7:30. This time, I decided to explore the Bangalore bus stand, which was much bigger than my entire hometown (hyperbolic figure of speech😅). Finding a bus that goes to the nearest stop to ISRO was challenging, and it took me half an hour to find the right one by asking around. In the end, I had to book an Uber.😑

After the exhausting journey, I finally arrived and settled into the classes. By now, I had made around 7-8 friends and was more familiar with everything. Had more lectures by some brilliant minds of India.

After lunch, we visited "The Space Situational Awareness Control Centre", the same one I had seen during the live telecast of Chandrayaan-3’s launch.🤩 Due to security reasons, we weren’t allowed to take our phones, but it was a surreal experience. I learned a lot about how everything worked. I was stunned to see massive projectors and various satellite models. They explained everything with such simplicity.🙌

 After the visit, we had a tea break with some puffs and samosas. That day, I tried taking the bus again and met a few of my fellow attendees on the bus. I changed 2 buses afterwards and learned a lot about the local people of Bangalore during the three-hour journey from ISRO to my place (all thanks to traffic👍). I met a girl on the bus, and we had a great conversation in English only. She told me many things about the city, the weather, and, of course, the traffic!🙃

Reached my Masi's house at 9 pm and that’s how my day two at ISRO ended.

Day Three🌠

Finally, on day three, I was familiar with the people and the route. Since I had my flight back to Bhopal early the next day at 7 a.m., I took my luggage and went directly to ISRO, as the airport was closer to ISRO than my aunt’s house by 20 kilometers. After arriving at ISRO, we took many photos and videos. We had a farewell moment just two days after our orientation. 😅😅

Here are some beautiful pics with some amazing people✨🙌

After hundreds of photos and videos, we had special sessions with some scientists, followed by a tea break and a group photo with the honorable scientists of ISRO.🙌

And here is that remarkable photo which is entitled by me as :- "Divided by states, united by ISRO!!"🌠✨

During the sessions, I wrote a poem for the ISRO team and asked our coordinator if I could recite it during the feedback session😅. I got permission, and when the time came, I raised my hand to speak. ISTRAC’s associate director, Anil Kumar Sir, invited me on stage. I was nervous but managed to recite my poem to a pin-drop-silent audience. My last two lines were:

"At this ISRO SSA STM Workshop, together we say, We are so proud to be here, Bharat Mata Ki Jai."💫🇮🇳

Everyone applauded, and I was overjoyed😄. Anil Kumar Sir shook hands with me and appreciated my poem. My hand shivered for about 20 minutes afterwards😅🥹. He even asked me to send him the poem on WhatsApp, and guess what? We took a photo together too.☺️

After those wonderful moments, over an authentic South Indian dinner, we all attendees discussed future opportunities and internships. We were probably meeting for the last time, so we took some goodbye photos. One girl from Tamil Nadu asked me, "Siya, when will we meet again?" I just smiled and sighed as I was literally speechless 😶.

And so, after three days of knowledge exploration and an amazing experience, I signed off from ISRO🙌. That evening, at 6 p.m., another girl from our workshop and I headed to the airport together, as she also had a flight at 1 a.m. We enjoyed an authentic masala dosa at the airport, and after she checked in at 10 p.m., I waited in the airport’s waiting hall and slept a little since I couldn’t check in before 4 a.m. At 4 a.m., I checked in, caught my flight at 7 a.m., and reached Bhopal in about two hours.💫

 

And the rest, as they say, is history. It was truly an unforgettable and wonderful experience. For the first time, I traveled around 3,000 kilometers all by myself, from takeoff to landing. I returned to my hometown with memories worth a thousand words.✨🙌🌠

Here is the link to my certificate I posted on LinkedIn. 👍