A lazy tribute

Something about the seven fallen astronauts from Columbia touches everyone. Perhaps it is because those brave men and women were the last unspoiled heroes — untouched by scandal, innocent of the taint that tarnishes so many in politics, in business and even sport. But, even as they mourn the spectacular loss, an undaunted chorus can already be heard rising in the US — that the tragedy must not be allowed to weigh down the exploration of new frontiers, that despite what happened on Saturday, work and adventure must go on. Amid posthumous television images of the smiling, bright-eyed crew of Columbia, politicians are already echoing the ambitious challenge of George H.W. Bush in 1989 to put a man on Mars. Cut to Haryana, India, home state of Kalpana Chawla, where the state government declared a holiday on Monday.

The Chautala government’s gesture is as unsurprising as it is jarring. The state has a longer-than-most list of public holidays and the latest announcement underlines that it is only wise to hold the counting — that list is still growing. In addition to the regular holidays, in Haryana you officially get the day off on — to name just a few — February 6 on account of Sir Chottu Ram Jayanti, September 23 for being Haryana Heroes Martyrdom Day, November 1 for being Haryana Day. It was to be expected perhaps that Chawla’s death would become the occasion to strike another day off the work calendar, yet it is impossible not to wonder: did no one in the Haryana officialdom see the sheer lack of fit? Between the grit and determination Chawla embodied, her courageous struggle to defy gravity and touch the stars, and its commemoration by a laying down of tools?

There is so much Chawla stood for and all of it urges those who watched her to aim higher, to work harder and longer. The girl who was born in the sixties when being born a girl rarely heralded a celebration, in a state in which — according to the 2001 census — there are only 820 girls for every 1,000 boys among children under 6. The third girl in the family, who was unwilling to be constrained by the conventional paths open to women. Who chased her dream to the US and into space and triumphed, despite it all. That girl, surely, did not deserve this lazy tribute.