Safe Space

 All of us always search for a safe space, right? Whatever might be the orbit, private or public, our search for the "safe space" is always alive. Why, even our mythology celebrates the safe space. Remember the Dhruva story? The wicked and cunning stepmom insulted him consciously by making him get up from his 'safe space', his father's lap. In the ensuing search for a safe space whence he cannot be unseated, he became the Lode Star! That is the power of the safe space and its search.

Now picture Sunita Williams, the woman astronaut with many first's to her credit such as the number of space walks, the duration of the space stay, and so on, and so on. Is she or is she not in a safe space up there? Is she safely returning  from the  space? Well, that is the question!

Hardly does she seem to have any space in the Indian media currently obsessing over politics, cricket, and Raha Kapoor's recent most pout. Actually, the real heroine, Sunita Williams, indeed deserves the space safety,  even when her plight is  not much noticed here in India.

There is a huge helium leak in the space  vehicle which was to get her safely back .  It seems the leak was there in the vehicle in its journey 'to' the space station, too. Now the return journey is getting postponed repeatedly.  Hope she and her colleague manage to return safely. Can the tall (in every sense) claims of Elon Musk's SpaceX help  out? Hope so! Sure in our history of women explorers, we do not have any space for yet another Kalpana Chawla! Fingers firmly crossed!

Pratima@ Sunita Williams' plight could be a cautionary tale, a wake-up call for all the grandiose plans of colonising the space! In a way, it is the Icarus theme yet again!