The fascinating tale
of how an ancient Indian folklore changed the way NASA operated.
It's a grandma’s tale about Ram and Shyam that we are all so
familiar with. Ram was an honest, hard-working farmer while his neighbour Shyam
was a good-for-nothing type who would always laze around in his charpoy,
watching Ram toil hard in the fields. Ideally, this story should end with Ram
bringing home the fruits of his labour and Shyam cursing himself for having frittered
his time away. But that's where NASA stepped in - and the duo’s lives were
never the same again.
NASA put out an incredible, too-good-to-be-true offer on
various job portals – one that came with a pay of over $5000 a month to anyone
who could spend 70 days in bed. The idea was to study the effects of
microgravity on supine souls. During this time, the chosen candidates would be
allowed to do as they pleased – watch TV, surf the web, read books, play games
and even entertain visitors. They could have a bath in bed too. So, while Ram
was sweating it out in the fields, Shyam had quietly logged into a job site on
his smartphone and applied for the opening. NASA should have given him a wide
berth, but looking at his credentials, they gave him a wide bed instead and sent
him a terse message – ‘Houston calling Shyam, come in please!’
Ram was shocked. The biggest loser could win only in a
reality show for weight loss. It couldn't happen in real life. What would
happen to all the moral science lessons in textbooks? What kind of values would
children grow up with? Who would extol the virtues of hard work? Ram had done all
the hard work – and now, he couldn’t end up becoming the laughing stock of the
village.
So he approached NASA and pleaded his case with them. After
much deliberation, NASA decided that there was only one way out. The astronauts
needed some fresh food that could be grown in space and consumed. Besides,
space expeditions were getting longer and it was getting increasingly difficult
to carry food for the trip. "What's the best crop to be grown this
season?" they asked him. "Lettuce," he replied. "So be
it," they said in unison and blasted him into outer space so that he could
do some space farming. And that was how Operation Veggie – a vegetable
production system that would facilitate nutritious salad crops for the space
travellers – began. The system would ensure that the plants were under a
constant stream of red and blue light so that they could carry out photosynthesis.
Ram carried everything that he needed for the job - seeds,
sample plants, sacks of fertilisers, water hoses and even a tractor. Unfortunately,
he had a stowaway on deck. A frog that had gone MIA in a sack of fertiliser managed
to extricate itself and tried to jump ship just as the space shuttle was blasting
off. And that was the famous photo of the frog that was seen during the launch
of NASA’s LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) spacecraft at
the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The story ended with the rabbit on the moon becoming a space
raider and searching for lettuce patches in the Milky Way. The frog, after its
maiden space voyage, turned into a celebrity and is currently producing and
starring in cool Crazy Frog music videos. Ram and Shyam gave up farming and are
focusing on their current careers with NASA. However it was not a happy ending
for all. NASA, despite turning vegetarian and trying to grow couch potatoes and
lettuce, got into trouble with PETA for not having taken permission to send a
frog into outer space.
Good Indian folktales always have a moral – this one has
two. For oldies, no matter what, technology always pays. And for youngsters, the
next time your folks curse you for goofing off, please let them know that
you're busy preparing for a career at NASA.
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