Click to play videoA new wave of technological achievement is sweeping the nation. From the mission to the moon, to the world's cheapest car, science is changing India.
Behind innovations like the country's largest radio telescope, indigenous aircraft and missiles, and path-breaking digital technology are men and women who define state-of-the-art, who could determine what your future looks like.
Pressure is what Pranav Mistry thrives on. He's one of the most sought after inventors in the world today. But for Pranav Mistry, it's all no sweat. He's always had his eyes on the ball. Mistry learnt computer science at Gujarat University, and design at IIT Mumbai, before moving to MIT, where he's doing his PhD today while creating sci-fi gizmos.
"The sixth sense device is a cross between a camera, a mirror assembly and a projector," says Mistry about his latest innovation, the Sixth Sense Device.
With three components, Pranav's machine lets you use gestures to access the Internet. You can refer to weather reports, city maps; even check your email, without the need for a physical PC.
"Imagine you are outside and want to click a photo but don't want to pull you camera out. You just frame your fingers like this and you can click a photo," he explains.
Now if you've ever been in a fight for the remote, and who among us hasn't, then this is for you. Pranav is watching the same screen with another person. While the other person is watching a Bollywood movie, Pranav is watching news.
Thanks to special glasses both can watch two different things, at the same time. He is also working on a version without the cords.
There's a lot more in Pranav's magic box. Like quickies or common sticky reminders, except whatever you write is immediately copied on to your PC. Or a touch sensitive computer, that guesses what you want, from anything you put on top of it. But if you thought all those innovations make Pranav a geek, you couldn't be further than the truth.
"It's more about solving people's problems then inventing a new technology and finding a use for it. I'm Indian, proud to be Indian. I look for technologies that can reach the masses. If something's economical for a normal person on the street, then it becomes meaningful," he says.
Mistry's story starts 28 years back, in Gujarat. Born into an average middle class family, Pranav had an above average thirst, to be the best. He was a topper all through school.
"He always wanted to come first. He cried, when he came second," says Pranav's mother Nayana Mistry.
But what changed Pranav's life, was a video game. Pranav wanted one, his father, Kirti Mistry, couldn't afford it. Instead Mistry senior built his son a game with used electronic parts.
"I learnt then that if you really want something - the best thing to do is just make one for yourself. There's no need to wait for someone to buy it for you," he says.
Techies from around the globe were floored by Pranav's demonstration in New York recently. Popular Science magazine's declared him the Inventor of the Year.
But what does his family think about his achievements?
"When he was a kid, people used to say - that's Kirti Mistry's son. Today people say that's Pranav Mistry's father. That makes me proud," says Kirti Mistry.
His friends call him Zombie. But really, he's just another normal kid - changing the world, one day at a time.
Story 2
From a galaxy far, far away, the stars speak. And India listens. Say hello to one of the world's largest radio telescopes. Just like your favourite radio station, our universe emits radio signals.
Waves from the big bang that made our world, are still reaching us today. Pulsars, throbbing, burnt out stars, also throw out waves.
Yashwant Gupta's team in Pune receives those signals and in them, they read both our future and our past.
"Radio waves from celestial bodies have no sound like on the radio or the phone. Those are modulated with sound. These are natural. When we receive them we learn about these objects. Day and night. Unlike optical telescopes. These are 24 x 7," says Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) Chief Scientist Dr Yashwant Gupta.
Work on the Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope started way back in 1985. At that time, Gupta was still in college. After passing out of IIT Kanpur, he moved to California for his PhD. He came back to GMRT in 1990, when it was a hotbed of technological research.
"The reflecting surface is not solid but thin fine mesh. That saves on money. The wind's force against these dishes is drastically reduced," says Gupta.
There are 30 of these giants in the complex. Each, half as wide as a football field. Like your home dish TV antenna, they focus weak radio signals onto a central receiver. Gupta worked on the electronics in these listening posts, making them sensitive enough to discover two, whole new stars.
"Pulsars are the exotic labs of physics. You can explore the laws of physics like you do in no library. In that sense, discovering Pulsars allow you to probe special areas of Physics," he says.
For his achievements, Yashwant won India's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards. Back home, the scientist gives way to the doting father and husband.
"He is away three to four days in a week. When he comes back he makes up for the time," says his wife Richa Gupta.
Making home videos is a family hobby. And Kritika and Vishaka are Dr Gupta's favourite stars. Their growing years are just a blip in the timeline of the cosmos. But their smiling faces are what recharge Yashwant Gupta for his next big discovery.
GMRT is today world famous, yet Dr Gupta and his team haven't eased up on work. They are now working on a more advanced telescope, which could take three years longer to complete.
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Segment Two
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How many Indians have a plane that flies their name?
Tejas, the world's smallest and lightest fighter jet, carries the initials of the man who designed it - long before India had designed a car or even a scooter.
Kota Harinarayan is a man who laughs at everything - at success, at failure, at himself. At the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), in Bangalore, former Director Harinarayan is God. When he started work on Tejas, or the Light Combat Aircraft - he had nothing, except a dream.
"My interest in aviation actually came first in 1965. There was a war and first time India used aircraft. I had had just graduated in Orissa in mechanical engineering. I was fascinated, so applied for aeronautical course in IISc," says Harinarayana.
What Kota wanted was a fighter made for India, not an easy import from abroad. No one outside his team believed an Indian-made plane could fly - not the media, the government, foreign jet makers, not even some of his partners.
"Yes we have to put more effort but I had zero doubt in my mind that we can do it. Everyone else was thinking it cannot be done," Harinarayana says.
On January 4, 2001 the then defence minister George Fernandes arrived for a test flight. His advisers warned him, the LCA wouldn't fly. They were wrong. For 18 glorious minutes, Kota's dream machine screamed through the skies.
India's fighter jet had finally arrived. Today, companies like Boeing buy LCA's software. It turns on a dime, re-fuels mid-air, attacks across continents. An un-limited oxygen supply lets the pilot fly for days without landing.
"Only couple of countries have this now, which will enhance endurance of pilot. On one hand you are increasing endurance of aircraft, simultaneously you need to take care of endurance of the pilot with life support including oxygen," says Chief Controller (R&D), DRDO, Dr W Selvamurthy.
"As far as fighter technologies today, we're comparable with Europe and most countries. Nobody now talks of selling technology to us. Join in. We're way ahead of the rest of the world," says Harinarayana.
The LCA is a story of how researchers, factories, even scrap dealers came together to make magic.
"We had to make very high temperature/high strength material to bend in a particular way for air conditioning system in aircraft. Our engine factory, everywhere we tried, nobody could do that. One SSI fellow saw the drawing and said, he'll do it. When he came, gave us the part, it was of impeccable quality," he says.
Stories like this became legend and the man who started them all won a Padma Shri in 2002. But Kota is already dreaming bigger. His next project is a 90-seater civilian jet that can land and take off from the worst airfields.
Story 2
The Agni is one of the most accurate nuclear missiles in the world. Now meet the woman who made it. She may be homemaker to her family, but is known as Agni Putri to the world.
"I joined DRDO almost 20 years ago, now I am the program director." says Tessy Thomas, Project Director, Agni.
It all started way back in Alleppey, Kerala. After a B Tech from Thrissur Engineering College, her fascination for radar and missile systems took over and she joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)..
"I got the call quickly, they said I had to go. I wanted to rest for a month, but I couldn't get the break. I still haven't got it," he says.
Within a few years, she helped develop an advanced guidance system. Tessy says it's the first of its kind.
But it doesn't stop there. She helped develop another groundbreaking technology known as RVS or "re-entry vehicle system". This lets the missile re-enter the atmosphere at a thundering velocity and a temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius still keeping the control systems intact.
"No body gives you the know how of such things, we developed it on our own. It's your own effort," she says.
The real test for Tessy and her team was in July 2006 when 75 seconds into the flight the missile suddenly went out of control. But she took it as a challenge and decided to prove a point.
"I think it was a great learning experience for all of us. We had to put it out, proved that nothing was wrong with the missile," she says.
And 10 months later, they did. The team re-launched the missile and it flew for 16 minutes. But the success came at a price. To be at the launch, Tessie left behind her sick son who had to take his board exams.
But he's aptly named after the country's light combat fighter jet, Tejas and lived up to his name.
"I have no complaints. She had to do her duty to the nation and in fact she even managed to be there for me whenever I required her," Tejas.
Today, she leads a team of 400 scientists, the majority of whom are male but it doesn't faze her.
"For scientists, there is no gender discrimination. Subject is subject, science is science. That's how we learn and move forward," she says.
Story 3
Bringing color to people's lives, is what Professor Anil Gupta does best. For the past 20 odd years, he's been the face of a silent revolution. A cycle that floats on water, a cell phone to switch on the farm pump and a bike that's as tough as a tractor are all gizmos made by illiterate Indian villagers. Their luck turned when Professor Gupta found them.
After completing an MSc in Plant Genetics from Haryana Agricultural University, Gupta worked with farmers from all over India for the next 10 years. It was when he went on a field trip to Bangladesh that he realised that there was a lot more that he could do with farmers back home in India.
"When I started making money, I became guilty. Was I getting money because I was talented, or the people I wrote about were talented?" says Gupta.
One man's dream grew into a 1 lakh strong database of rural innovators, the Honey Bee Network.
"Like honey bee connects people to people by cross pollinating, we should do that. Share should go to people and identity recognised," he says.
Shodh Yatras, week long treks across hundreds of kilometers, were one way of finding them.
"Every society has some people who think differently. We call them odd balls. We take them for granted but these are the people who end up being creative," he says.
Discovering these geniuses is only the first step. The Honey Bee Network also protects their knowledge, filing more than 20,000 patents on their behalf. It connects them to trained engineers who help improve their products. And to businesses that invest money and help these people market their goods.
"We got query from world's third largest cooling company about clay refrigerator," he says.
Away from home almost 20 days in a month, Professor Gupta savors the little time he gets with wife Sadhna and the heart of their happiness lies in the pure glow of transforming lakhs of lives, one day at a time.
When the history of 21st century India is written, theirs are names that could well be mentioned. Innovators, trailblazers, they are all India's Superstars of Science.
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