Thiruvananthapuram: Sunita Williams, second female of Indian origin to have roamed the vastness of space outside the atmosphere of our earth, was once India's pride and glory. The NASA astronaut who was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and who then joined Expedition 15 was revered and honored by every Indian for her remarkable feat of record longest spaceflight for female space tourist.
But not anymore. Slowly, the realization is dawning amongst Indians that Sunita Williams is nothing more than just a glorified space passenger.
The process of discovery started nearly a week ago when Kerela Rajya Sabha MP P V Abdul Wahab during a row with an Air India pilot called the latter a 'glorified driver'. This incensed the pilots to such an extent that they lodged official protest with the chairman of Air India and also threatened to ban Abdul Wahab from all flights flown by the members of Indian Commercial Pilot Association (ICPA)
With accusations and denials from both the sides flowing thick and fast, the matter soon erupted into a national controversy with the media jumping in and taking sides - some sections of the media siding with the pilots and some other sections of media pointing out the social snobbery of the pilots in being outraged by a comparison with drivers. Vir Sanghvi, editor of Hindustan Times wrote a long, impassioned article asking "what does it say about India's pilots that they are so outraged at being compared to drivers, that they want to ban a passenger for daring to make the comparison?" Sanghvi in his article pointed out the pilots stand treating a mere comparison with drivers as a case of serious abuse on par with mother-sister swearing was a reflection of their contempt towards poor, humble underpaid drivers.
With the nation finally veering around the view that pilots are in effect not different from ordinary drivers, the only difference being their huge pay packages, it was quite inevitable that someone would ask the question - if commercial pilots are nothing more than glorified drivers of aircrafts, where does that leave astronauts? With this question being raised, stage was set for a new round of discussions and debates on news channels about the status of space traveling astronauts.
In a television discussion, Mumbai Taxi Driver Union Chief A I Quadros, pointed out that in United States and many English speaking countries, by definition every space traveler is called an astronaut and raised the question - 'are space traveling astronauts nothing more than glorified passengers of spacecrafts?' When some participants of the discussion protested against the comparison pointing out the special training and hardships that astronauts need to undergo to become eligible for participating in space flights, many mumbai train commuters pointed out that traveling my mumbai locals is far more risky and dangerous than space traveling.
After many a discussions and debates, it is becoming increasingly clear that drivers, passengers and commuters are winning this debate. The nation is finally realizing that Sunita Williams, for all her achievements in space tourism and exploration, is nothing more than just a glorified space tourist, a mere passenger of spacecrafts, not really different from passengers of airplanes, railways or buses.
