I still remember the hustle-bustle of my class back in 4^th grade, when everybody was too excited to participate in the “fancy dress” competition that was to be held by our school, KV No.1, AFS Adampur, in two days. The environment was full of enthusiasm and excitement of who is going to be dressed like whom. And that was when, my class teacher, Ms Sharddha Saxena, called me, and asked me to dress up like Kalpana Chawla.

I knew who Gandhiji, Bhagath Singh, Indira Gandhi, Mother Teresa and all were. But, Kalpana Chawla? That rang no bells. With building curiosity of knowing who Kalpana Chawla was, I went to Ms Sharddha, and asked her to tell me a bit about her; but she was too occupied in handling those 40 noisy students of the class, and all that she told me was “She flies an aeroplane. Ask your father; he will be knowing about her.”

Well, she did put an 8 year old in a pickle. By the time I reached home, I could bearly remember her full name. In the evening, when my mom, dad and myself, sat together with a warm cup of tea;  I walked up to my father and asked him to tell me about Kalpana. He told me that she was a NASA astronaut sent to space, and died in a tragic shuttle disaster, and that’s when I got to know who KALPANA CHAWLA was! I was too excited about the competition the next day. KALPANA CHAWLA was who I was going to be dressed like.

On the day of the competition, I saw all my classmates dressed colourfully, representing greatest people of India. And I was there, in an Air Force uniform, with badges stuck on my shoulders and arms, and a helmet in my hand. For obvious reasons, I immediately became the centre of attraction, which made me nervous.

I saw all my fellow participants talking their dialogues on stage; some did it confidently, and some stammered. After a while, it was my turn to go onto the stage. I got cold feet and I messed up my performance. I felt embarrassed and was pretty upset.

There is a saying which goes -- “Failure defeats losers but inspires winners”, and that when I told myself “I don’t want to act like Kalpana Chawla. I want to become Kalpana Chawla!” At that moment I fixed my destiny to become a NASA scientist.

No journey is ever a cake walk. Like a river finds obstacles on its way to the ocean, I too had to face many barriers in life. And it was truly not easy to overcome them, yet I never gave up. My friends, relatives, society started to test my stubbornness. But I was standing strong, because my dad was by my side, encouraging and motivating me at every step towards my dream.

There were times when the odds were not on my side, but I always found my way out because of the constant support from my father. When the world said “Hey! You can’t do it!” my dad said “You’re my daughter. And there is nothing that my daughter can’t do!”

Years passed by. It’s been 12 years since the competition. Things did change in my life. But, this time, I had the control on it. After 12 years of constant struggle and hard work, here I am half way through my dream. Today, I am living my dream before being graduated. Today, I am interning at ISRO. Not once, but twice!

Yes, dreams do come true, but only when you believe that you can turn them into reality. People always say that there is always a woman behind a successful man. But in my case, there is a man behind a successful woman. And that man is none other than, my father!