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  BREAKING NEWS:   PRAGYAN     AND CHANGE-4 ROVERS     TO NEGOTIATE PEACE BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA. A quick survey among the citizens elicited this comment “anyway they will do a better job” A background – this is based on facts: The Chinese too have a rover on the moon, the latest one.   Chang'e-4 landed in the Von crater in the South  side  or far/ dark side ( same side as Vikram) on 3 January 2019.  It is still active as it powers down during the two-week lunar night when temperatures plummet to below minus 170° and recharges when the Sun returns after about 14 days. Vikram lander /Pragyan rover does not have the ability to withstand such extreme cold and hence its instruments get destroyed during lunar nights) The distance between the two rovers would be roughly 1,948 km. Now the development that is expected to have taken place, a highly classified top-secret matter. And true to form leaked to the media! Chang’e -4 ...

    FLIGHT DOWN MEMORY LANE I recently came across a photo of an Air India flight back in 1958. In it relatives and friends  were  seen on the tarmac ,to see off those travelling. Back then only the very very privileged could take a flight literally, rest took a flight of imagination. Even till the early seventies, the situation was not much different, though air travelers increased in numbers. I was lucky enough  to travel by an Indian Airline flight from Chennai to Bombay(where I lived) back in the early seventies, as a teenager., courtesy  of my uncle and as an ADC to my granny. The experience was awesome and one  could notice the feeling of being exclusive, among the fellow travelers. The airline food, then, if I recall, was good! Lots of magazines to read. Well-mannered and sophisticated cabin crew. Later, from the early eighties, I happened to travel by air often, sometimes as many as six times a month , and that continued , till now, thou...