Pay Rs 30 for a journey to space

Things didn’t go well for Christ Pal Singh,who left school after Class IX to study the celestial objects. However,his father,Jang Bahadur Singh,understood his love for stars and moon and encouraged him to pursue his love. The love of his life,the telescope,was given to him by his sister. His telescope cost around Rs 5 lakh. And thus began his journey of taking Ludhianaites to a world of space around three months back. “Our’s is an educated family with both me and my wife from medical profession. My sister too is studying science. I was very worried when he refused to go to school after Class IX. Gradually I realised his profound love for space studies and I surrendered. Now I am a proud father,” said Jang Bahadur,organising secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.

What encourages Christ further are the compliments and strange reactions he gets from children who visit him again and again to peep through his telescope. “Moon looks like a ball kept in plate and stars are like balls of fire. Kids react so beautifully like ‘why is the leg of a moon broken?’ or ‘why is the star sleeping’ that I wonder how young minds connect with the outer space,” said Christ who has also makes people see planets like Venus,Saturn,various galaxies and stars. All this for a mere Rs 30.

Christ who was named by his grandfather as he was born on December 25,always found school boring. “Neither teachers were able to understand my questions,nor was I able to understand theirs. So it was better to leave,” says Christ who completed his tenth through correspondence and since then he is only studying books on space.

Expecting a huge rush of women on Karva Chauth to see the moon through his telescope,Christ is now also planning to open Christ Space Foundation of India (CSFI) which will also include a club for kids.

“As many as 3,000 kids are already interested to join my club,” he says. He is also working on his book ‘Pearl in Garbage’ on meta physics. “You have actually not seen the real beauty of the moon till you see it through a telescope,” says Christ who can be seen roaming with his telescope at various points in Sarabha Nagar market after 6 pm.