‘She’ll live on in all our hearts forever’

• Kalpana Chawla’s academic achievements — starting from Tagore School in Karnal, to the Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, and then to the University of Colorado to obtain her Ph.D — and her final selection by the NASA is simply brilliant and worthy of much praise. Imagine how motivated and determined she must have been. And her efforts and hard work paid off — she was included in the STS-87 in 1997 and STS-107 in 2003 space missions. In the latter mission, she also played a key role in conducting scientific experiments. Her winning smile, academic excellence and dauntless nature will continue to enthuse generations of students.
— Dr F.S.K. Barar

• Besides her undoubted grit and determination, the congenial atmosphere in the US, the land of opportunities, also contributed to Kalpana’s academic achievements and her soaring career graph. Contrast this with our reservations and quota-driven academic institutions where merit is a secondary criterion for securing admissions. The sub-standards even extend to employment in government establishments.
— P.V. Maiya

• In life and death, Kalpana demonstrated to the international community the glory of India, the talents of our people and the courageous determination to achieve goals. Her great achievements deserve a place in modern history. The Indo-European Kashmir Forum shares the grief of her family in this hour of grief.
— S. Jogi

• The Columbia tragedy cut short the lives of bright young men and women who took science to new frontiers. As an NRI and a graduate of Punjab Engineering College, Kalpana showed what heights a bright young woman can reach. She has done a lot more for India’s image than the combined forces of venom-spitting Hindutva and the rabid fanatics of the Islamic league.
— H. Kalsi

• Kalpana should be given the Neerja Bhanot award. The Centre should also consider a national honour for her, besides instituting an award in her memory.
— Subhash Chandra Agrawal

• This is an irreparable loss to our Indian-American community and India. Kalpana’s spectacular achievements deserve to be commemorated forever by founding an educational trust or foundation to support the post-graduate training of Indian women in aeronautical engineering sciences. Her relatives should quickly set up such an organisation (both in India and the US) to tap the enormous reservoir of admiration that she managed to quietly cultivate in the hearts of millions of Indians everywhere. The goodwill and admiration that she garnered are worthy of being transformed into tangible support for other aspiring Kalpanas in India who may otherwise go undiscovered.
— C. Alex Alexander

• It is an irony of fate that her tragic end came minutes before what would have been the proudest moment for her family and more than a billion Indians, whose very own Kalpana rose from being a small-town girl to be a part of NASA’s prestigious space programme. May she always shine like a star in the heavens above.
— Sachin Jain

• Allow me to express my feelings of sorrow and pain for the loss of your wonderful ‘‘lady in space’’. She, like the other astronauts, including our Ilan Ramon, symbolised the love for democracy, faith and humanity which both India and Israel share. All members of the crew will be remembered in our hearts.
— Hanan Sibirsky

• It is distressing to see no sign of public concern or mourning for the tragic loss. Is it because Kalpana Chawla was an American citizen? So what? There is no doubt that her achievements were India’s too. She never forgot her roots and continued to be attached to her school and village. She was a shining Indian star and contributed greatly to India’s science and space technology. Our misfortune is that we prefer to be pre-occupied with the useless disputes and never-ending statistics of religion and cricket.
— Vijai Pratap