Apurwa Masook: Igniting the dreams rocket high

The name Apurwa indicates one who is different from everyone else. He was born and brought up at Bhubaneswar. He doesn’t have any surname. Infact Masook stands for the combination of two names of his parents i.e Malati Gupta and Subhash Chandra Kanchan. The motive of his father was to end the caste system of the society. Because in India people are identified by the title of the family to which they are born. For example in Odisha the titles or the suffix like Mishra, Satpathy, Panigrahi, Panda, Ratha, Das are the Bramihins and placed on the higher rungs of the society. On the other hand the titles like Mahanand, Suna, Nag are categorised as Schedule Caste and untouchable.

By origin he is a Bihari. His father is from Nalanda and mother is from Nawada. While in search of livelihood his father migrated to Bhubaneswar.  He undertook the vocation of civil contractor. Apurwa attended high school at DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur. As his father was into construction business he had to spend days away from home to execute the work contracts that he was undertaking. Apurwa was a self-taught kid. From 1st Standard he was studious. He ranked as a topper across many classes in his junior career. His sister who is elder to him by three years was studious as well. She was the one who was guiding him through his studies. After 12th his sister qualified in the medical entrance exams and left for hostel at Hi-tech Medical College. Apurwa then had no option but joined private coaching from 9th onwards. It is the general tendency of every Indian family if one sibling becomes a doctor; they want the other to be an engineer. Likewise it so happened at the home of Apurwa. Since Apurwa was a scholarly kid they believed their son will be an engineer. And to their believe Apurwa passed 10th CBSE with 10.0 CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average). To acknowledge his achievements as a reward his dad gifted him an Asus laptop. Instead of typing alphabets in the Word programme, that kid became addicted to playing games like Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty and Battlefield. His father enrolled him at FITJEE, Bhubaneswar for 2 years coaching to prepare for IIT entrance exams. But that young man focused on his 12th CBSE and passed it with 90% marks. It was in the year 2015 that vivid and studious boy qualified OJEE and took admission at VSSUT (Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology), Burla. 

It was a matter of great joy on the part of his parents as their daughter will be a doctor, but son would be an engineer. This could be a good example of successful parenting. Apurwa sorted out all his wardrobes that were stacked in the Almira and packed them in a suitcase. There were tear drops in the eyes of his mother, but she knew unless her son steps out of home how he will be an engineer. With a heavy heart she bid him adieu. Apurwa headed for Burla which is located 300 kms away in the western parts of Odisha. She was apprehensive because they hail from eastern parts of Odisha and his son is not acquainted with the food, language, people and the culture of their counterpart. 

With one suitcase, airbag and a cardboard box of books in August 2015 Apurwa got down at the railway station of Sambalpur. He was puzzled with the language with which these people speak. The accent of Sambalpuri language is very rough as compared to the Katkia language. He thought these people are very rude and harsh. On taking admission he was told there were no rooms available in the hostel. He was asked to take shelter at a C-Type government quarter at Police Phandi Chak, Burla. He was dumped over there along with 19 other students. 

Apurwa is someone who till then was nurtured by his parents with a silver spoon. But in that shed he faced a plethora of problems. He recalls his shelter was hosting lot many frogs, rodents, lizards and mosquitos. He was scared to go to the bathroom because once he spotted a snake in that poor ventilated bathroom. Apurwa was the lone Katkia in this alien land and the rest of the students were from Padampur block of Bargarh district. Every day pigs were swirling in the courtyard of their shelter. And on every other night one cow was taking shelter on the porch of their shelter. Either there was a water purifier so as to drink safe water. Anyhow it was a blessing in disguise for that young man as he escaped from the plight of austere ragging that any fresher encounters in a college hostel.

Only after two semesters i.e. July 2016 he was allotted a seat in the senior North Hostel. But on joining the hostel a new ordeal started. They were treated as fresher. Apurwa and his batch mates were instructed to wear the formal uniform for 24 hours. Apurwa has to wear the uniform not only while going to attend the classes in the college, but even while sleeping, going to toilet or bathroom in the hostel premises. Apurwa when comes in forefront of any of his senior has to lean his head and body downward from waist at 90 degree angle. The other guideline was he need to keep his head down in a leaning position all the time and his eyes should look at the third bottom of the shirt. Until the Welcome Meet that was conducted during August 2016 Apurwa faced all the predicaments. The motive of narrating all these nuances of a hostel life is to tell from where and how the technocrats and rocket scientists of India are being produced. 

 [Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya]

In the first year of his graduation of engineering Apurwa got acquainted with a senior student of his college. It was Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya. Apurwa was immensely motivated by looking at all the activities which Bodhisattwa was carrying. He was the Founding Secretary of the Idea Club of their college. It is the Innovation Cell of VSSUT, Burla. Those students wanted to pay gratitude to their mother establishment i.e. Hirakud Dam which has setup their college 60 years (Diamond Jubilee) back. University College of Engineering (UCE), Burla was setup to source engineers to operate the dam. In the year 1956 it was the first ever engineering college that was set up in Odisha. On the other hand it is the 13^th oldest engineering college in entire India. Over six decades this college has produced tens of thousands of engineers who are now working in both public sector and private sector nationwide to build a stronger and vibrant India. That apart thousands of engineers are also working abroad and repatriating there earnings to India.

Bodhisattwa along with his team of engineering students wanted to innovate a device that will be useful to the common people on a large scale. They got to know since the construction of Hirakud dam reservoir to whose vicinity their college was setup with the flow of running water of Mahanadi River there is a grave siltation and sedimentation on the surface of the reservoir. As a result the capacity of the dam to store the water has depleted  by almost 50 percent. It’s an alarming situation as the water captivity is reducing. They thought to map the topography of the area that has submerged underwater, but the question was from where they will get an underwater rover, and would it be feasible considering the vastness of the reservoir. The second option was to use a drone. But a drone has its own limitation. The drone has got limited battery life and it won’t be able to scroll such huge geographical area. It was not possible to track the water reservoir spread over an area of 83,400 square kilometers. 

Bodhisattwa and his team of innovators thought of mapping it from the sky. All they need is a satellite. But the question was how they will get a satellite, and even if they build one how would they launch it? Despite being students of a government engineering college which nowhere listed in the 50 top colleges of India they dared to chase their dreams. They thought of developing a rocket launcher on their own. But making a rocket is not a kid’s job. At VSSUT there is no aerospace branch so as to gather the knowledge. Nor they had any mentors to guide them. Google Baba was their sole guide. But these young brats had the courage and the vision to do a mere impossible job. Bodhisattwa along with his pool of young innovators started creating small scale rocket launchers of 1 feet and two feet height. They loaded it with potassium nitrate a solid rocket fuel. Here it is worth appraising as the entire project was self-funded. The students raised the money from their pocket expenses. They built the rocket in their rooms and hostel backyard, and not in any advance lab. More to it they had no mentors. Their college authority was ignorant about all these activities which their students had undertaken clandestinely.

They named the rocket as VSLV (VSSUT Satellite Launching Vehicle). These students followed the trend which ISRO(Indian Space Research Organisation) has followed by launching the series of rockets like PSLV (Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle) or GSLV (Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). Over the months despite repeated failures, without giving up they kept on testing over 50 times. It is to be noted these boys kept working secretly on their mission without informing their college professors. The teachers never questioned any students because all the students were attending their classes regularly and appearing for their semester exams. 

Finally after almost a year i.e. on 22nd August 2017 Bodhisattwa and his team of young inventors successfully test fired a rocket for the first time which went to the altitude of almost 1,000 meters i.e. 1km. However during end December 2016 the secret mission of the students leaked in the media. It was The Samaja the oldest Oriya newspaper which first published about VSLV. Over next one week the rest all the major newspapers of Odisha published this news. 

Following it many journos visited the

University to interview their Vice Chancellor. But their Prof. Sai Baba Reddy was the last person to know about it. He called Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya the Secretary of Idea Club to take stock of the achievements. He questioned why the students did not intimate the college authority. The young aerospace scientists defended themselves by saying initially during the conception of the project none other than their faculty itself has made a laugh at them and that is the reason they thought to carry the mission themselves until being successful. Their Vice Chancellor applauded and said to pursue with their mission. He told the students to ask for any kind of help and their college would provide if it’s within their means. 

During January 2017 the University delegated Apurwa and his team of other four students to participate at Maker’s Mela, Mumbai. In that exhibition Ashesh Padhy the Vice President of VSSUT Alumni Association visited the stall of VSSUT. He interacted with the young scientists of VSSUT. He is now working as Vice President JSW Energy and was previously Sr Vice President with Reliance Power Ltd. which is a Group company of Anil Dhirubai Ambani. On interacting with these students he got to know about the major bottleneck i.e. paucity of funds. Since their college is a state government undertaking they don’t have the funds to finance such projects. He took the sole responsibility to raise the funds for this pet project of the University from where he himself has graduated in the year 1992. With his sincere efforts he raised a wholesome 1,00,000 INR from ten individuals. It was a big relief to these students who are on the making of a rocket. The students were now able to just focus on their research and development activities.  

In their University they got access to no advance laboratory. Since they got no lathe machine they made the body of the rocket at a local garage by paying money from their own pocket. They brought the cylindrical body of the rocket from the garage and   made the rocket in their hostel room itself. As Apurwa is a student of civil engineering he undertook the assignment of remote sensing and structural designing. The payload was installed in the avionics chamber that was launched through the vehicle or rocket. On 22nd August 2017 they made the first ever successful test fire of the rocket. 

On 17th and 18th March 2017 VSSUT celebrated the Global Alumni Meet to mark the Diamond Jubilee of their University. Sh. Naveen Patnaik the Chief Minister of Odisha attended it as the Chief Guest. In March 2017 itself Idea club had participated in Odisha Youth Innovation Festival and they won an Award of 50,000 INR. 

During the summer holidays of 2017 Mr. Ashesh Padhy the Sr. Vice President of Reliance Power Ltd invited ten students of Team VSLV to do the Summer Training at his thermal power plant at Nagpur. It was a big boost to the morale of these students. Though the training had nothing to do with rocket science yet it added to the exposure of the students. Later they were introduced to Dr. Binay Das (1987 passout from UCE), Director ITR DRDO Chandipur, Dr. Radhakant Padhi (1994 passout) Aerospace Prof at IISc Bangalore and Dr. Bijan Das (1969 passout) Former Deputy Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Kerala. Three of them ignited the aspirations of these students. They made these students believe, if they sets their mission vertically high then yes it’s possible to launch even a rocket from the backyard of their college. They induced  the students that they are not restricted to the geographical limit of either Burla or Sambalpur region, but they are part and parcel of the collective wisdom.

On 22nd August 2017 they launched VSLV 1.0. For the first time they used a parachute so as to land the rocket back on earth with no impact of damage, so as it can be reused. The Team VSSUT went to participate at the National Rocket Competition at New Delhi. It was organised by BRICS. It is the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Our students beat the students of NIT, Goa and Silchar, SRM Chennai. Team VSSUT bagged the first position in that national event. On returning to his home state on 7th October 2017 Odisha Chief Minister felicitated the team of VSSUT in the Odisha Secretariat. It was a great honour for their Vice Chancellor Prof. Sai Baba Reddy as he led his team of young space scientists to sky high.

In October 2017 Apurwa along with Bodhisattwa went to attend World Youth Festival at Sochi, Russia. In that international event as many as 25,000 students participated from across 180 countries of the world. There were as many as 150 students from India. But in the discipline of science and technology there were only two participants. And they were none other than Bodhisattwa and Apurwa of VSSUT, Burla. They exhibited the prototype of their rocket VSLV and were awarded as “Molodo Zvezda” (Youth Star) by Ministry of Trade & Industry, Russian Federation.

The Team went on to launch VSLV 2.0 on 1^st January 2018 and VSLV 3.0 on 30^th March 2018. Limca Book of Records which in fact is the Indian version of Guinness Book of Records registered the name of their college in for successful launch of a rocket. By this time, new VC Atal Chaudhry had taken charge. He suggested to undertake research internship at ISRO. With the help of his Jadavpur alumnus Dr. Tapan Misra (Director SAC ISRO Ahmedabad) who is a native of Rayagada Odisha, he helped secure the prestigious internship for 11 students of the team. Apurwa and his team travelled to Ahmedabad for 8 week long research internship at Space Applications Centre, ISRO.

On 26th January 2019 students of our VSSUT, Burla had the glorious opportunity to showcase their project in the Republic Day Parade at Bhubaneswar. It was a great feat for their University. But even bigger surprise came the very next day on 27th January 2019 when the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi talked about the achievements of VSSUT students in his most sought after radio talk show titled “Maan ki baat”. It all happened due to the active role of Pramod Kumar Mishra who then was occupying the post of Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India. But now he has been elevated to the position of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. You would wonder to know Pramod Mishra was a student of our Sambalpur University itself. In the year 1970 he passed BA with a first class distinction in Economics from G.M. College, Sambalpur. With the support of then District Collector of Sambalpur Mr. Samarth Verma, the students were able to meet Dr. Pramod Mishra who commended their efforts.

During February 2019 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bangalore invited the students of VSSUT. Ten students of VSSUT went to attend the technical presentation. The student delegation of VSSUT meet Dr. Kiran Kumar the Ex-Chairman of ISRO as their current Chairman K Sivan was out of Office. ISRO wanted to open an exclusive Innovation Centre in the campus of VSSUT, Burla. In the last week of April 2019 around 12 top scientists of ISRO came to VSSUT and conducted a two days’ workshop for the young and enthusiastic Team VSLV of VSSUT, Burla. 

In January 2019 Apurwa travelled to Brisbane, Australia to attend 12 day bootcamp of Innovation and entrepreneurship programme that was organised by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His trip was partially sponsored by Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Mahanadi Coal Fields (MCL). Apurwa was the youngest bootcamper in that cohort and received the New Ventures Leadership Certification from MIT. Further in August 2019, Apurwa travelled to Egypt along with another student Rounak to represent his team at the MIT FAB LAB Annual Conference. It was sponsored by Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL). 

During September 2019 at the Convocation Ceremony of IIT, Bhubaneswar the Team VSLV met Dr. K Sivan the Chairman of ISRO. On 30th November 2019 the Convocation Ceremony of VSSUT held which was Chaired by their Chancellor or the Governor of Odisha Prof. Ganeshi Lal. On that very day the Governor inaugurated the new building of Innovation Centre which is built by the Government of Odisha. It is a three floor tower out of which one floor has been allocated exclusively to ISRO. VSSUT wanted to felicitate Dr. Sivan with Honorary Doctorate of Science Degree. But as he was unable to come Prof. Atal Choudhury the Vice Chancellor and Prof. Debadatta Mishra, went to ISRO, Bangalore to present the same to Chairman K Sivan. In third week of January 2020, Team VSLV was invited by Prime Minister’s Office, New Delhi. But they could not meet Narendra Modi as he was preoccupied with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro as he visited India as the Chief Guest for Republic Day celebrations. But on behalf of Prime Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel meet the Team VSLV. And the other person they met was Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh. The achievements of student team were highly lauded and ISRO has committed to incubate the project.

Apurwa remembers his childhood days. The morning following every Diwali he was expediting on the street to collect the unfired and defused fire crackers. He was taking out the gun powder from all those defunct fireworks and was making the rockets to play with his friends for next couple of evenings. This is how the play things can ignite the real rockets.

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