| Third time’s a charm: When Chandrayaan-3 soft-landed on our collective nostalgia We’re a nation that has known huddling around TV and radio sets to witness epic national landmarks being created, be it the first-ever cricket world cup that we won 40 years ago or IAF pilot Rakesh Sharma becoming the first Indian in space. The gathering swelling organically, the little nervous comments, goosebumps rising on everybody, the tense buildup towards a make-or-break climax… nothing makes me well up the way an entire nation anticipating a collective national win does. And so, despite trying my best to let on little, as I stood waiting for the Vikram Lander to park itself on the south side of the moon — my heart full and throat choked — my team caught me wrestling with a potent case of nostalgia and emotion laced with patriotic pride. Over nine million people tuned it to the the screens to witness the successful lunar landing of India's ambitious moon mission Chandrayaan-3, which was higher than the World Cup fixture between Brazil and South Korea!  We’re world leaders now and landing a spacecraft on the “dark side of the moon” is no mean feat. But do you know what I think is just as special? That when Vikram soft-landed on the lunar surface and the Pragyan rover rolled out like a futuristic yet slightly wobbly remote-controlled car, you could practically hear the collective cheers of the nation. I’m sure that Pragyan gallantly hoisting the Indian tricolour on the Moon tugged at people’s heartstrings all over the country, like it did in my case. It's like the flag itself wanted a change of scenery. After all, even flags must desire a vacation. It was as if I, just like so many others waiting in offices or other public spaces watching the broadcast, could peek into the hearts of everybody trying to contain their excitement. You know how quantum mechanics says we’re all connected? Baat sahi hai, boss. In a world where tweets travel faster than the speed of light (well, almost), the notion of waiting for news with bated breath seems as quaint as using paper maps. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in its relentless quest to take the Indian space programme to new heights (pun wholeheartedly intended), have proved that rocket science can be just as nail-biting as reality TV, bringing back the joy of watching monumental moments unfold on a cathode-ray tube. Chandrayaan-3’s mission, with its focus on a lunar lander and rover, had us all curious and hopeful, like kids awaiting their turn on the playground swing. It’s the age of streaming and nail-biting multi-season shows and series, but what better than a three-part story of triumphing in the face of all odds? After its predecessors unfortunately failing to make landings on the lunar surface, the third time was indeed the charm. It invited us to pause in a world of on-demand-everything and embrace the beauty of experiencing a historic moment collectively (stop and smell the roses, yar). My team, gathered in front of the LCD screen in the newsroom, not as journalists preoccupied with information-gathering but citizens cheering and rooting and overcome with raw emotion for this collective triumph, certainly reflected that. It was a 'ward off the evil eye' moment. | 
