The Hindu : A bolt from the blue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 02, 2003

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A bolt from the blue

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI FEB. 1. For Sanjay Chawla, elder brother of astronaut Kalpana Chawla who is feared killed in the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia, the news came as a big shock. And unfortunately he had to bear it in loneliness in Delhi as the rest of the family was at Florida in the United States.

According to a family friend and neighbour, Sanjay's wife rang up from Florida informing him of the loss of contact with the shuttle. The news came as a shattering blow to Sanjay and his friends as they were expecting to hear about the successful landing of the shuttle on earth after 16 days in space.

However, with television channels relaying the news minute-to-minute, the impending tragedy became clear. The overwhelming grief made it too difficult for Sanjay to react. His brother-in-law Anil Nagpal told waiting mediapersons outside their home at Asiad Village in South Delhi tonight that Sanjay was not in a position to talk to them. The Prime Minister's Office had also reportedly called to express condolences, but Sanjay was not able to even take the call.

Sanjay, who runs a tyre business based in their native town Karnal in Haryana, is the only member of the family present in the Capital. His parents, who live with him at his Asiad Village house, are now in Florida. Sanjay's three children — Megha, Uday and Cherry — and his two sisters, Deepa and Sunita Chowdhary, had left for Florida on January 13 to witness the launch of Columbia.

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