Space Photos Uniting the World

Agra, India, and Brasília, Brazil, are 15,000 km apart. Agra hosts the Taj Mahal—a gorgeous blending of Indian, Persian, and Islamic architecture built in the 1600s with white marble. Brasília is home to the Cathedral of Brasília—a hyper-modern concrete and glass structure finished in 1970. These two structures are on opposite sides of the world, from different time periods, and for different ideologies, yet I had the privilege of seeing both from space through the inaugural photo exhibit by BRICS Universe at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India in September of 2024.

Before seeing these images, I had the honor of hearing opening addresses from:

1. Maxim Anatolyevich Aleshin, the Deputy Consul General of the Russian Federation in Mumbai;

2. Khushru N. Santuku, the NCPA Chairman;

3. Arvind Paranjpye, Director of the Mumbai Planetarium; and

4. The BRICS Universe Team.

Then, Cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkovy showed a presentation and shared his experiences in Space. It was during this time that I learned about the process of taking photos from Space and was emotionally moved by the impact of seeing these monumental and distinct buildings from hundreds of kilometres above Earth's sea level in space.

I learned much more from the event than just about uniting individuals. For instance, the audience was asked questions like "Who was the first man to go to Space?", "Who was the first Indian astronaut?", and "What is the average distance between the Earth and the Moon?" during an interactive audience quiz that awarded the fastest respondent with a pack of space food! While I didn't win, I got to see the pack of Texas Burger Space food. From the box and see-through plastic cover, it appeared that it was a tube like a toothpaste tube, but had smashed food ingredients inside it, and it was dehydrated. We learned from Cosmonaut Sergey that this is what astronauts have while in Space. They eat through the tube, as fresh food such as tomatoes is only available once in every 6 months or so, depending on space missions. 

Overall, there was excellent management and hosting by the BRICS Universe team. They arranged Russian chocolates for attendees. Great presentation and hosting by Diana Kovela, Head of the Project Office for International Youth Cooperation "Russia-BRICS," Deputy Director and Head of the Directorate of International Cooperation of the Foundation for Creative Industries of the Ulyanovsk Region.

There were many attendees, including space enthusiasts, professionals, the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) team, and journalists.  I met editors from the Marathi newspaper named 'Maharashtra Times.' I also met Dr. Jayakumar Venkatesan, CEO & Managing Director of Harpy Aerospace. Rumit Walia and Bhupender Yadav of The Tears of the Earth (ToE) gave a present to Cosmonaut Sergey that included a magazine that showed the Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma. I met them and learned about their work, which involves spreading awareness about environmental issues and also cooperation between Russia and India on climate action and space exploration. I would like to give special thanks to a friend and LIFE-To & Beyond Foundation® colleague, Subhrajit Barua (Space Generation Leader 2024 Award Winner), for sharing this opportunity with me, with the exact time and date of the inauguration. Thanks to Barua and the LIFE-To & Beyond Foundation® community and platform. All in all, I highly recommend attending BRICS Universe exhibitions and other events! So much to learn about space and you also get opportunities to meet space people!