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A Dream That Ended Too Soon -Tribute to Kalpana Chawla - Melvin Durai Melvin Durai is an Indiana-based writer and humorist. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, he grew up in Zambia and moved to the U.S. in the early 1980s. In 1995, while working as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Chambersburg, Pa., he began writing a regular humor column. His weekly column now appears in several newspapers and on a number of Web sites. He also writes a twice-monthly column on Indian and Indian-American issues. He is a diehard fan of the National Football League and also likes to run, lift weights and play soccer, tennis and pool. An award-winning feature writer and aspiring novelist, he plans to publish a collection of his best columns. You can write to him at comments@melvindurai.com To read his older columns, go to http://www.melvindurai.com

When news of the Columbia tragedy shot across the globe, faster than any space shuttle, Indians everywhere let out a collective gasp: "Oh no. Kalpana was aboard."

Kalpana Chawla didn't just represent us -- she represented the best in us. She was dazzling proof of how far an Indian woman could go with opportunity and determination. She epitomized brilliance in a way that no actress, no beauty queen could ever hope to.

Soaring higher than even her family had imagined -- literally and figuratively -- she evoked admiration and pride not just in her native Karnal but in two nations, an overachieving daughter who brought joy to both her adoptive and birth mothers.

That she became a U.S. citizen, that she joined the U.S. space program, didn't diminish the pride that swelled in millions of Indians when they watched news clips of the oft-smiling mission specialist aboard Columbia. And "KC," as she was known at NASA, didn't forget her roots. While flying over India, she pointed to New Delhi and said to her fellow astronauts, "I lived near there."

As the first person of Indian descent to fly in an American space shuttle, she adorned the cover of Indian newsmagazines, a symbol of unvarnished success. But she deserved far more attention. It is a blemish on our society that she received hardly a sliver of the limelight bestowed on Bollywood stars. The color pages of newspapers are reserved for actors and actresses, not one-in-a-billion astronauts.

To fully appreciate her accomplishments is to understand what astronomical odds she faced when, as a schoolgirl, she dreamed of a career in space. "For me, it's really farfetched to have thought about it and made it," she once said. "It's almost like having won a lottery or something."

Before setting foot in Punjab Engineering College in the late 1970s, she had to not only excel in school, but also overcome the widespread notion that engineering was a man's domain. Before applying to NASA, she had to dedicate herself to a decade of study and research, earning a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering.

Some 4,000 people applied to NASA's astronaut program in 1994 and only 20 were picked, including the pride of Karnal. Just three years later, she completed her first spaceflight, achieving her longtime dream. Her second flight allowed her to relive the dream.

"Just looking at our planet roll by and the speed at which it goes by and the awe that it inspires; just so many good thoughts come to your mind when you see all that," she said. "Doing it again is like living a dream, a good dream once again."

The dream was ours too, a great dream, one that ended far too soon.

Till we connect again...

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