(From top)Children at Byalalu village; one of the two giant antennae. Bangalore News Photos

Byalalu (Bangalore rural), Oct. 22: Byalalu’s youths have their eyes fixed on the sky — that is where they see their future.

Vinay Kumar, 12, declares he wants to be an engineer. “I have already watched the two antennae being constructed closely. It’s only in the last few months that police did not allow us inside,” he says.

The antennae — two giant deep space network dishes that will track Chandrayaan-I on its journey to the moon — tower above the village off the Bangalore-Mysore highway.

For the past three years, the Indian Space Research Organisation has been building its Deep Space Network station — the two antennae and two-storied buildings that house the command and tracking centre — here.

Today, every kid in the village knows what they are for.

“It is for a scientific experiment on the moon. Isro sent a rocket this morning and the satellite that will orbit the moon will send signals to our village,” chorus Shivaraj, Harish, Guru Prasad and their friends, all under 12.

“We saw the event on TV. The announcer said it was a textbook launch,” adds Vinay.

The 12-year-old is a student of the government higher primary school in Gollahalli, across the road, where all the village kids study. Those who go to college take a bus and travel 40km to Bangalore every day.

Like Shiva Kumar G.N. and Byre Gowda G.S. do.

Pursuing a Bachelor of Computer Applications course, the two are dreaming of a job at Isro. “Earlier, we had no idea about our future. Now, after seeing this station being built from scratch and knowing what it does, we think there is an opportunity for us to work here,” says Shiva, a third semester student.

Byre plans to study hard and secure a seat for the Masters in Computer Applications course. “With an MCA, I will be highly qualified to join,” says the boy who had never stepped out of his village till he was in Class X.