Shitikant (left) and Nishikant Totla with the Tricolor at the MEASAT-3a satellite launch

Giridih, June 27: For Shitikant, it was history unravelling in front of his eyes in Kazakhstan’s Baikonur last Monday.

The 2008 IIT-JEE topper from Dumri in Giridih witnessed the launch of MEASAT-3a, the $165mn communications satellite by Malaysia.

The only other boy from India was Nishikant Totla of Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The two secured the all-India first and second ranks in the IIT-JEE 2008 and are pursuing BTech from IIT, Kanpur, and IIT, Mumbai, respectively. Shitikant had also won a gold medal in international physics Olympiad in Hanoi last year.

Along with 12 youth from across the world namely Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and the UK, the Malaysian government had sponsored the two from India to watch the lunch of the historic satellite, which would help communication and broadcasting in over 145 countries.

“The satellite launch experience of two-and-a-half minutes was once-in-a-lifetime for me and I could do anything to see such an incident again. It was a very humbling and life-changing experience, too,” said an elated Shitikant over phone from Patna.

The 18-year-old said: “It is not something that will affect my career ‘directly’. But I think the experience itself.... the feeling of what humankind can achieve through organised effort is something that will remain with me for a long, long time.”

The second-year student of computer science and space physics who wants to go into research added: “Such experience would help me in entire life in my career.”

Shitilkant and Nishikant’s tour was for five days from June 19 to 22 and along with the MEASAT-3a launch, the duo also visited several important places, especially those relating with space technology and their centres. “We saw the museum of Yuri Gagarin, the man who first travelled into space, and the place where the astronauts were given training, how to go into space and stay there,” said the teenager.

“We also went to the site from where the Sputnik was launched. It was exhilarating to visit that historic places,” he said, adding: “What we have life in India and especially in rural areas from where we come, the advancement of those places inspires to do something so that lives of our people can also change for good.”