From Stars To Moon For Chandrayaan-2 Director Ritu Karidhal Srivastava

Lucknow: As soon as Chandrayan 2 soared up into the skies, a rent of cheer tore through the roof of a house in Lucknow. The house in Rajajipuram, where Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, the mission director of Chandrayan-2, lived, is suddenly the centre of attraction and has acquired a celebrity status almost overnight. The phones are continuously engaged and after considerable effort, Ritu’s sister Varsha agreed to speak.

“We are so proud of our sister. After our parents’ demise, she is the eldest in the family and has been a mother figure to me and my brother Rohit,” she said. Varsha recalls that Ritu was always fond of the stars. “My mother would stay awake all night with Didi (Ritu) when she studied. Didi was always fond of stars and would lie awake staring at the sky. Didi was curious to know what lay beyond the sky. We belong to a middle-class family but Didi always yearned to go beyond the limits,” she recalled. (IANS)

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