‘For the last one year, N. Valarmathi used to have only four to five hours for herself in a day, and kept monitoring various aspects of satellite'
Happiness permeated Ariyalur district as the ‘daughter of soil' N. Valarmathi turned cynosure of all eyes at Sriharikota on Thursday as Project Director of the successfully launched India's first indigenously-developed Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-I.
The pride of students of Nirmala Girls' Higher Secondary School in Ariyalur town, the alma mater of Ms. Valarmathi, knew no bounds. Teachers lost no time in congratulating Ms. Valarmathi for the feat while for the students, the impatient wait began to meet and interact with their role model in person. Their dream is likely to be fulfilled in a month, according to her husband, Vasudevan, Assistant General Manager, Vijaya Bank, head office, Bangalore, sharing the students' view that Ms. Valarmathi now symbolises assured success for believing in the attributes of hard work and determination.
For the last one year, she used to have only four to five hours for herself in a day, and kept monitoring various aspects of the satellite. The next fortnight is crucial for satellite positioning and image-tracking, Mr. Vasudevan said, expressing eagerness to visit Ariyalur at the earliest.
After her schooling in Tamil medium, Ms. Valarmathi went on to complete her pre-university course at the Government Arts College, Ariyalur, before moving on to the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, and from there to the Anna University's Guindy campus.
“My sister had offers from both DRDO and ISRO, and she opted for the latter,” recalls Ms. Valarmathi's brother Sampath, who teaches Physics at Government Girls' Higher Secondary School at Orthanadu in neighbouring Thanjavur district.
Mr. Sampath reminisced: “Even while teaching me while at school, my sister's used to focus strongly on the concepts. Though a student herself, she also used to handle classes for academically weak students,” adding: “Her power of concentration was remarkable. No matter the noise of the blaring radio, my sister's concentration on studies was total.”
Ms. Valarmathi's hard work had many admirers. No sooner did the news of the successful space mission trickle in than sections of the public began streaming into Ms. Valarmathy's house to congratulate her parents Natarajan, retired Block Development Officer, and Ramaseetha with shawls. Public organisations have planned to organise grand felicitations for Ms. Valarmathi when she visits her home town.
Keywords: N. Valarmathi, RISAT-1 satellite launch, ISRO, DRDO, Ariyalur, RISAT-1 project director
Given the opportunity tamils have always excelled.Take the example of
Singapore.Mr Tharman, the Deputy prime minister and finance minister is
tamil,law minister Mr Sanmugaratnam is tamil,sports minister is tamil
and the last president of Singapore was a tamil and so are many other
tamils holding key portfoilio's.Unfortunately India has failed to
exploit this.There are many chidambarams in India.India is living in
self denial.
Congratulation to Ms. Valarmathi. and to her family for their support.
The state government must do for organize grand felicitations for Ms.
Valarmathi. We request to The Hindu,please give more focus similar to
this article like quality people. We are interested to read it.
while the men in IPL are sending the cricket balls high in the skies,women are invloved in sending missiles and satellites in the skies.The people throng in the cricket grounds and dancing without showing least reaction or admiration on these feats.Men make history in cricket and women make science in the defence of this country.I am sure if these women enter the cricket fields,the men would be rendered useless in any field.
Guindy College Students never failed and Tmt.Valarmathi is no exception. Hearty Congratualations..
Like scientist Ms Valarmathi there are so many talented personalities are in existence with village background.The students in their mother tongue medium under stand the subjects better than English. It is just like eating a overnight watered rice with pickles.They may not be comfortable with Bread Butter Jam.Govt should identify(economically weak) those people and try to bring out their hidden talents
It is amazing to know that Ms. Valarmathi is from a village and studied in a tamil medium. there is no limits to grow if there is determination and hard work, they say its no more hard work but to work smart.
i would still say it is a must to work hard and smart. We are sure this will be encouraging to all the student readers, request The HIndu to continously cover these kind of news for the future generation, as they are too busy with their cartoon, computer games, internet, ipad, television etc Good Luck to Ms. Valarmathi and a special appreciation goes to her husband who claims she had only 4-5 hours to herself, the man also has to be appreciated for the success of Ms. Valarmathi for being supportive in her pursuit for excellence in her career. Keep it going sir, we salute you for being encouraging.
No matter where you come from, hard work and determination takes one to new heights for the benefit of many around them. Hats off to the Scientist Ms. Valarmathi of her success and also for being an inspiration to many.
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