I Was Published in India’s Biggest Science Magazine 2 Years Ago. I’m 15

—and only now do I realise how cool that was

It’s not an article but a tale. So, sit back and enjoy!

Source

I had almost forgotten that. How can I?

It was not until a couple of days ago that it appeared again.

Lost Magazine, Found

So I was at my friend’s place the other day and we were discussing about some science topics. From our syllabus. But he could not find the books. And then I realised I had a PDF of that chapter already uploaded onto my Google Drive.

I took out my tablet. Opened Drive. But, alas, I didn’t remember in which folder I had put it. So I head over to the Search bar. I also didn’t exactly remember by what name I’d saved it also.

And then it hit me, because it’s a chapter from my science textbook it should definitely have the word ‘science’ in it. That’s how I name most of the files—some keywords related to the file’s content.

So, in the hope that I’d find the PDF file of the chapter I started typing ‘Science’ in the search bar. But when I was typing ‘sc….’, and was glancing at the results, suddenly something caught my attention.

And that was nothing but the second result in the below screenshot.

Screenshot after writing ‘sc...’ in my search bar.

I was just amazed. I didn’t remember when I’d uploaded ‘My Article in Science Reporter’ to Drive.

But thank god I did!

Science Reporter—and my little nostalgia

Science Reporter is a monthly popular science magazine that has been published in India since 1964 by the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources(NISCAIR), a government agency based in New Delhi. It is published in English and is read principally in India and neighbouring countries.

The above definition would not make me feel like that. Source

That’s the Wikipedia definition.

More than that, this magazine was my doorway to the world of scientific fantasy.

As soon as it was the first of the month, I’d start to stop at the (mostly) stationery-cum-magazine stores everyday. There were numerous but I frequently visited four of them nearby—two were on my way to school and two in the busier area of the city.

Two that were in my way to school had almost all the magazine that I loved—Science Reporter, Tell My Why?, a current affairs magazine, Champak, and comics.

But what they’d not have was newspaper supplements. And that became my reason to visit those bigger magazine stops and kiosks.

Oh, and that’s how I discovered my now favourite and then reason-to-awe newspaper The Hindu. I’ll write an article about that too. It’s becoming a bit nostalgic…

Oh, we’re lost in nostalgia, I guess. Let’s come back. Source

Okay, so where were we?

Ah, at the Drive and Science Reporter thing. Right?

So, after I opened the file, I saw what I was expecting; expecting while it took a couple of seconds to load. It was my published piece in Science Reporter—in its April 2020 edition.

I’d like to brief on the behind story.

But before that here are some screenshots. ☺️✨

To be continued... (screenshot by me)

I wrote a good bio for me too, I guess. ‘...with a passion for science and literature.’ OMG! (screenshot by me)

That’s my email interview with the author of one of the books I read at that time—Those Magnificent Women and Their Flying Machines: ISRO’s Mission to Mars—Minnie Vaid.

I loved that book a lot. It’s about the women involved in India’s first ever Mars mission, famously known as Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), and interviews with them. That was one of the few books that’s got me hooked till the last page when I was not that big of a fan of reading.

I found this book from Science Reporter itself. Not many months ago, this book’s review was published in the magazine. I read and got it ordered ASAP.

I don’t know how I got the courage to mail the author that I’d like to interview her on email concerning this book. And that I want to get it published in Science Reporter (or if not possible then in my school magazine).

She agreed. We did it. And I sent the whole thing to Science Reporter after some editing for clarity.

All the formalities took around three months before the piece got published. They pay for all the articles published and as I was a minor, it took some extra time.

But it was all worth it and I still can’t believe on myself that I’d made that happen.

It was a pleasant surprise finding this piece after so long. I’d kind of forgot. And documenting it felt even more nostalgic. Thanks for reading.

I’ve made the PDF file of this article public so you can read it here.

I’d like to give a quick shout-out to three wonderful writers who write awesome personal experience stories: Dr. Preeti Singh, Yana Bostongirl, and Sara Burdick. I’m so inspired by them. I enjoy reading them a lot and you might not want to miss it, too.

Are you ready for your next reading adventure? Here you go:

I Went For A Conference And This Is How My Dream Came True

Life Has Changed Since I Followed My Intuition and Started Sharing My Story

How Someone I Never Met Made The Biggest Impact In My Life In A Time Of Need

Thanks! ❤️✨ And until next time, byeeeee! 👋☺️🧡