BENGALURU: On receiving news over a week ago that their children have been selected for a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the International Space Development Conference-2023 from May 25 to 28, the parents of two students of a prominent Bengaluru school were left wringing their hands: Their girls did not even possess a passport.
However, smart work by B E Shashikala Bai, principal of Sri Chaitanya Techno School at Electronic City; K Krishna, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru, and A Rajeshwari, Deputy Passport Officer, ensured that they got the document in no time and are now readying for their US visas.
The families of Class 8 student D Belita Ross and Class 9 student Shashika Ramaswamy are now over the moon after getting the precious travel document.
Belita got her passport within 24 hours. Her mother, Ninitha Ashwini, a homemaker, said, “I am running out of words to explain this super efficient job. Everyone in the passport office went out of their way to help us.”
Shashika’s father, who is in the saree dyeing business, was at the passport office with his daughter on Monday. “The school principal made a call and requested the RPO to help us. The RPO gave us an immediate appointment. We got the passport so easily today,” he said.
Her mother Sudamani R said, “We were very worried that not possessing a passport would have made her miss this golden opportunity. She was selected once in Class 6, but due to Covid, travel was not possible.”
Explaining the group project, Shashika said, “We showcased the satellites being sent to space by NASA. I am just so excited that I will get to meet the great scientists involved in the work.” Belita said, “I made it in my third consecutive attempt. I am overwhelmed.”
Along with them, six others - Angel Dadhich, Ashitha R, Advik Shukla, Dhinesh Karthikeya, Gali Koushik Reddy and L P Avikshith - will head to the NASA conference accompanied by their principal.