THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: You’ve seen them prancing all over the place; in trash dumps, on railway tracks and on the beaches. The ubiquitous egret will be in focus as curtains go up for the inter-centre sports meet of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the state capital on Monday.
The finely-plumed bird, found everywhere in the city, is the mascot of the 11-day event. The logo of the event shows an egret stretching its long legs for a take-off. “There were two reasons for selecting the bird as our mascot,” said D Hemantlal from Palkulangara, the photographer and designer with the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thumba, who designed the logo.
“Our facility is near Veli, where egret is better known as ‘Velikkokku.’ The bird is found everywhere on our campus, which it considers a safe habitat. The second reason was that an egret’s take-off resembles a sprinter leaping off the starting block,” said Hemantlal, who is attached to the Technical Documentation and Archival Division (VSSC) at VSSC.
By choosing a bird as the mascot for its keenly-awaited event, ISRO also hopes to send an all-important message of environment protection. Hosted by VSSC, the inter-centre sports meet will see over 1,000 sportspersons from ISRO and Department of Space centres competing in a variety of events over ten days. The event will be held across multiple stadiums in the city and will conclude on November 17.