Indian man paid the tribute to India’s first rocket launch, during Dubai Ride cycles rally in Dubai

Dubai: Ajmal Poyakkara Mahamood, an Indian expat from Kasargod, Kerala caught the attention of residents at the Dubai Ride cycle rally on Sunday for recreating an iconic picture from India’s first rocket launch.

Ajmal dressed up like an iconic photo of a scientist, white shirt and grey pants carrying a cone-like object on the back of his cycle in memory of the 1963 photograph which showed India’s first space rocket being transported for its launch from Thumba in Kerala.

Ajmal said that ” I wanted to pay homage to my land and its people, It was in November 1963 that the rocket was launched from Thumba, Kerala. In this iconic cycle rally, I wanted to highlight how bicycles have always been an integral part of people’s lives, either daily activities or historical events like the rocket launch.”

31-year-old Ajmal, a professional and film producer in Dubai, invested in a classic cycle for the event and proudly rode over the 12km route for Dubai Ride. Ajmal made this rocket model with a road hazard cone which is spray painted to make it look like a representation of the space rocket. His wife, Saba Firdose, and brother Abdul Rahman Poyakkara helped him with the procurement of the materials and formal dress to match the old style dress, but the challenge was to get the same model of cycle, which they found a few hours before the cycle rally. 

Ajmal has been in Dubai for the last 9 years and he is currently settled in Bengaluru, said that the public response was amazing, and it was an opportunity for him to educate other national people about India’s first rocket launch and space programs.

For more pictures of Ajmal from Dubai Ride: Instagram Stories

Ajmal’s this effort was dedicated to the villagers of Thumba, who donated their land and buildings for India’s space program. India’s spaceward odyssey began on November 21, 1963, with the launch of the US Nike Apache sounding rocket from Thumba, near Thiruvananthapuram. The rocket was taken to the launch site on a bullock cart; later rockets would take bicycles.

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In November 1963, Thumba, a quintessential Kerala fishing hamlet village was zeroed in as the perfect spot for a rocket launch for its location close to the magnetic equator, which caught the interest of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of India’s space program. A small church dedicated to St Mary Magdalene was located on the Earth’s magnetic equator. Church’s bishop donated to the space research program with the permission of his congregation. The bishop’s home became an office, the church a workshop, and cattle sheds served as storage houses and laboratories.  

Pictures: Supplied