When I saw this headline on Monday I couldn’t help but laugh a little: Four [Indian] Kids on NASA Trip Go Missing. I mean, I know NASA is occasionally accused by some crackpot (even well-respected crackpots) of covering up info about aliens, but the idea of foreign kids going missing on a NASA field trip is a whole new kind of conspiracy (wrong kind of aliens). Here is how things unfolded:
The authorities of a private school here have lodged a police complaint that two of its students, who went on an educational trip to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at its US headquarters, have gone “missing.”
The two students, Paramjit Singh and Kunal Bhandari, went as part of a 13-member delegation of the Dayanand Model School on July 22. While the other members returned, these two students did not come back. [Link]
Then there was this:
Four students from a school in Parowal village who went on a trip to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have gone missing in the US. One of the teachers accompanying them has also not returned as she reportedly got married.
Eighteen students of the CBSE-affiliated Doaba Public Senior Secondary School went to NASA for a project. While 14 returned, Arshdeep, Sumit Sahni, Dalbir Singh and Baljinder Singh have not come back. The four are aged between 14 and 15 years.
“Teacher Meenu Sharma sent an e-mail to the school authorities, requesting them to extend her leave by a month as she got married,” a source said. [Link]
Then there was another update:
Six students from Doaba region have over the past fortnight gone missing in the US, where they had gone as part of academic trips to the NASA centre…This act of the students has tarnished the school’s image, he said, adding that the US authorities will take action against the students after their visa expires. [Link]
You got to hand it to Indians. Many Mexicans choose the difficult way to get in to the U.S.: crossing deadly deserts in the American Southwest. Indians on the other hand just sneak in as space enthusiasts. The World Sikh News just comes out and says it in their headline: Want your kid to reach USA? Plan a NASA trip. Is that was SRK’s character did in Swades?
