M A I N   N E W S

Pall of gloom descends on Karnal
Our Correspondent

Karnal, February 1
A pall of gloom descended on the city when people heard the news of the crash of the space shuttle, Columbia, carrying Kalpana Chawla and six other astronauts.

A celebration was going on at Tagore Bal Niketan School here in anticipation of her safe return today. Kalpana was the student of the school. The celebrations stopped as joy was replaced by dejection and wailing. The Principal of the school, Mr Rajan Lamba, expressing grief stated that about 300 children were praying for the safety of Chawla. Her teacher Santosh Arora, who taught her Hindi, was a picture of grief.

Kalpana’s mother along with her sister-in-law and other relations were already in the USA to receive her.

Mr Jai Prakash Gupta, local MLA also expressed grief and sorrow.