Music video featuring 'special children' spreads love, peace
Kolkata, May 13: In a bid to spread the message of peace and love, a Kolkata-based psychologist and a businessman have come up with a music video that features differently-abled children expressing a range of emotions.
The music video, directed by Anindya Chatterjee, depicts special kids as the messengers.
"The kids are away from the world of hatred and they only beget love," says the lyrics in the video titled "We are Special".
The video is based on a poem written by businessman Asif Iqbal and features 15 differently-abled children of Kolkata.
Iqbal, for whom writing is a passion, is one of the producers of the video.
"We are trying to spread a message of peace through these special kids who only understand the language of love," said Iqbal.
According to the writer, his poem questions what people lack in their lives. "Hatred is personified and termed as the root cause of killings, war and the gradual end of humanity."
"We have not formed an organisation yet. At present, the aim is to make a support group for the families of these children," said Jyoti Sapre, psychologist and producer of the music video.
The video has got accolades from the Indian Consulate in Dubai where it was watched by around 400 students of The Gulf Modern School.
"It was very easy to work with these kids as they do as you guide them. There were challenges as it was the rainy season. It was difficult to manage them," said Iqbal.
"We made sure that these kids face no problem because of us. We made all arrangements for the children and their parents," he added.
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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
