00:01:04 · Shubhanshu Shukla, Aditya Agarwal
[00:01:04] S0: This is how they look. [00:01:07] S1: Handsome and charming. Exactly. You know, one of the things, Shukla, that we talk a lot about at SPC is the reason why Ruchi started SPC about ten years ago was that if you're going to do something in life, you might as well try to find the maximal version of it. What is the single most ambitious shot you can take on goal? And one of the things that strikes me about becoming an astronaut is you kind of have to go through many phases of actually choosing the hardest thing. So as you kind of rewind your own journey back, and I was reading the notes that I came up with that you applied to the NDA when you were 17 years old without telling your parents. What was going through your head at that point?
00:01:54 · Shubhanshu Shukla
[00:01:54] S0: Nothing sane, I would say. You know, I did not tell them because I kind of knew that if I told them in advance, then probably I would face, you know, some resistance from their side because I don't have a family history or nobody is there in defence or in the armed forces. So, I kind of knew that they would say no or discourage me from going into this, which they eventually did when they came to know that I had already applied and got selected in the written exam. So, I thought this is the easy way out, go ahead and just apply and write the exam and we'll see. And that was the approach even when I was going for my SSB. I told my parents that I want to go, it was in number one AFSB Dehradun. And when I told my father that I want to go for this interview, he said, Okay. And like you said, I was 16.5 at that time and I never travelled alone, but he said, Okay, go. And so he didn't help me out or tell me how to go, Probably that was his way of discouraging me to join India, but I went for the SSB and absolutely loved it, you know, was a fantastic experience altogether. So, initially, yes, it started out like that, but coming to the point that you said, I think that is very true. Now that I sit here and I look back, I really feel that this is the only thing that matters. Even the astronaut training teaches you this. Know, we have a saying which says that astronaut training is nothing but making you comfortable in being uncomfortable. That is what you have to learn to do. Nothing is comfortable. Getting into the space suit, getting inside the capsule, floating in microwave, it looks great, but it is not really good for the body. You don't feel good. You have to pretend to feel good in the initial few days actually. So most of it is about this How do you be okay with doing the things that you don't like to do? And you do them for a long period of time. That is what, you know, training has always been like.
00:03:44 · Aditya Agarwal
[00:03:44] S1: You know, it's interesting. So a little bit about my background. So when I was 22 years old, I'd kind of gone to college and I'd gotten kind of this stable job. I'd gotten a job at Oracle in the Bay Area. My mom and dad were very happy. But then after six months of being at Oracle, I just was a little bit bored. And so my version of this was that I'd done... I met a young guy called Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg was seven, 19 years old. Facebook was four or five people. And then I just joined the company because I thought it would be more fun, and I was just following a sense of adventure, you know, in some ways. People today ask me, like, oh, did you know that Facebook was going to be successful? And I'm like, honestly, no. I had no clue. But I did kinda listen to the act of, like, following the calling for adventure. So I guess the question here, Shukla, is you've had the chance to meet those people who we choose as humanity to send into space, in some ways, are the elite of humanity. Right? Which is in the people who blend the rare combination of passion, drive, discipline. But do you think they all started with discipline in the beginning, or did they kind of follow the initial sign for just like, let's go do something crazy, like, and just follow the adventure? And then you have to have discipline. Absolutely. But what do you think the root is?
00:05:01 · Shubhanshu Shukla, Aditya Agarwal
[00:05:01] S0: I I don't think there is a simple answer to this. And, you know, if you're implying that, you know, I was always meant to go to space in Naviso, I don't think that that is... That that would be the right way to look at it. I I never thought I could be an astronaut. I never thought I could be a fighter pilot as well. I was very young. I remember I was in sixth grade and I happened to be visiting an air force base and I saw an air show. And these were fighters which were flying extremely low and as a kid, I was just mesmerised, you know, what is different world altogether? And all that I wished that day was, If only I can get five minutes in that cockpit. That is all that I wanted to do when I was that age. So, when you grow, I think it is always one step at a time. [00:05:42] S1: I totally agree
00:05:42 · Aditya Agarwal, Shubhanshu Shukla
[00:05:42] S1: I totally agree [00:05:43] S0: with Whenever you reach there, that is the time that you have to take the call. I think what happens with most of us is that we try to analyse the opportunity sitting in our growing rooms or on the sofa that we are there, whether this will work out, whether it is good for me, not good for me. And the truth is, no one knows. You don't know anybody else, nobody has an answer. And most of the times when we analyse, we reach the conclusion that probably it is not for us, and we give up on that. So I think that is what you were saying. Like you said, yes, you know, you said leave it, let's see how it is going to happen. I think the more number of times we say yes, the more the chances are that you'll find something extremely exciting to do. That is all, I would say. There is no thought to it.
00:06:24 · Aditya Agarwal
[00:06:24] S1: I mean, I strongly agree with this. I mean, at least, again, coming back at least to my own experience, I could have chosen a number of startups. I chose Facebook. I actually didn't know Facebook was going to be successful, but what I do know is that I chose a startup. Right? You have to kind of like get out there and make yourself a target for luck and then hopefully keep on taking short term goal. Right? And I think that what ends up happening is that too many people psych themselves out. Like, they find all of the reasons to, like, say no to something, but it just takes one good reason, like, to say yes. Right? You know, when you're kinda going through the crazy funnel to kinda become an astronaut. Right? Like, there's obviously... You have to start off... Are all astronauts technically... Not all astronauts are pilots. Right?