In 1979 the first flight of India’s satellite launch vehicle, SLV-3, failed. Satish Dhawan, chairman of ISRO, “took all the blame,” in Kalam’s words. The next year, SLV-3 succeeded. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the project director, later told students: “again there was a press conference and Prof. Dhawan put me in the front to share the success story with the press.”
Half the Credit
The Raman effect was discovered in 1928. It was “first reported by Raman and his coworker K. S. Krishnan,” Wikipedia notes, and it calls Krishnan a co-discoverer. The effect carries Raman’s name. In 1930 Raman received the Nobel Prize in Physics for it.
According to the magazine Madras Musings, Raman once told Sukumar Sircar that Krishnan deserved half the credit for the discovery.
Written by Salim-Javed
Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar wrote Zanjeer (1973) together, as Salim-Javed. They wanted a writing credit on the film’s posters. The producer and director, Prakash Mehra, refused. Scroll reports what followed: “the two hired a painter to stencil ‘Written by Salim-Javed’ on posters plastered across Mumbai.”
The credit appeared because the writers put it there themselves.
Named After Prime Ministers
In December 2012, the news agency PTI reported a reply from the Planning Ministry to a request under the Right to Information Act. Of 58 institutions and schemes run by the central government, 27 were named after former Prime Ministers. “As many as 16 of these were named after Rajiv while eight have been named after Indira and three after Nehru.”
The Photo on the Certificate
In 2021, India’s Covid-19 vaccination certificates carried a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a message from him. In August 2021, the Congress member Kumar Ketkar asked in the Rajya Sabha whether the photograph was necessary.
The minister of state for health, Bharati Pravin Pawar, replied that the photograph and message reinforce “the importance of creating awareness about following Covid-appropriate behaviour even after vaccination.”
Who Holds the Trophy
In September 2018 India won the Asia Cup under its stand-in captain, Rohit Sharma. Khaleel Ahmed, the youngest member of the team and playing his debut series, later said: “Dhoni bhai asked Rohit Sharma to let me hold the trophy on the dais.”
Dhoni had explained the habit in October 2017: “At the end of the day, we have won the trophy. It doesn’t matter who holds it.”
Remembered and Thanked
On August 23, 2023, Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon. The chairman of ISRO, S. Somanath, spoke after the landing: “All the team that contributed to building Chandrayaan-1 and 2 should be remembered and thanked.”
Music Director
In classic Hindi film music, Goan musicians worked as arrangers for the composers. The composer appeared “under the designation ‘music director’ in large type in the credits.” The arrangers were listed in small print. One of them, Frank Fernand, said: “We arrangers did all the real work.”
Sebastian D’Souza, for example, was a permanent assistant to the composers Shankar and Jaikishan from 1951 to 1975.
By Rama’s Glory
In the Lanka Kand of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, the monkey army builds a bridge of stones across the sea. Shri Raghubir pratap te sindhu tare pashan. By the glory of Rama, the stones crossed the sea.
The next line denies the credit to everyone else: Mahima yah na jaladhi kai barni, pahan gun na kapinh kai karni. This glory is not the ocean’s, nor a quality of the stones, nor the work of the monkeys.
Merely an Instrument
Nimitta-matram bhava savya-sachin. In chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna speaks to Arjuna before the battle. In the translation by Swami Mukundananda: “These warriors stand already slain by Me, and you will only be an instrument of My work, O expert archer.” The verse is 11.33.