Hyderabad is my second home

HYDERABAD: At 9 a.m on Tuesday, India made another leap in its missile development programme. The 127 tonne, 20 m long, 3,500 km range Agni-IV missile was successfully launched off the coast of Odisha. As the entire nation celebrated launching of the indigenous rocket, the woman behind it all, Tessy Thomas is already onto bigger, better things.Her next mission is the Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile, set to be launched early 2012 of which she is the project director. The weapon promises to propel India into the select league of nations, possessing missile range capabilities of 5,000 km or more. Based at the Advanced Systems Laboratory in Hyderabad, this electrical engineer from Kerala has seen immense growth in the Defence Research and Development Organisation over the years.If there were only four to five women when Thomas joined 23 years back, now there are over 20 women scientists in a lab of 250. And if back then India was yet to join the high-flying nations, today it boasts of technology completely its own. The city of Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh has been nothing short than a second home for this solid propellant expert.Thomas has taken an active interest in inspiring youth, especially girl students to take up science as a subject and made her presence felt during science exhibitions of various academic institutions in city. Once she even had to leave her son Tejas (named after India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft), to the care of Hyderabad during the launch of Agni-III missile in 2008, even though he ran high fever and was to appear for his board exams.And with her husband based in Vishakaptnam as a Navy commodore and son studying engineering at Vellore in Tamil Nadu, she balances her personal and professional life between three cities against a twenty-hour work schedule.If rockets can travel 3,500 km and beyond, is it any wonder then India’s rocket lady can easily connect a mere 500 km radius for her family.