Two Years, Fifteen Tries, One Flying Rocket

Originally written in Hindi

I wrote about my experience which is spread over more than two years. These diary pages are very special for me because I wrote them when I was in Grade 4th.This was originally written in Hindi, and my father translated it into English verbatim. The Hindi link is also provided here.

आरव की डायरीः आखिर मेरा रॉकेट उड़ ही गया

The Beginning (23rd November 2018)

(23rd November 2018) Do you know how I started making rockets. I tell you, four or five days ago my father showed me a video that was about making a rocket. Seeing the video, I said that I could do it but I did not make the rocket at that time. A day after when I remembered that my father showed me a video about making a rocket, I asked him to show that video again.Then I collected its raw material but we had one less of it. It was a skewer, the rest is done by aluminum foil and the front part of the matchsticks, from where the fire comes out. I did not have the skewer, so I thought why not take a simple stick of wood which is thin in shape, then I got an idea, I should use incense sticks instead of the skewer, because it is straight. Then I arranged all the stuff. Now only the work of making the rocket was left.  Do you know what I did while making the rocket? 

I Took a matchstick, cut off its front portion.। cut the Incense stick about 16 cm long.  Then I took an aluminum foil.  Cut in the shape of the pentagon which is shown below. Then on top right of it, I put a gul {gul is front part of matchstick} and then put incense stick below the gul.  Then wrapped the gul and incense stick with aluminum foil and affixed it with feviquick. After sticking it, the front part of that aluminum foil was spiked. Then cut the square of two centimeter size from the aluminum foil. Then I twisted it, so that it looked  like a rocket stand.  This made it easy to connect. Now I attached the rocket stand to the  bottom of the rocket. Then took a matchbox and took out matchsticks from it.  Punched the box of the matchsticks on top and set the incense stick at 60 degree angle. Now put the candle below the gull portion, whose flame could reach the rocket gul. Then burned that candle, then waited with the hope that after a while the rocket would fly.

But my rocket didn’t fly, why? Because I had made a lot of mistakes.  Now I’ll tell you what mistakes I made.  I made that rocket three times. The first time I made it half, then I went to fly it and that rocket showed me flying a little and there was a slight sound, that rocket also went a little further.  In the video I watched, they were using skewers while I was using incense sticks. That’s why I was failing again and again. The second time I made a rocket and applied it to the pen, the pen was made of plastic, so it ignited the rocket plastic as soon as it was fired. Smoke had also come out from it.  That is why it did not fly.  When I tried for the third time, I used an incense stick and pressed the rocket on the incense stick, due to the pressure, the smoke could not come out of it, due to no smoke, the rocket exploded on the spot.  I thought that I was wasting the aluminum foil and my mother was also scolding me.  So I got that this work had to stop.

Second Attempts and Market Search (25th November 2018)

(25 November 2018) Today I made rockets four times. I made two rockets in the morning and two in the evening. Three I made in the evening, do you know why I wrote two here? Why – when the first time I made a rocket in the evening, my father came and we were about to go out while I was making rockets,  we were getting late and my father was talking that this rocket had made very good. Show me at hand then I showed him, taking the rocket in hand, he accidentally hit the bottom of the rocket and I could not even blow it.  I only count what rockets I fly. I thought that now I have to buy a skewer, I ran and brought a wallet, then I came down the building with my father and then we went to Jwala Hedi Market. We came from Jwala Hedi Market but we did not bring the skewer as the skewer was not available in the market so we brought some wooden sticks which were like a skewer. Then I made rockets twice. The first time I made a rocket, it moved a little bit and there was smoke from behind.  When I made the rocket for the second time, I made a small one, when it was launched, a little smoke came out of it and a little fire started and it burned the wood along with it. So it did not fly. I felt that I am failing again and again, so I stopped doing this work.  17 months passed while doing so. I came to Amravati in June 2019.

Trying Again in Amravati (11th May 2020)

(11 May 2020) Today, my mother made an ice cream and she used aluminum foil to pack that ice cream.  I did not know that I also have aluminum foil at home. I remember that I had tried to build a rocket in Delhi but it did not succeed. Why not try again, who knows that the rocket will fly. At that time, I wrote in the pages of the diary about the process of making rockets, why rockets did not fly, and the mistakes that happened to me.  After reading the pages of the diary, I remembered everything about how to make rockets and what mistakes I made.  I reassembled material required for making the rocket.  The items include an incense stick, matchsticks, aluminum foil paper and a lamp. I made the rocket, then put the wood of the incense stick in which the rocket was attached, put it in a box of aluminum foil and tilted it to an angle of 60 degrees.  Then I was almost done, just to put the lamp under the rocket.  So I called my brother and sister and took the lamp down to gul, but my luck was not good, my rocket did not fly, and it burned.  Then the second time I shrink rocket size because it would reduce the weight of the rocket and that rocket would fly.  But this time also my luck was not good.  My rocket did not fly again. Now for the third time,  I used three matchsticks gul instead of one, and shortened the rocket. Now I put the rocket on the stand ( punched the box of the matchsticks on top and set the incense stick at 60 degree angle) and brought the lamp down to the bottom of the gul, then the rocket got more fire and the rocket burned. After that I made two rockets in different ways but even then my rocket did not fly.

The Moment of Success

So I thought that now I have to watch the video one more time. In the video I saw, it was the same method but it used a skewer instead of incense stick. So I asked my father, do we have a skewer?  My father said no, but we have the “sar” which is used for making sargunde. (Sargunde is a special dish of Vidarbha area (Maharashtra, India). To make Sargunde  smooth wood is used , that is called “sar”).  So I brought ‘sar’.  I made a rocket again by looking in the video. Then I called papa and said that the rocket has been made.  So my father came and then I brought the lamp down and then there were no limits to my happiness, I felt that even after failing so many times I can succeed. The rocket went away 30 cm long. I had to do that again because I wanted to see whether that method will also work this time? I got a question like this and also no one else had seen the rocket flying. Then I made a rocket and told my brother that can you record it, I put the lamp down and that rocket went 2X away from the previous one which means 60 cm. After that I showed that recording to everyone. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/oENMQ9ujPkoPbJut6) I tried thirteen times but I did not succeed, after that I was successful in fourteenth and fifteenth attempts because I made rockets in different ways every time and did not repeat the mistake.