The scientists at Indian Space Research Organisation are making the country proud. But just who are these men responsible for this blazing success?

To begin with, these scientists are all made in India with no fancy foreign degrees and often from small villages.

Today they are the world's leading scientists, but one of them didn't even see an electric bulb for the longest time.

Project director of Chandrayaan-1, M Annadurai rarely appears on television and not many of us know about him. He is the man in-charge of India's first satellite to study the moon.

Annadurai, the son of a school teacher, is a first generation engineer and comes from a small village in Tamil Nadu.

He doesn't have a foreign degree and spent the first few years of his life without seeing what a streetlight looks like.

"I think I was born and brought up in a small village called Kodavadi near Coimbatore, until the age of seven. I did not see street lights even in my village," said M Annadurai.

"But I had the fortune of seeing the moon, which was like a natural planetarium," he added.

On being asked about his education, M Annadurai said, "Unfortunately I was not destined (to study abroad) but I don't have a regret of not being there. I think until I completed my post graduation in Engineering, I did not go beyond my district."

"Even for educational tour I did not go out. Until completion of post graduation, I was almost confined within my district," he said.

S K Shivkumar is the man who set up the entire communication network, the father of India's deep space network.

He too is home bred, studied in a regional engineering college but comes from the place where the first rockets originated.

Shivkumar hails from Mysore, the place where history tells us, rockets and miisile were used first by Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan.

These top scientists have made India proud. Yet, they are earning about a lakh rupees per month, which is way less than salaries in the private sector.

But ask them and they say it is the love of their job and not the money that keeps them going.