How a Mumbai student designed Google's Children's Day doodle

'I drew myself trying to see the expanse of the space through a telescope, I created galaxies, planets and spacecraft to represent the vastness of things in space.'
Rahul Pingla from Mumbai shares the thought behind Google's Children's Day doodle.

Like every year, Google celebrated Children's Day by dedicating a special doodle on the occasion.

The doodle is created by Pingla Rahul, a student of J B Vachha High School in Mumbai. Rahul's doodle was picked as part of Google's annual Doodle 4 Google competition in India.

The theme this year was 'What inspires me'. Over 75,000 students from around the world sent in their entries. 

The doodle captures the winner's fascination with space exploration. It shows a child looking at the sky which is dotted with stars and features a telescope.

Rahul created galaxies, planets and spacecraft to represent the vastness of things in space, all carefully arranged to form letters in the Google logo.

'I am extremely inspired by Space Exploration as there is still so much more to know about our Universe -- from planets to stars to galaxies and beyond,' Rahul explained his doodle.

'It is inspiring to learn how small we are, and how small our problems are, in the grand scheme of things. To convey my idea, I drew myself trying to see the expanse of the space through a telescope, I created galaxies, planets and spacecraft to represent the vastness of things in space,' Rahul added.

In India, Children's Day is celebrated on November 14 every year as a mark of respect to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India.

Nehru, who was born on this day, was fondly called Chacha Nehru (uncle Nehru), and was known for emphasising the importance of giving love and affection to children.

After the death of Nehru on 27 May 1964, it was unanimously decided to celebrate his birthday as Bal Diwas or Children's Day in India.

On this day, a number of activities are organised for students in schools nationwide such as games, competitions, and so on, while government bodies pay tributes to the late prime minister and organise commemorative events on this day.

With inputs from ANI