A child came to me excitedly in the evening and said, 'Teacher, I met Sunita Williams' - Joshna Aunty put a tilak on her forehead and the television covered the news". Divya was however disappointed and coyly said, "I could not shake hand with her." Divya Chowdhury is a Sr. Kg student and so much happy to meet Sunita Williams personally in Ahmedabad at Roopnagar Society during her visit to one of her cousin's place.
Sunita, earlier during the day, visited the Sabarmati Ashram. The American Astronaut with Indian origin gave a message to around 500 children on the need to protect Planet Earth. She added, "It is our responsibility to as human beings to care of mother Earth. She mentioned, "Limitations are creations of the mind and if one sincerely tries every aim is achieveable" Apart from setting the record for the longest stay by a woman in space, Sunita Williams created more milestones- a world record for females with four spacewalks totaling 29 hours and 17 minutes. Sunita Williams will be conferred with the Sardar Patel Vishva Pratibha Award on 21st September. The annual award will be given by the Vishwa Gujarati Samaj, a city-based organisation, formed to bring Gujaratis living across the globe under one roof. It carries a cash prize of 2.5 lacs, a citation and a memento.
Sunita Williams had her inspirations from Kalpana Chawla but these younger children in Ahmedabad are so inspired by her. I asked Divya Chowdhury,"Sunita is an Astronaut. What are you going to be? And Divya said, "I will be an Astronaut one day." These innocent minds.....That's what we call 'Influences".
It seems, Sunita Williams had been to University later next day and she regretted that she could not speak the Gujarati nor the Hindi Language. Now, this is a surprise as her roots are in Gujarati and she's a Gujarati - an Indian too. Now, I guess Suni needs to be inspired from many Gujaratis kids here who speak Hindi, Gujarati, English and even learn Spanish, French or more languages!
- ilaxi patel
Editor, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for kids with Resources for Parents & Teachers
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