NEWS REVIEW - THE HINDU - SEP 21,2007

The earth is a borderless entity: Sunita Williams

Manas Dasgupta



STATE GUEST: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams arrives to a tumultuous welcome in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Ms. Williams, who set a record for the longest stay by a woman in space, is on a week-long visit to the country of her origin. She is being treated as a state guest.

AHMEDABAD: The Indian-origin American astronaut, Sunita Williams, arrived here on Thursday for a six-day visit to her native Gujarat, the first since she returned from her historic six-month sojourn at the International Space Station.

She was accorded a tumultuous reception by people who turned up in large numbers at the Ahmedabad airport. The heavy rush and the presence of mediapersons following her with heavy cameras forced the American security staff accompanying her to make on-the-spot changes in her programme.

As per her desire to begin her visit to the State by paying homage to the ‘Father of the Nation,’ she was taken to the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram after resting for a couple of hours at the hotel. She attended a prayer meeting where a host of Congress leaders, including the State party president, Bharat Solanki, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Arjun Modhvadia, occupied the dais.

A large number of schoolchildren, who were brought there for an active interaction with Ms. Williams, were disappointed as the police did not allow them near her. She, however, briefly addressed the gathering and told the children about her experiences in space and how the earth looked like from the window of the space station.

Ms. Williams told the gathering that “borders” between the nations were all “creations of the mind” of the people and from outer space, the earth was a single “borderless” entity. She said India looked the “most beautiful” from space.

IT REMAINED OF THE WORDS OF TAGORE -

Where the world has not been

broken up into fragments

by narrow domestic walls;