From carrying Ganesha to space to inspiring young girls in India, Sunita Williams has made the world proud.
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00:00Today is all about Sunita Williams, the woman who kept us glued to space with her tethered spacewalk or
00:06marathons or uplifting videos of positivity
00:09Literally, she was floating in no gravity and the world watched in awe waiting for her return with Butch Wilmore
00:16She was not born in India, but has retained her cultural heritage throughout the journey into space and beyond
00:23Therefore that is the reason that many people this morning across India stayed glued to the NASA live stream as
00:29Dragon capsule made a picture-perfect splashdown at 3 27 a.m. Indian Standard Time
00:34What was it about Sunita or Sunny as she's known among her space friends and family that even India is today
00:41Celebrating for her. She has clearly proven that if you get strong roots in your life
00:46It helps you have strong wings
00:48Eventually, she carried a Ganesha deity with her into space
00:53Well, even a samosa snack at one point of time
00:56You can't get more Indian than that sometimes with pride Sunita Williams has repeatedly mentioned her love for India and her Indian heritage
01:04Even though she's never really lived in this country
01:07One of the reasons therefore that this morning a tiny village of Jhulasan in Mehsana district in Gujarat with a population of about
01:147,000 people
01:16Erupted in celebration like it was the Diwali festival a daughter had made the world proud
01:22listen to these young schoolgirls watching Sunita Williams make history and
01:27Probably as they dream the same dream
01:30I am very happy. It feels like Diwali. We are all very happy.
01:35Do you feel that one day you can become like Sunita Williams?
01:38Yes, I feel the same.
01:40Sunita Williams was born on 19th September 1965 in Ohio in America to Deepak Pandya and Bonnie Pandya
01:47Her father was a neuroscientist from Gujarat migrated to the United States of America by 1957
01:54She's known to have visited India a few times
01:56Especially in 2007 when she also met the then chief minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries as well
02:02She has regularly been seen in Indian events abroad
02:06Always showing that she's been connected to her roots. So it made me wonder
02:10What is it about now 59 year old Sunita Williams that has made her into this power-packed woman that we are looking at on our screens
02:19Listen in to Sunita's mother Ursuline Bonnie Pandya. I'm not nervous at all
02:26This is what she does this is her career I
02:30Support her and everything that she's she's done so far and I'm just proud of her
02:36I also asked Sunita's sister-in-law Falguni Pandya. What sets Sunita apart from others within the family?
02:43Listen to what she said. I think that way she is
02:48unique and
02:49She is a role model and it's very evident
02:54That
02:55despite of
02:57so many
02:58uncertainties so many obstacles
03:01She has always remained positive, which is very difficult to do. He has
03:07Been raised by very strong parents
03:11Her dad Deepak Chacha Deepak kaka we call him was a very intelligent
03:18spiritual and a powerful personality and the mother
03:23Aunt Bonnie was very disciplined loving and also a very intelligent person
03:30Being raised by very strong parents who believe in you who believe in their children
03:35Who allow their children to make decisions and then support them?
03:41Unconditionally Sunita Mary Caddy sister and or just a little guy at the same
03:46I
03:48Rose Pratana
03:50Pooja part mantra job. You're not what could see I am our Sanatana Mandir me
03:55I am job or India gait. It's a beam
03:59Us case I'd gather or a Bhagwan could be bought manti. I just got it. It's a
04:04Bhagwan Kim Murthy Ganapati Kim Murthy or Bhagavad Gita
04:09What could you get a table? What's on scar? Yeah, I'm married to Gajini like in a Bharat key
04:14I will conclude with two key takeaways from this successful journey and return.
04:21One, Sunita Williams has reminded everyone that a woman's prime years is not in her
04:2820s.
04:29She can be 59 years of age, almost 60, and yet fulfill her dreams.
04:35And I hope that the next Sunita Williams will be from India, that she would not have to
04:40migrate or be born in the United States of America to become the next big astronaut.
04:46Indian Space Research Organisation is making strides already in many missions and it will
04:51be a dream come true if I'll be able to watch in my lifetime an Indian girl, born and brought
04:56up in India, heading into space by the ISRO and let her merit truly shine.