Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award by Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma at a
function held here on Friday. Dressed in her NASA flight suit, Sunita
Williams said, “I feel very happy and deeply honoured to receive this
award. I also thank everybody who prayed for my safe return from
space.” The award carries a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh, a citation and a
memento.
Krishnakant Vakharia, president of Vishwa Gujarati
Samaj said, “This award has been given to Sunita for her outstanding
achievements as an astronaut. She has made the whole world proud. She
has very strong Indian roots and she is indeed one of us.” As NASA
regulations do not permit Sunita to accept cash prize, Vakharia said,
“Since Sunita cannot accept the cash prize, we have decided to donate
it for a charitable cause that her father Deepak Pandya wishes to.”
Unlike Thursday’s function at Gandhi Ashram, where
Sunita’s interaction with children did not last for more than 10
minutes, she was more generous on Friday. She began with playing a
video of her space sojourn and talking about the various facets of life
in space. “I exercised a lot in space and it helped me when I returned
to earth. I want to point out the importance of being fit to the
children here,” she said. She also reiterated her point that if one
sees the earth from space, it will be without any boundary line.
Responding to a question from a 10-year-old boy she said, “I do believe
advancements in space sciences can make this earth a better place to
live in. The advances in space sciences are a result of the effort of
so many people from different parts of the world.”
Asked as to how the Mars mission can benefit
humankind, she said, “Its success will be very important. We need to
find out whether human beings can live on a planet other than the
earth.”
Also present on the occasion were Union Textile
Minister Sharkarsinh Vaghela, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee
president Bhartasinh Solanki and Ahmedabad Mayor Amit Shah. Sunita’s
father Deepak Pandya was the special guest on the occasion.
Source by expressindia.com
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