A village in India’s western Gujarat state is keeping an oil lamp burning at a temple and praying daily for the safe return of US astronaut Sunita Williams, who has been stranded aboard the International Space Station for more than 130 days with her colleague Barry Wilmore.
Ms Williams, 59, an Indian-American astronaut, left for the ISS with Mr Wilmore, 61, on June 5 in the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner, becoming the first woman to pilot a spacecraft on its maiden mission. Their eight-day mission was intended to help determine whether the Starliner was ready to begin commercial operations.
However, the veteran astronauts were told to remain aboard the space station while Boeing looked into technical glitches their spacecraft experienced on the way there. They are now expected to return in February aboard billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon.
But residents of Jhulasan, about 26 kilometres from the state capital Gandhinagar, are anxious about the delay and have kept an earthen lamp burning day and night for Ms Williams since June 28, two days after Boeing once again postponed the Starliner crew's return. Her father, Deepak Pandya, was born in the village and his family's home still stands, although it is now vacant and dilapidated.
Indian connection
“She is the daughter of this village. We are all worried and are waiting for her return to Earth at the earliest,” Sanjay Khodabhai Patel, a resident of Jhulasan, told The National.
“When the news about the mission’s failure broke, the villagers, who offer special prayers each time she leaves on a mission, decided to light a non-stop lamp until her return. Students and women go to the temple every day to offer prayers,” he said.
Ms Williams's father, a neuroanatomist, lived in Jhulasan with his extended family before moving in 1957 to the US, where he met and married her mother Ursuline Bonnie, a Slovene American. The village is home to about 5,000 people, with most of the working population engaged in business or employed by the government, according to India's census report.
“Her father and I grew up together in the same house in Jhulasan. I dropped him in Mumbai from where he took a ship to the US," a cousin, Dinesh Rawal, told The National.
He said the Pandyas never cut ties with the village and their extended family. Ms Williams has visited three times, first as a child in 1972, and then in 2007 and 2013 after successful space missions, when she was received with great fanfare.
"I also attended her wedding,” Mr Rawal, 84, said.
He said he was worried about the glitch in her latest mission but hoped for an early return of the astronauts,
“We are restless. I once asked her why she goes back to the missions, but she said she goes to space for research and not as a tourist. We don’t know what will happen to her, but we are praying to God for her safe return.”
'Role model and inspiration'
Ms Williams is a renowned figure in India. She has been received several local awards and has delivered lectures at schools in Mumbai, Delhi and other cities. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called her “a role model for Indian children and a source of inspiration for Indian women".
Mr Patel, 54, who helped to organise events to honour Ms Williams on her last two visits, said she was a humble person who appreciated her Indian roots and villagers’ love for her. She donated 250,000 rupees ($3,000) to the village school in 2007, he added.
“Mr Pandya was the first person in the village who went to the US. He was our pride. It is because of him that we have an affection for Sunita,” he said.
“I have met her twice and once when I asked what she thinks of Jhulasan, she said that she had ‘good fortune’ to be in our village. She always thinks good about us. She is special to us, and we will always want the best for her."
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