00:00Hi, welcome to Inadu ETV Bharat. We have a really special guest with us, astronaut Sunita Williams.
00:08She's here for the Kerala Literary Festival. It's Asia's largest literary festival and you're also doing a session with children. Tell us about it.
00:17Yeah, I'm really excited. So part of the opening remarks this evening as well as a little preview of what's to come.
00:29Tomorrow is all students. So I'm excited. So there'll be a group of younger students and then a group of older students.
00:35So we can, you know, have some time for Q&A with the kids and just really get into what's exciting about space exploration right now.
00:43So you're kind of passing the baton on with your mentees and with these things you're doing with children over here and in the U.S.
00:50Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's obviously I think my retirement was out there in the news a little bit.
00:55And I retired at the end of the year, actually, and just happy to do that because I know that space agencies are in, you know, good hands right now.
01:03The younger generation has trained that we have them flying to space, getting leadership roles,
01:09and just excited for them to be the ones to teach the kids who are in school about STEM, about space exploration and bring them along.
01:18So I feel really good about it. And that's that's our, you know, the biggest compliment is actually when someone can take your job and do it better.
01:25And what's your relationship with books? Did you grow up reading books? Did you read science fiction a lot? Did that get you into space?
01:31I read books, not science fiction. I'm not a huge science fiction fan.
01:34Okay. I really, you know, of course, when I was a kid, I liked books about animals. I like little mystery stories and stuff.
01:40I like now historical fiction is interesting to me because it gives you another aspect of history or even just history,
01:49but more about like the people and what they were doing at a specific time.
01:54I think that's really intriguing to me. What makes a person?
01:57Which book are you reading right now?
01:59What am I reading? I got a book when I was in Slovenia. It's called Slovenology, which is really interesting.
02:05It's just about like little funny things about Slovenia if you're touring and if you're looking around.
02:11But it's about a gentleman who actually married a lady who is, he's not Slovenian, married a lady who is Slovenian.
02:16So how he's breaking into that culture, which is fascinating to me.
02:20Oh, it's fiction. It's non-fiction. It's real. It's non-fiction. Yeah.
02:23It's based on a true story. Yeah. Yeah. And then I also was given a present in the last couple months from a friend of mine.
02:31It's Sadhguru's book. So I've been reading that, but I like to like those types of books.
02:36I like to like read a little bit of it and then just think about it for a little while.
02:39So I'm not rushing through that. I think I'll miss the point if I rush through.
02:43Speaking of Sadhguru, you also, you also believe in mindfulness, you practice mindfulness up in space also.
02:49And you also have talked about doing yoga. Did that keep you centered in those difficult, those nine months?
02:55Absolutely. I mean, I think you sort of, I think we're very lucky in space also because we get the view out the window.
03:00I mean, how centered can you be when you look at our whole planet with everybody, you know, every person, every plant,
03:05every animal that's right there in front of you on that planet.
03:09So of course, it keeps you centered because you obviously start to think about your place and what is really the, you know, the higher meaning.
03:16My father and I had some conversations like this at times.
03:18Sometimes, somehow here on Earth, we get a little bit distracted by all the things that are going on,
03:23not to mention your, you know, your phone and the connectivity.
03:26And so it's, I think being in space was really a luxury where you really had the opportunity to focus
03:32and having that view out the window really made that enjoyable.
03:36You actually feel like that pale blue dot that Carl Sagan talked about?
03:40Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, when you're looking back at the planet,
03:43not only is it, you know, like our home, but it's also alive.
03:48You see the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean, you know, things that are happening,
03:54algae blooms like I've talked about before and ice formations, you know, things are happening as the seasons are going by,
04:00hurricanes, you see them forming in the ocean or over the ocean going across.
04:05So you know that there's a lot of activity going on.
04:08So our planet is alive and that's what keeps us alive.
04:12And it makes you really stop and think.
04:14And you've also going through something like this, spending nine months in space.
04:20It also calls for a little bit of a sense of humor to not get too serious about things and to not lose hope.
04:28How did you maintain your curiosity and your sense of humor in those times?
04:34I mean, there is so much to learn.
04:36Every day what we do in the space station is different.
04:40So your curiosity is already obviously peaked because, you know, the schedule,
04:45it keeps you going and wondering what's going to happen next.
04:48So I love learning.
04:51I love that we have the opportunity to talk to the investigators for the different type of experiments.
04:56And so in the middle of a while, you're their lab tech and you're doing something.
04:59I was like, what are we doing exactly?
05:01You know, they're in your ear because we have a headset on connected to them wherever they are.
05:05And they're telling you that what amazing science that they're doing.
05:08And it's like, wow, I never thought of this.
05:10How did you guys think of this?
05:11You know, I'm just the guy who's doing this stuff.
05:13But they're imagining all this kind of experiments and processes that we're doing up in space.
05:19And it's fascinating to me.
05:21You know, speaking about your past equations, Kalpana Chala was a friend also.
05:27And you spent a lot of time together.
05:29You went on hikes.
05:30And tell us a little bit about that friendship.
05:32Yeah, yeah.
05:33She was obviously, you know, somebody as soon as I got to the astronaut office,
05:36she'd been there for a couple of years.
05:38And so I like sort of seeked her out.
05:40It was like, hi, how's it going?
05:41You know, fellow Indian, you know, and we became fast friends.
05:45And so she knew that I like to hike.
05:47I like to, you know, ride bicycles.
05:50So we used to do that quite a bit.
05:52She had a nice way of sort of slowing me down a little bit.
05:55You know, my family is very energetic and wants to get it done.
05:58And she'd be like, let's pull over over here.
06:01And she'd enlighten me to, you know, a new species of birds or something that I hadn't ever learned about
06:06or a new plant or something.
06:08And so she was always one to provide a source of, answer a source of curiosity that I had.
06:14So what a great, great person.
06:15And you still have a good equation with her family as well.
06:18You're still in touch with them.
06:19Do you spend time with them?
06:20Yeah, not as much as I would like to.
06:22You know, obviously because I haven't been here in a number of years into India.
06:26But they were in the United States.
06:28I spent a lot of time with them there.
06:29And then every single time that I've been here,
06:31I've tried to at least have a dialogue and see them.
06:34And I was very lucky this time to see her mom and her two sisters,
06:38at least just for a brief moment in Delhi.
06:40And we hope you keep visiting India.
06:42And we wish you a great stay at KLF and a great session as well.
06:46Absolutely. I'm excited to talk to the kids.
06:48And keep inspiring all of us.
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