Like a character in an Arundhati Roy novel, I wait by the silver-green backwaters of Kozhikode. The leafy riverbank is hushed, save for a lone boatman dipping his oars into the water, sending ripples fanning out like rays of the sun. Soon, voices drift closer. I turn and spot her, emerging from behind slanting coconut fronds, her hand extended.
“Hi, I’m Suni.”
The first thing I notice about Sunita Williams is her smile: sunny and wide enough to reassure people around the world when her eight-day mission stretched unexpectedly into 286 days. We sit on a metal bench. I have such a clear mental picture of her gravity-defying curls that were splashed all over the internet in 2024 that seeing them now tamely graze her shoulders feels jarring. Her violet kurti looks worn in; her space-printed Converse sneakers look custom-made for comfort. There’s not a stitch of makeup on her face—the same face beaming down from hoardings announcing her as the guest of honour at the ninth edition of Kerala Literature Festival. Only days have passed since NASA formally marked her as a “former” astronaut, and Williams already appears to be settling into a new rhythm: meeting unfamiliar people, gorging on dishes she never imagined (she will soon confess a fondness for falooda) and soaking in the sights.
Maybe space is closer than we think. Her small silver ear studs—one shaped like a planet, the other a rocket—can attest to it. And yet, how does someone who has loved space so ardently announce retirement at just 60? Astronauts like John Glenn ventured back into orbit as late as 77. Why stop now? “A spacewalk has every human emotion,” Williams tells me. “You’re super-excited because you’ve accomplished a goal. And then you’re happy because, ‘Oh, my God, look at the view.’ But you miss home, right?” One of the simplest pleasures she longed for was to feel the rain on her face and to be with her family and dogs. “That made me a little lonesome.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: vogue.in
