When A Paanwala's Letters Brought Rakesh Sharma To Meet This Pen-pal in Ahmedabad

 

On April 1984, wing commander Rakesh Sharma flew aboard the Soyuz T-11 Rocket launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome to become the first Indian in space. The voyage lasted 7 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes. When Sharma and team landed on earth, he had already become a hero and inspiration to thousands of Indians. Among his innumerable fans was a class 3 dropout in Ahmedabad, Kishan Singh Chauhan, a humble paanwaala, who wrote to Sharma congratulating him on the historic feat. Lest did Chauhan know that this gesture would begin a unique and wonderful friendship between two people who had never met. Let’s find out more about this tale of true friendship in this episode of India Untold with Sunita Iyer.