Day 19 August 2, 2017 – Mumbai to Vapi.
Distance – 176 kilometres.
Duration – 11 hours.
After a days rest at Mumai to nurse her stitches Sunita was back on course. Punctual to the “T” Lt Sumit Sharma was there to accompany Sunita to the Pune Mumbai Highway. Today Sunita had targetted doing a distance of about 125 kilometres to reach Talasari taking into consideration that her stitches were still raw. Bout she had grossly underestimated her energy levels and mental strength. A days break at Mumbai had done her good and she was at Talasari by 11:00am still full of energy , rearing to cycle more. So she decided to carry on to Wapi which meant an additional distance of 55 kilometres.
Sunita continuously gets calls from her well wishers- people who get to know about her expedition want to meet her. Sunita talks to each of them and patiently explains her route – she also takes out time to meet as many people as possible. A group of people from the Gurjar community were waiting for her at Vapi -to felicitate her support her cause and take inspiration from her. After the felicitation, arrangements had been made by one of the families to host her for the night- a comfortable bed and steaming hot home cooked food was something Sunita well deserved after a long day on the road.
“It’s good to be on the road, learning new things, new customs as you traverse through new lands. It’s so heartening to see that people who were strangers a while ago are showering you with warmth, food and hospitality. This is real India“.
