However, before Mr. Zed could offer his short prayer to God, three Christian activists disrupted the ceremony with angry shouts and denunciations of Hinduism to the shock of on-lookers. "This is an abomination!" the Washington Post reports one of the disruptors as screaming. "We are Christians and patriots!" yelled another before being led away by police.

S P Gupta, former director of Allahabad Museum and current chairman of Indian Archaeological Society, is credited with excavating several Indus Valley sites. He spoke to Rohit Viswanath on recent developments in marine archaeology:

What are the latest advancements in marine archaeology?
We do not use the term marine archaeology anymore. It is called underwater archaeology. That is because the term merely denotes oceanic and deep-sea archaeology. However, underwater archaeology has a wider scope. Fresh-water sources have been historically conducive to human habitation. Many ancient port cities and towns were located at the mouth of rivers or estuaries, where ships could be anchored. S R Rao has done great work in Dwarka. Vast discoveries have also been made in Lakshadweep and Elephanta islands. Several port sites have been found on the east coast in Andhra Pradesh.

"But I would like to have more Indian food in space," she said responding to a question from a student on what kind of food was available at the space station. Sunita, who carried a packet of samosas with her when she shot into space on December 11, 2006, said she would like to have more of the spicy snacks.

Among the students who interacted with the 37-year-old flight engineer were the niece and nephew of late Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla -- Akanksha and Uday. While Akanksha asked Sunita what was the most memorable part of her space sojourn, Uday asked her why only some planets had rings. "The first time I went out the door, I saw the whole world. You could see the earth's curvature.

The second time, it was at night, and you could still see a lot of lights," Sunita said in response to Akanksha's query. She is scheduled to spend six months at the space station. She was asked a question on the effect of lack of gravity on the body, to which she said the astronauts minimised the effects of zero-gravity by exercising and their nutrition was carefully devised. The interaction with the students of Vasant Valley School lasted ten minutes.