Maya Angelou

She's gone. One of my all time favourite women. 86 years of dynamite. Maya Angelou is among  the most celebrated and influential women of recent times. In farewell, it seems appropriate to quote her own words:

When I think of death, and of late the idea has come with alarming frequency, I seem at peace with the idea that a day will dawn when I will no longer be among those living in this valley of strange humors.

I can accept the idea of my own demise, but I am unable to accept the death of anyone else.

I find it impossible to let a friend or relative go into that country of no return.

Disbelief becomes my close companion, and anger follows in its wake.

I answer the heroic question 'Death, where is thy sting? ' with ' it is here in my heart and mind and memories.'

Maya Angelou  in 1970

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."

Her voice and her words have resonated in the US and globally. Raised in the deep South she imbibed and retained strong African American values. A champion of civil rights, she was closely associated with Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. In the seventies her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings made her famous. In her lifetime she has published 30 best-selling titles of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Combined with a flair for poetry and a passion for the performing arts, she was internationally acclaimed.

No matter what she undertook, she became a trailblazer. Author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist.  Her biography The Global Renaissance Woman ends thus: "Dr. Angelou’s words and actions continue to stir our souls, energize our bodies, liberate our minds, and heal our hearts."

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Getting to Mars

The real thing is better than sci fi.

Space exploration is an expensive, high-tech adventure. But adventure nevertheless. In this exciting video, NASA shares the crucial seven minutes before Curiosity lands on the hot surface of Mars.

Indians in the US

Almost everyone I know has relatives and friends in the US. In India we call them NRIs... Non-Resident Indians. Their official label is PIO (Person of Indian Origin). We're proud of them.

Many of the first-generation NRIs are educated, talented young men and women who went to the US for higher studies and better jobs. Is it surprising that the drive to make good has led to hard work, perseverance and success? Read about their comparative performance here: Indian Americans Top in Income and Education. 

Strong family ties and success stories beckoned more Indians to join the successful early migrants to the US. The IT industry did the rest. Today there are about 3 million NRIs  in the US, the five most populated states being California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois. No prizes if you guessed that the largest single NRI concentration is in and around San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley! You will find here some interesting information on NRIs.

The second and third generation NRIs are sometimes laughingly called ABCDs. More about this later...

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Steve Jobs

A few days ago, I wrote briefly about  Steve Jobs and his powerful message Think Different. The more I read about him, the more I'm impressed. See what his sister said about him: Mona Simpson's Eulogy, the ultimate accolade. Ms Simpson, a professor and author, lives in the US.

Think Different

Steve Jobs died at the age of 56 yesterday. His biological mother - an unmarried college girl - gave him up for adoption to a working class couple in California. He dropped out of college after just a few months and pursued his interest in electronics. When he co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak, he became an international figure. Read about his life here. Steve Jobs urged people to "Think different".

In a famous speech at Stanford in 1995, he told students to "Stay hungry. Stay foolish". I was particularly impressed with his parting advice to them:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."