Indian Ambassador to US NIrupama Menon Rao on Music, Poetry, Bangalore and Twitter Part-2




Kamla Bhatt Show show

Summary: (http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/NIrupamaMenonRao-KamlaShow-150x150.jpg)This is a 2-part interview with Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Menon Rao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirupama_Rao). In Part-1 she talked about the opening up of the India-US relationship and how it has evolved over the years. In Part-2 Ambassador Rao talks about growing up in Bangalore, and  her love for poetry, music and literature. She has written a book of poems "Rain Raising" that has been translated in Russian and Chinese. She also shares on how she got inspired to become a diplomat. And, she also discusses about how she started using Twitter, the powerful microblogging tool and how it has helped her reach out to people. "A citizen diplomat" is how she describes herself and is a big believer in reaching out to people, wherever she has worked. Ambassador Rao spent most of her early years in Bangalore, dubbed as the "Silicon Valley of India." After completing her undergraduate studies in Bangalore, she went to Aurangabad in Maharashtra to finish her Masters in Literature. While pursing her graduate studies, she simultaneously prepared for her Indian Civil Service exams. She topped the Civil Services exams and  joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1973. She has worked all around the world including The People's Republic of China (PRC), Sri Lanka, Peru and the US. This current stint is her second one in the US. Her first stint in the US was in the 1990s when the Indian government had just started its economic liberalization process. Ambassador Rao was appointed as the Ambassador to the US in 2011 and she retires from the Indian Foreign Service on November 4, 2013. This interview was recorded in Bangalore in January 2013. You can watch Part-2 of the video interview (http://bit.ly/16TzHN9) with the Ambassador in our YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/1bKmxok). A special thanks to Taj West End  (http://www.tajhotels.com/Luxury/City-Hotels/The-Taj-West-End-Bangalore/Overview.html)in Bangalore for  their hospitality.