About the Book
Οn a call to congratulate Swati Mohan, the Indian American who was the head scientist at NASA, on the occasion of the successful landing of the Mars Perseverance rover, US President Joe Biden exclaimed, "It's amazing... Indian-descent Americans are taking over the country.
If one is living in America, it is virtually impossible today to turn on CNN, read the Wall Street Journal, go to a hospital, attend a university or browse a bookstore without encountering a sea of Indian names and faces. For India and for Indians, this is certainly a cause for celebration.
In Indian Genius, Meenakshi Ahamed provides us with fascinating portraits of a number of well-known figures who have excelled in their fields, including SATYA NADELLA, VINOD KHOSLA, SHANTANU NARAYEN, CHANDRIKA TANDON, NIKESH ARORA, VIVEK MURTHY, SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE, ATUL GAWANDE, DEEPAK CHOPRA, ABRAHAM VERGHESE, NIKKI HALEY and FAREED ZAKARIA. Based on a series of interviews and full of fresh and surprising stories, the book gives readers unprecedented insight into the personal strengths that made possible these extraordinary individuals' public achievements.
Indian Genius is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding what it takes to succeed and reach the top.
About the Author
MEENAKSHI NARULA AHAMED is a freelance journalist and the author of A Matter of Trust: India-US Relations from Truman to Trump, a sweeping narrative history of the turbulent seventy-year relationship between the two countries.
Ahamed's writing has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Seminar, and Asian Age. She has worked at the World Bank in Washington, DC, and for NDTV, and has served on the boards of Doctors without Borders, Drugs for Neglected Diseases, and the Vellore Christian Medical College Foundation.
Ahamed was born in Calcutta and received an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She divides her time between New York, Los Angeles, and New Delhi.
Introduction
My first reaction to America when I arrived in 1970 was an acute sense of disappointment. I landed in Boston right before Christmas, just a few weeks after graduating from high school in India. As the car wound its way from Logan Airport to Brookline, I pressed my face against the glass, looking for the modern futuristic city I imagined all American cities to be. What were these quaint, old-fashioned houses doing in the land that had sent men and rocket ships to the moon? Where were the skyscrapers and network of highways depicted in the comics I had read? I saw a few high-rises in the distance, but it was nothing like the stunning Manhattan skyline that was emblematic of America, whose photographs I had seen in Life magazine. And where were the people? The silence was deafening.
Upload an Image
