The world mourns the death of the seven astronauts of the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart 16 minutes before its scheduled landing in Florida in the early hours of February 1, 2003 upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
It was a sad day for all the citizens of the world, and particularly for the citizens from USA, Israel and India. Kalpana Chawla, a naturalized American of Indian origin was one of the seven astronauts on Columbia. India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee sent a message of condolence to US President Greorge W. Bush. "For us in India, the fact that one of them was an Indian-born woman adds a special poignancy to the tragedy" he said. President Bush said, "None of our astronauts traveled a longer path to space than Kalpana Chawla. She left India as a student, but she would see the nation of her birth, all of it, from hundreds of miles above. When the sad news reached her hometown, an administrator at her high school recalled 'she always said she wanted to reach the stars'. She went there and beyond. Kalpana's native country mourns her today, and so does her adopted land" The US Ambassador to India wrote a small poem: "This Karnal girl sought the skies. Space shuttles whispered in her ear. And she answered head to feet. We keep her smile in that last video?. The whole universe is my native land, she said. Now more than ever, dear one, we weep." We mourn the death of Kalpana and her co-astronauts, and on behalf of Vedic Heritage, offer our condolences to all the families. Kalpana wanted to show the world that even for a small-town Indian girl, the sky is not the limit, it is just the beginning. A few weeks ago, Kalpana called herself a Global Indian. She took great pride in her roots, but she was a global citizen in space. She said, "when you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system."
In the January 6th issue of India Today, Kalpana was named the first among the Global Indian stars, and her picture was featured on the cover page. She reached out for the stars, and made all Indians very proud to be Indians.
January 9 was celebrated as 'Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas' in India, and a select few Indians living abroad were honored by the Indian government in a special ceremony in New Delhi. Dual citizenship was also announced for PIO's (persons of Indian origin) living in certain countries, including US, Canada and UK. The global Indians, like Kalpana Chawla, have been very successful throughout the world. Government figures say that there are 20 million people of Indian origin living in 110 countries. They have been extremely dynamic and enterprising. In fact the annual income of these 20 million overseas Indians represents a whopping 35% of the country's GDP from more than a Billion people! In US, the PIO's comprise only 1.5% of the US population, but 38% of doctors, 12% of scientists, 36% of Nasa Scientists, 34% of Microsoft employees and 17% of Intel employees are PIO's.
I have prepared a small quiz to honor our motherland, and the Desi and Global Indians-
{answers will appear in the next issue}
1. Who is the co-founder of Sun MicroSystems?
a Vinod Khosla b Vinod Mehra c Rajiv Khosla d Surya Kumar
2. Who is the creator of the Pentium chip?
a Vinod Dham b Azim Premji c Vivek Paul d Sabeer Kumar
3. Which Indian is richer than the Sultan of Brunei?
a Azim Premji b Gopichand Hinduja c Ratan Tata d Aditya Birla
4. Which company was founded by Sabeer Bhatia?
a Hotmail b Google c AOL d Rediff
5. Which company is headed by Rajat Gupta
a McKinsey b Bain Consultants c Price Waterhouse d Ernst and Young
6. Where was the world's first university?
a Takshila b Rome c Greece d Nalanda
7. Which game was invented in India?
a Chess b Cricket c Archery d Field Hockey
8. Which cricket team in this world cup is captained by a PIO?
a England b South Africa c West Indies d New Zealand
9. Indra Nooyi is the first woman amongst PIO's to be
President and Chief Financial Officer of which company?
a Pepsico b Coca Cola c Burger King d McDonalds
10. Which family owns a company which is the second largest in the world in steel-making?
a Mittal b Birla c Tata d Ambani
11. Which economist was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1998?
a Amartya Sen b Amar Das Gupta
c Subhash Sen d Subhash Chandra Bose
12. Which brand name (of Indian origin) is best-in-class in the acoustic industry?
a Bose b Phillips c Soni d Kenwood
13. The prime minister of which country is a PIO?
a Mauritius b Surinam c Papua-New Guinea d Trinidad and Tobago
14. Who is a Lord in UK?
a Dholakia b Dhanda c Naipaul d Ghosh
15. Who directed the hit movie 'The Sixth Sense'?
a Shyamalan b Mira Nair c Shekhar Kapur d Meera Syal
16. Which Broadway play has music by A R Rahman?
a Bombay Dreams b Bandit Queen c Bollywood/Hollywood d City Of Dreams
17. Who won the Nobel Prize in Literature?
a Naipaul b Amitav Ghosh c Vikam Seth d Salman Rushdie
18. Who owns most motels in US?
a Patels b Shahs c Desais d Kapoors
19. Who was not Miss World or Miss Universe or Miss Asia?
a Madhuri Dixit b Aishwarya Rai c Sushmita Sen d Zeenat Aman
20. Which is the most popular food in UK?
a Chicken Curry b Samosa c Fish and Chips d Hamburger
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The first correct entry prior to April 1 will get a gift certificate to a book store
of US$100 {One hundred dollars} from Vedic Heritage; Inc.
The objective of this quiz is to make us proud to be Indians or of our Indian origin or parentage. We see a lot of negative press about poverty, corruption, terrorism, 'third world' infra-structure etc. But, hopefully this quiz will help us realize how well have we done, in and outside India in a wide variety of fields. ABCD should now read as 'American-Born-Content-Desi', and let us remove the confusion! We can be proud Global citizens and take the best of our adopted land, and the best of our Indian heritage, the rich Vedic Heritage. Let us also remember Kalpana Chawla, the small-town girl who made it to space with a great sense of pride. “She used to stand in the verandah and look at stars for hours when she was a kid." She reached the stars and beyond, literally.
