Nirupama Rao

Nirupama Rao entered the Indian Foreign Service in 1973 after earning a master's degree in English literature. She built a specialization in China, working on East Asian affairs in Delhi and eventually serving as India's first woman ambassador in Beijing from 2006 to 2009. She was also the first woman to serve as the foreign ministry's spokesperson and as India's high commissioner to Sri Lanka. ¹

Washington was familiar ground when Rao became ambassador in September 2011. She had handled press and cultural affairs there from 1993 to 1995, and her intervening appointments included Peru and Bolivia, the deputy leadership of the Moscow embassy, and a two year term as foreign secretary. Her Washington ambassadorship ended in November 2013. ¹

Rao later returned to the history behind her China work. The Fractured Himalaya examines relations among India, Tibet, and China from 1949 to 1962, drawing on archives in several countries as well as her diplomatic experience. In a Harvard interview she described field visits along the disputed border and her concern that younger readers knew too little about the events leading to the 1962 war. ²

She also founded the South Asian Symphony Orchestra to bring young musicians from South Asia and its diaspora together. In retirement she taught at Brown and Columbia universities. ^{3, 4}