During my trip to Santa Clara, I chose to visit the icons of the IT industry rather then the Golden Gate Bridge or the sights of San Fransciso. One such other trip was to Stanford University.
As I drove through the beautiful avenue,I could see in the distance the green lawns of the University and in the far distance the familiar arches of the building I had seen in the pictures.
I was in awe as I entered one of the Meccas of learning.The story of how Mr. Stanford and his wife were kept waiting at the Harvard University , where he had come to donate money in the name of his son, who had died at an early age, but were rebuffed by the President of Harvard.They then decided to start an University, which was co-educational and it rose to compete with Harvard, and the many brilliant minds which had passed through this portals flashed through my mind. It is on record that about 27 of its Faculty Members won the Nobel Prize todate and 4 of them the Pulitzer Prize.
As I wandered in the verandahs of the buildings, I could see the students lounging around , many of them Chinese and Indian students, reflecting the rising power of these south Asian countries and their influence in the world economics.
As I left I carried with me some of the glow of the halo of the University.
It was only after the the death of Steve Jobs that the one of the popular speeches he had made at the University on the occassion of a Graduation Ceremony, started making the rounds.
It was then I realised that I had stood on the very grounds that Steve Jobs made that speech.
