Excellent presentation by Mukul Ahmad

I appreciated very much yesterday's presentation by Ms Mukul Ahmed  of Maya Angelou's autobiography - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was a very well researched talk that covered the various aspects of Maya's life and writings that gave us a proper perspective of the author's anguish as she grew up amidst her  trials and turmoils.

I was reminded of a poem written by me in 1971 which co-incidentally bears a similar title - To a Bird in the Cage. It is included in my second book of poems The Desert Blossom that I got printed on my own for private circulation in 1972 in Mumbai. I was studying Vedanta for the first time then in S. Chinmaya Mission study group. I had also come across mention of a human being's life seeking freedom as that of a bird in a cage in one of J. Krishnamurthy's writings. That inspired me to write my poem as mentioned above.

I had not heard of or read any writings by Maya Angelou then. So I was surprised to see the similarity in the title of her book though written in a different milieu and context. Enclosed please find the poem To a Bird in the Cage.

You both are doing a wonderful job in promoting good literature and
conducting it all very efficiently.

Kusum Gokarn