For Anna Mani (1918-2001)

FOR ANNA MANI (1918-2001) By Suniti Namjoshi The brave women I knew have grown old. Each was like a tree, or like a lighthouse, or like a gull circling the lighthouse, or like a dolphin, circling the gull, who circles the lighthouse, as my thoughts circle inadvertendy. As a young studentAnna worked under Sir C. V. Roman. After she retiredJTom the Indian Meteorological Service, she continued to ivork at the Raman Institute in Bangalore as long as she possibly could. She is admiredfor her scientific achieuements internationally and louedfor her uiarmth and laughter, but perhaps her most heroic achievement has been her battle in the lastfew years against Parkinson's and a series ofstrokes. Anna Maní died on August 16, 2001 in Triuandrum, India. EDITOR'S NOTE Meridians published an essay, "Dispersed Radiance," in volume 1, no. 2. In that essay, the author, Abha Sur, discusses the work ofAnna Mani by drawing on analyses from the human sciences to illuminate the processes by which women scientists (Anna Mani among them) produced science in C. V. Raman's laboratory in India. [Meridians:/eminism, race, transnationalism 2001, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 41]©2001 by Wesleyan University Press. All rights reserved. 41 ...