As I walk through the narrow lanes of Maheshwar, a symphony of sounds fills...
Who Are The Baigas?
My India Fellow journey got more purposeful when I reached Chhattisgarh after...
Water: From Scarcity To Abundance
"Come, come, sit under the tree. Yes, it's scorching hot anyways. Shall I make...
Rural Banks And The Blame Game
"The worst service I've ever got..." Those were my words as an unsatisfied...
Obligated Resilience And Optimistic Illusion Of Climate Adaptation
Chronicles from a community's struggle of resilience, who have to keep...
Women Embracing Digital Technology: Challenges & Opportunities
I spent approximately six months in Maheshwar, living cashless and relying...
Families Migrating From Kushalgarh In Distress
The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying, the only thing more...
‘Character Alive’ : An Activity To Engage Children
Working at a children's library has been a journey filled with endless...
Voices Behind Statistics : The Faces Of The City
I had evidently become curious about every passing human – co-passengers in the metro, rickshaw pullers in the neighbourhood, friends, co workers and the like. No one in my vicinity seemed to belong here. They seemed to have travelled from faraway places in the...
Boating In A Cricket Ground
The title may sound a little weird but this is talk of the town in Mhaswad for the last month. When the fellowship journey started, field visits were usual and I had chance to visit nearby places and get familiarized with the surroundings. The town is gifted (not sure...
Deconstructing Dating Amidst A Deity
It’s been a month since I’ve started working in the rural areas of Bihar and my new buddies here are very eager to set me up on a date with their friends. “Dishooja Ji, meri ek dost hai. Baayis saal ki ho gayi hai, aur shadi ki umr bhi hai. Dilli ke bank mein naukri...
Camel Tales
The camel was dead, apparently it slipped off a narrow muddy path and went sliding down into a large ditch. As the rains pounded Surajgarh, the ditch got filled with water and the camel unable to drag itself out, drowned in this ditch. Dalu Gameti had allowed...
Two-Face : Harvey Dent In Rural India
My jaw dropped when our wallets were confiscated by our fellowship co-ordinator. We were told to survive on a paltry sum of Rs. 40! We had to find a village and return back using this nominal sum! My mind raced with thoughts and a slight sense of panic crept in....
Learning Empathy
I walked into the village, excited about getting to see something new, enthusiastic about meeting new people from different walks of life, all set to explore how majority of our country's population lives. What I was faced with was a wandering naked three year old boy...
Episodic Empowerment
It started raining heavily all of a sudden. It wasn’t supposed to, in mid-November. The scooter I had borrowed from a co-worker kept threatening to skid on the muddy roads. Every time we nearly fell down my heart would skip a beat, and I am sure hers did too. We were...
Chandus Dairies
Not a typo. I read an entire manual on how the self-help group (SHG) federation of the Khed taluka works. A bunch of women form an SHG. A bunch of SHGs form a cluster. A bunch of clusters form a federation. The federation provides financial and social services to all...