Falak shares about her trip to Saurashtra along with the students
An Unfamiliar Side Of Deccan And Its Wool Chain
Since the day I started working with the Centre for Pastoralism (CFP), I have...
A Tale of Two Analogous Events: Sickle Cell Anemia
As a fellow, the excitement of a field visit is unparalleled, especially...
मेरी नज़र में दिल्ली
इण्डिया फैलो मिड पाॅइन्ट कार्यशाला के लिए मेरा १० दिन के लिए दिल्ली जाना...
दक्षिण राजस्थान में बेहतर आरोग्य पर काम करते हुए मेरे अनुभव
हम सभी प्राथमिक स्वास्थ्य से यह समजते है की एक छोटा सा उपचार जो की किसी बड़ी...
जब किशोरियाँ सवाल पूछती हैं
हमेशा किसी भी कार्य की शुरुआत होती है एक सवाल से! किसी भी विचार में, बात में,...
Being Human
I have always wondered about what makes a human “human”. Is it their high...
Conversations About Boundaries
"I think women's tolerance to male entitlement has come down as compared to...
Meenakshi Devi and Her Never Give Up Attitude
A still from Meenakshi Devi's classroom My anticipation from the first field visit during our induction training was largely based on my stereotypes of villages. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie puts this across eloquently in her TedTalk 'The Dangers of a Single Story' She...
Pardeh Ke Piche Kya Hai?
An insight into the traditions of Thoor women folklore.
People And Places, People And Spaces
City girl meets village chacha, understands life is more than what meets the eye…
Redefining My Idea Of A Village
My father grew up in a village named Purana in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha. My grandmother, whom I fondly call bou (mother, in Odia) still lives there. As a child, I visited and stayed there during summer and winter vacations. However, most of my ideas about the...
Last Mile Delivery of Products & Services
As a part of training program at India fellow, I got an opportunity to visit the rural parts of Udaipur. The visit was intended merely for observing people and surroundings. Madar - the history of this village is older than the foundation of Udaipur itself. It was a...
Looking Back and Ahead – From Mizoram To Rajasthan
Having spent my early childhood in a small village of Kamalanagar in Chawngte, Mizoram and living half of my 26 years in different cities of India, I have been fortunate enough to experience different flavors of life. This post is about an experience from Madar...
Life, And The Patterns in Which it Unfolds
Today, I have a little too much of motivation to wake up, dress up, show up in the foyer and hit the road ASAP! "Why? What's the reason for this adrenaline rush?", I asked myself... It’s the rural immersion, something that I’ve faintly heard of, but was highly...
Plato And Cave – Valuable Lessons From The Allegory
In The Republic by Plato, he analyses a story of a group of people born and brought up in a dark cave without any connection with the outside world. The "Cave Allegory", as it is called, gets interesting when one among them finds out about the truth of their existence...
We Need A Balance In Stories About Indian Villages
A single story is one where the same thing gets told over and over again about a people or a place we do not know first-hand. The danger? It leads to stereotypes, to half-truths, not the truth. Our lives and cultures are composed of many overlapping stories. A single...
Not My Cup Of Chai
“One’s destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller An early morning bus from Udaipur to Gogunda made up for a good start. Gogunda is a small town and a major hub for surrounding villages in Udaipur. It is well connected via buses and...
माटी से निकटतम या रोटी से
भारत की ३३% जनसंख्या की तरह मैं भी एक शहरी नागरिक हूँ. अपने २५ वर्षों के जीवन में से २५ दिन भी मैंने किसी ग्रामीण क्षेत्र में नही बिताये. राजस्थान के किसी गाँव को मैं उतना ही जानती थी जितना “बालिका वधु” या “सरफ़रोश” ने मुझे बताया. हालाँकि, वहां के पर्यटक स्थलों से मैं...
Of People And Places
Ever had the feeling where you were kicking yourself for leaving the good life behind? From being a reasonably well-off graduate student in Toronto, enjoying first-world comforts, to being completely drenched and hanging on for dear life, on the roof of an overcrowded...
A City That Existed Before : Palesar
"*Kishanlal is a farmer who is aspiring to make a "Pakka Makaan" which he is not able to. Money is a major constraint and he worries about his 'Kaccha Makaan' falling down due to the excessive rain, just like it happened with the few unfortunates who died last year....
Do Beegha Zameen
A still from the movie Do Bigha Zamin (1953) ‘… Jisse ghar mein paans paans basse hain, ussa do bigha zameen mein syaa hoga?’ posed *Jaspal Singh as he closed his response. His response was to a question asked by me about land ownership in his village, Palesar. And...