The image of the prime minister posing with his scepter, juxtaposed with the...
The Indulging Self And The Raging Winds: Biparjoy
“Sinking in your bed, sinking in your couch and sinking onto your floor”
A Day In My Life As An India Fellow – Part 1
When the day begins, I don’t know how it’s going to end. India Fellow...
Understanding and Power: Exploring Parallels with Sudhir Kakar
"In another, more dynamic formulation to which I would subscribe, the...
My First Rain In Kutch
First three days in Ahmedabad at the main office of my organisation, Samerth...
Cigarettes, Beedis And The In-Between
I grew up in Calcutta watching everyone from my father to the cobbler to the...
Walking In & Out Of My Omelas
'Omelas' is a fictional city described in the short story 'The Ones Who Walk...
Of Children And Childhood – What Are They Thinking?
Part of how Basic Healthcare Services takes care of the community’s health is...
Exploring Relationship With Religion
I am not a religious person. However, by virtue of growing up in a religious society, I've always practiced Christianity as a way of life. Church and community have played a major role in shaping my mental models, beliefs, and aspirations. All throughout childhood, I...
![What’s On Your Mind? [A Poem]](https://indiafellow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/WhatsApp-Image-2022-06-14-at-3.45.33-PM.jpeg)
What’s On Your Mind? [A Poem]
They show me the bulging veins,On your forehead and across your abdomen,Striking like lightning bolts against a dark sky.They tell me it shows,The pain you are taking in.Yet not a word. Sweat and blood running down,But not a drop of tear.Swallowing the pain,You sit on...
That Feeling Of Liberation : In Kalahandi
When was the last time you felt most liberated? This question that was thrown at us during a virtual learning session has stayed with me for days. At first, it seemed simple enough. But after spending some time pondering on it, I know the guise of simplicity is only a...
Privilege Check: From Mirrors To Education
An integral part of being an India Fellow is learning to lead a modest life by living and working along with communities without much luxury. However, the fellowship can be called an ‘elite’ program as most of us fellows come from positions of great privilege - urban,...
How A Night At The Hospital Made Me Realize My Privilege
It was 3AM; cold and chilly. I was sitting in a government hospital. After a rushed couple of hours, the area around me was unnervingly calm. It is precisely at that point that I got my periods. Nothing unusual – a pretty normal occurrence but for me it was immediate...
“झरने सी मेरी पहचान”
वेग हूँ, मैं झरना हूँ, गति पे सवार हूँ|रुकती नहीं मैं वादियों में न रुकी कभी चट्टानों में|न रुक सकी पैमानों में, न रुक पायी देवालयों में|मैं बस झरती हूँ, हर बाधा से कुछ और छनती हूँ|देखा सभी जो प्रत्यक्ष है, जहाँ तहां न रमती हूँ|तुम्हे शायद बस मेरा आना सुनाई दे,पर उसकी...
Friendly Spiders Of Agragamee
Imagine you have just woken up. You get up and open the door to step out, and the first thing you see is a spider hanging in front of your door, spreading its web. Thinking it might have gone, I took my first step to go out but the web stuck to my entire face. I...
Who Is A Karyakarta?
The word 'Karyakarta' literally means worker in English. I've been trying to understand it better. Who is a Karyakarta? Is it you and me? Is it a CEO of an organization? How often do we introduce ourselves as a Karyakarta? I have never had. In fact, I had always taken...
Working In Grassroots : Perspectives Versus Realities
Shakshi with the girls and women she is working with My dream of bringing a change into the existing system of our society and to adding value to it in an impactful manner was taking shape when my journey as an India Fellow started with my host organization, KMVS...
The Bus Ride To Empowerment
As a fellow, a part of my work at WISE is to build the entrepreneurial collective of women weavers. Among other things, this entails investing my efforts in a network that can be leveraged for market generation. One of the ways of achieving this is to facilitate...
To Pause And Smell The Flowers
As I walk back from the office, I call my mother. Sharing my updates from the day - which field area I went to, what was the agenda for the day, how much a team member liked or disliked the activity, how I caught the last bus that leaves at 4:30 PM as it was...
Love Story: Return – Part 2/2
Read Part 1 here “ㅤ Zuleikha, I am here. Zulu, l have come. Zulu, please take me in. He looks weak. Dead, if I were honest. I had cut off my past, my past had cut me off. Why is he here… Zuleikha, I looked for you. Zulu, I looked for you in the whorehouses. Zulu, you...
…Ab Toh Bhai Chal Padi, Apni Yeh Naav Hai…
Having lived grounded for most of my life, moving to a new city would’ve been a horrifying thought. But then there’s a time in one’s life when change is necessary – it hands itself over to you when you least expect it – like finding that crumpled Re 500 note in your...
Lost In Translation
Have you seen the South Korean movie Parasite that took the world by storm last year, in 2019? Or the German Sci-fi Drama Dark this year (or was it in 1987?) Why go overseas, did you enjoy Baahubali? There’s a certain "flavour" in listening to Baahubali yell a fury in...