The act of finding beauty and joy in the everyday chaos can offer an opportunity to pause and reconnect with ourselves.
क्या कोशिश में कमी है रही?
Shweta pens a poetry to express unsettling thoughts and to ask if there has been any lack of effort in building our democracy
Dairy and Plastic: Rethinking Our Relationship
Domestication Dairy and plastic: Uneasy Partnership In our everyday lives, we...
We Live In Dilemmas
One brisk evening during my fellowship mid-point meet/training in Delhi , we...
Are We Only Talking?
"Chai bolo bhai chai bolo!" "CHAI!", we said together. And then we giggled....
कार्यक्षेत्र में महिलाओं की संख्या को कैसे बढ़ाया जाये
भारत की कुल आबादी में से आधी आबादी महिलाओं की है, हमारे देश में नारी को भगवान...
Celebrating A New Kind Of Living : Between Anuppur And Pune
After spending my whole life in Pune, I moved to Anuppur last year. It is one...
The November Of 2023
I plan my trips well in advance and always leave room for some delay in...
Going Back To, Through Sundays
After two years of not knowing what day is what, Sunday now has some significance. I say ‘two years’ without mentioning the C word because I do not want to read it in the beginning of yet another narrative. It’s inescapable because of how passive we have had to be in...
My Small Win With Chai Shots
At MANAVLOK, the organization I am a part of as an India Fellow, the entire team comes together for a weekly meeting every Monday at 10 AM sharp. Members from all the sub-centers, teachers from our social work college, karyakartas from Manavlok’s women's wing...
Viel, No Viel: Why Hate?
A Malayalee growing up in Gujarat has certain perks. Locals do not understand your name, culture, or slang and you can get out of awkward situations - mostly by lying yes. Then the unthinkable (for me definitely) happened, and I shifted back to the place that 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,...
“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...
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...