This particular incident unfolded on a Sunday around 10 am, when the sun...
The Train Journeys As An India Fellow
"Not all those who wander are lost" - J.R.R. Tolkien I resonate with this line...
Peacetime King Versus Wartime King
A few thousand years ago a king and his son, the next king, led completely...
एक इंडिया फ़ेलो अपनी नोटबुक में क्या लिखता है
कुछ हफ्तों पहले मेरी दोस्त और को-फेलो आकांक्षा मेरी ऑफिस की नोटबुक पढ़ रही थी।...
Work, Worship And Waterbody
Dear Reader, You probably don’t know me. But if there was one thing I’d like...
Her: The Story Of A Beautiful Creation
The role of women in my life has been invaluable and transformative, shaping...
Unplugged Candlelight Days In Rural Uttar Pradesh
Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh is known for its hand-knotted carpets....
A Journey Through Ecosystems, Reflections, and Unseen Connections
My last visit to my hometown in Kerala had been a year ago. I decided to set...
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...
If Cities Were People: Udaipur, Delhi And Lucknow
Three cities imagined as people one would know in real life.
The First Quarter Of My Fellowship Journey
It has been three months in my field area and so far the journey has been horribly good. Do you remember The Storyteller by HH Munro Saki? Just like how the bachelor uses these two words together to describe the character of his story, I am using these words...
The Consequence Of Accumulated Experience
If you have a few strands of grey hair on your head, then you may not like a wild idea coming your way. Or perhaps a new solution to the old problem, definitely not the old solution to the old problem. This has little to do with the idea or the solution. It is what I...
The Dark Night(s)
6 PM As a new chapter began on a partly chilly October night,With a friend by my side,I embarked on a journey,Thought to myself that I’ve finally taken flight. This year I am to do something new,From a bird's eye view,I am to scour through the land, Sometimes finding...
Chunri Ke Peeche
Start a social enterprise Have otherwise formally unemployed women in Rajasthan make dupattas. Have women in Rajasthan make dupattas, count the sweat that falls from their chins, and add it to the GDP. Count sweat by the sound it makes when hitting the ground and...
Surname, Please?
The train journey to Mangaon had worn me out. I had woken up at 5 am today, a record timing by my standards. Adding to this, the speaker on stage had been speaking in Marathi for the past twenty minutes. Due to these specific factors, my eyes steadily shut. Father...
15 Girls And A 40 Hour Journey From Himachal Pradesh To Bihar
When we started writing India Fellow blogs, we were told how our stories were all unique, however common they may seem. We were told that no one would be able to represent our story and the moments in our journey the way we could. Today, as I board Himgiri Express...
मैं और भालू
प्रिय मित्र काशीपुर से में भोपाल के लिए रवाना हो गया हूं। वही पुराना घर! अब तो घर क्या है कहां है इसकी समझ कमजोर पड़ गई है। खुले आसमान ने हमें इतना अपना लिया है कि दीवारें पराई लगने लगी है। यह तीसरा और आखिरी खत काशीपुर के सबसे अप्रतिम भाग के बारे में है। यह ना होता तो...
An Atta-boy
They do not have advantage of a complicated system of metaphysics which could explain or rationalize events for them. Their gods and goodness are much too simple to be of much help. प्रिय मित्र याद है वो पुराना किस्सा? वो काशीपुर? खत के बदलो से सतह दर सतह उतरोगे तो...
काशीपुर से ख़त
प्रिय मित्र, कभी रोमांटिसिज्म के बारे में सुना है? कहीं उन्नीस्वीं सदी में इस टर्म को पहली बार इस्तेमाल किया गया होगा| पहले भी होता होगा पर उन्नीस्वी सदी के बाद इसने गति पकड़ ली| ये एक जादुई पर्दे की तरह है जो न होता तो हिन्दी सिनेमा कब का ठंडा गोश्त बन गया होता| असल...
Himachali Langar: The Unforgettable Feast
On my first day in the village of Kandbari, where I've now spent more than 4 months, it felt like I was dropped down from a soaring height. Yeah, metaphorically! The fall where you hear nothing, feel nothing or see nothing but get an adrenaline rush. Like anyone else,...
The Unsung Battles Of Ordinary Women
The ongoing wave of feminism seems to have taken India by storm, but has it managed to hit all the right spots yet? Indian feminism has lately drawn strong critique for being exclusionary in nature and I found my own thoughts deeply resonating with this narrative in...
Can We Really Understand Others?
We millennials are born in the information age. I always thought that the evolution was mutual, as by the time people who were born after 1980s came in a position to exert their influence, the same happened with information via internet, smart phones and other...