As per Hindu mythology, when Sati married Lord Shiva, her father, Daksha was...
Living A Precarious Life On The Delta
When I first heard about the Sundarbans I thought to myself ‘Why do people...
Sundarbans: The Mystical Land
India Fellow, as part of the workshops we do all round the year with our...
How did the people do their ‘business’ then? (Part 1 of 2)
“What is the most satisfactory and peaceful time in a human’s life?” was the...
A 6KM Long Trek For Water And Why Every Drop Counts
I can never forget Anupama’s (India Fellow alum) line, “Try and understand the...
Silicosis: The Occupational Hazard Of Doing God’s Work
The Pindwara district in the state of Rajasthan is known for its mining...
My Small Win With Chai Shots
At MANAVLOK, the organization I am a part of as an India Fellow, the entire...
From The Desk Of A Fellow In Limbo, With Love
Stereotypes, Prejudices And Discrimination : Health Of Mental Health In India
Away from the maddening crowd of the city, I was sitting by the bank of the Yamuna river in the outskirts of Delhi. She was throwing pebbles in the still water. The quaint surrounding and chirping birds added the much required charm to our away-from-chaos-picnic. That...
The Dilemma Of The Connect
"To have an association with somebody/something else; to realize or show that somebody/something is involved with somebody/something else" - this is the exact definition of the word 'Connect' as I Googled it to understand the formal or official meaning versus how it...
How They Push And Pull To Make The Ends Meet
I once had the opportunity to travel in the general bogie of a push-pull train connecting the place I’m in (Gudupalli, Chittoor) to the Bengaluru city. It was only 5.30 in the morning and there were more than 200 people in the compartment which had a seating capacity...
From A Lonely Corner In The Island Of Utopia
When we fly high in the garb of achieving zenith,A deep sense of empowerment soars through our blood,And adrenaline keeps the excitement intact,Yes, that is indeed the excitement of Utopia.The urge to achieve the unattainable! On a lazy summer afternoon, I lay back...
The Journey Till Now…
Life itself is a journey and no matter from where you start, it doesn't stop, until of course it does, for the one final time. My recent journey started from my hometown - Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. As I have spent 21 years of my life there, I wanted to explore and...
Aarogya: A Game To Meet The Need For Vaccination Information
Imagine your child getting vaccinated and you are not aware of the name of the vaccine or its use. Scary, isn’t it? Well, that's the case with majority of parents in the villages of Dalsinghsarai in Samastipur, Bihar. This lack of information often fosters negligence...
When People Became My People
As soon as the first part of our fellowship program, i.e. the induction training ended in Udaipur, one by one all the fellows and the team members started leaving for their respective field areas. I was the last one left to see off everyone as I had been placed with...
“हम सब एक हैं” : We All Are One!
As an India Fellow, I got the opportunity to learn closely from women, who are actively working towards empowerment and livelihood at Gujarat State Women’s SEWA Cooperative Federation Limited, Ahmedabad. The central theme of the organization is to provide social...
सफ़र अपना सा!
कुछ हुआ तो ज़रूर है, पर वह कहीं गुम सा है होश संभल तो रहा है, पर कहीं गुम सा है| काबीलियत विलुप्त तो नहीं है, पर गुम सी है मैं चल तो रही हूँ, पर गुम सी हूँ || कुछ यूँ शुरू हुआ था एक सफ़र, एक लम्हा जिसके आज नौ महीने गुज़र जाने का एहसास कुछ मायूस सा कर देता है| शायद इस सफ़र...
A Camp For All Seasons
When you work at a rapidly expanding NGO like Mann Deshi, things happen at a frenetic pace. I realised this when I got back from India Fellow's midpoint training. Even though our training days were packed with sessions and activities, it took me a few days to adjust...
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...
The Dualities Of Women Empowerment
An event full of contradictions An uneven and tardy playground of a government school, a bunch of male teachers, a female Sarpanch, a young woman as the organiser and thirty young and high spirited girls had gathered for a football match on a windy Wednesday morning....
From Adding Numbers To Adding Values: The Story Of Two Reckless Learners
On a sunny Monday, I entered the class carrying the same jhola and wearing my best ever smile. The kids joined me with a grin. A 16-year-old boy, 5ft 2inch tall, with broad shoulders, is currently studying in 9th standard. I remember how his eyes that have never gone...