For me, life is sacred. I'm thankful that I am able to see and walk, that my...
गुमनाम बिरहोर समुदाय
हम किताबों में, कहानियों में, कुछ जगह घूम कर या लोगों से सुन कर आदिवासी समाज...
The Struggles Of Sheep Shearing In Gujarat
Winter is here and it comes with warm sweaters, shawls and rajais. Sheep wool,...
Gandhi Jayanti At Gram Swaraj Sangh
Early in the morning, all the residents of Gram Swaraj Sangh (GSS) campus and...
When Charity And Kindness Meet Complexity
This particular incident unfolded on a Sunday around 10 am, when the sun...
Chhath Puja In Bihar: A Celebration Of Four Days
What is Chhath Puja? Chhath Puja is an yearly four daylong celebration. It is...
Suman Meravi: Mudghusri’s Self Made Woman
Here is the story of Suman Meravi, a young woman from a Mudghusri village of...
Rise Of Fever Clinics During Monsoon
Monsoons in India bring the greenery and calmness back into town. I love to...
![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...
A Closer Look Of Majholi, Panna : My First Rural Immersion
Rural immersions make for an important part of the fellowship journey. I remember during induction, we were divided into teams of five and were asked to go to villages in and around Udaipur, everyday for three days. On Day 1 the instructions provided to us were, "Do...
![Batik From The Lanes Of Ujjain [A Photo Story]](https://indiafellow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20220227_180002-scaled-1.jpg)
Batik From The Lanes Of Ujjain [A Photo Story]
The word 'Batik' which translates to wax writing is a form of wax resist dyeing of fabric. Even though the exact point of origin of Batik is still undiscovered, the history can be traced back to two thousand years ago in countries like India, Indonesia and Japan...
Leveraging Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Development Sector
A Public Private Partnership (PPP) is essentially a contractual relationship between a public sector authority and one or more private parties. In the development sector, the concept shifts the role of the government bodies from delivering services directly, to...
Swachhta Will Be A Dream If We Don’t Flush Out The Inequality In India’s Public Toilets
You’ve been running errands for the last two hours in your city’s local market area, and now feel the need to pee. Home is a 45-minute metro ride away, and you can’t wait for that long. But you see the signboards for a public toilet within walking distance. What do...
My Definition Of Empowerment : The Inspiring Story Of Meenakshi Tai
A couple of months back, we had such an online session* on Empowerment by Sushma Iyengar, founder of Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, Gujarat. I was excited about it, one because it was by such an inspiring leader and two, because of the topic. The term, empowerment, is...
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...
Mera Ghar Kahan Hai? Asks A Domestic Violence Warrior
The world in front of her eyes came crumbling down with the news of her wedding being fixed. She ran to her grandpa with millions of questions in her eyes and shouted at him. But, grandpa did not utter a word. His silence was enough to tell that her fate had been...
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,...
The Rituals Of (Dis)possession
Goddess Kishori's temple in Khamri, where the ritual of bandhej takes place Kashi* starts to speak, however from a distance, because bandhej forbids her to stay in close proximity with women. She is one of the many women in the Bundelkhand region, to go through the...
Doing “Dirty Work”: The Midwives Of Rural Bihar Come Clean
Cleanliness is also a big facet of the work of midwives. An essential component to understanding their responsibilities is caste. This is a representational image. “Who will I teach? They all tell me, ‘Who will do this hellish work? It is dirty and I feel...
Is Our Education System Irrelevant To The Tribal Children?
In my second week at Swasthya Swaraj, I traveled with two of our team members to Taramundi, a beautiful hamlet in rural Odisha. Our team working on education in the region, had been receiving complaints that the classes are not regular here. We weren’t able to reach...
The Decaying Roots Of Tradition
After coming to Odisha, I was invited for a wedding for the first time in a tribal village. I decided to go for it. Outside Kerala, I have only seen north Indian weddings, that too only in movies. This was going to be a completely different experience. The venue was...
Dream A Little Dream Of Me…
Trigger Warning: Mentions rape, suicide. 'Didi vo thodi pagal hai, usko samjhao kuch.' Asmina's* mother alleges her daughter to be 'out of her mind'. The 15-year-old bright girl rolls her eyes in return. She smirks at me, her smile though lights up her face,...