Often in history we have seen many of the princely states, cities and villages...
Vasundhara Ni Vaani – Kabir Yatra
It was a bright morning. Everyone was busy with their work. At around 11 am I...
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...
An Imprint Of Culture In Kutch
The costumes of people in rural areas of Kutch, Gujarat are known for their...
The November Of 2023
I plan my trips well in advance and always leave room for some delay in...
Common Facility Centre And Wool
A Common Facility Centre (CFC) is a shared physical space for a group of...
A Job Still Not Worth Its Salt
Life hasn’t changed much for small-scale salt pan workers known as Agariyas in...
मासूम ख़्वाहिशें, अनोखी बंदिशें और घटते आंकड़े
कम्युनिटी सेंटर पर रहना यानी आसपास स्थित समुदायों के सभी खुले-छुपे और छुपाए...
Rolling With The Punches: Thinking About Labour And Leisure With Bihar’s Beedi Makers
"Butru humni ki business ke baare mein likh rahel [This young woman is writing about our business]," Meera Devi* calls out to the woman who's just walked up to the gathering of women sitting in the gaanch (sandy grove) outside the Kali Mandir in the village of...
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...
Why 50 kgs On A Weighing Scale Comes As A Surprise To Me
Malnutrition as a term never occurred in my conversations before I started working with Project Koshika in Panna, Madhya Pradesh.It has become a reoccurring word in my dictionary now. Koshika runs a maternal and infant health intervention in 10 remote villages of...
Kambadiya Devipujaks : The Worshippers Of Devi
Most of my time spent in Kutch is with the communities on urban Bhuj, specifically slum areas. I go for regular visits to their places to meet the Kishoris (adolscent girls). As part of my project with Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS), we work towards the...
Trupti Kitchen : A Community Kitchen For Senior Citizens
MArathwada NAVnirman LOKayat 'MANAVLOK', the organization I am part of, is working on myriad thematic areas like watershed management, health, education, women empowerment, disaster relief, agriculture, and livelihoods. Think of a thematic area and I bet MANAVLOK has...
Possible Consequences Of Women Not Knowing Their Bodies
I was on a patient visit, to understand why some of our TB diagnosed patients were not consuming their medicines and to further motivate them to eat, take care and routinely consume their medicines. On one such visit we came across a home besides a corn field where a...
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]
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...