My last visit to my hometown in Kerala had been a year ago. I decided to set...
Complexity Of Education And My Belief In Solution
I always believed education to be a basic right for all. I thought that it...
Salma’s Home In The Forests Of Uttarakhand
This is an attempt to understand the world of a forest dweller who is trying...
विदेश का सुनहरा ऑफ़र छोड़ यह युवा बना इंडिया फ़ेलो!
मैं, जाबिद खान, मखौली गाँव का रहने वाला हूँ जो राजस्थान के सवाई माधोपुर जिले...
There Are No Roads But There Is An Ante Natal Care Camp
Organization: Swasthya Swaraj SocietyPlace: Kalahandi, OdishaType of Terrain:...
A Day In My Life As An India Fellow – Part 2
Read part 1 here We took Riya’s father to a hospital in Udaipur and I tagged...
Pulling The Maheshwari Threads Together
As I walk through the narrow lanes of Maheshwar, a symphony of sounds fills...
De-layering Mobility
In the last couple of months, I had been accompanying a team of mental health...
Why Mansukhbhai Is “Not Okay” With Being Bela’s Last Hand Block Printer
Mansukh Pitambar Khatri looks painfully scrawny and impossibly gnarled, as he bends over a long table spread with a beige cloth. He certainly looks suited to his trade, as he continues to work, oblivious to the heat, using astonishing muscle memory while printing a...
Aspirations Of Youth In Jamui, Rural Bihar
Introduction Young people are agents of change in a country. Youth can be termed as a “transition period while the individuals prepare themselves to become responsible and productive citizens of the country”. Different organizations define the youth age group...
Empowering The Hinterlands During A Worldwide Pandemic
As a part of my field visits to various Panchayats around Kutch, I got to understand the way local administration chose to deal with the pandemic. This process helped me to build knowledge about the steps taken to control the spread of pandemic at the policy level, in...
How The Khatris Are Bringing Josh To Rogan
Mohmad Hanif Arab Khatri comfortably seats himself on the floor. Stretched out before him is a piece of blue cloth, pinned on either side to the legs of a low-length table. Reaching for his dibbi, he pulls out a stylus and a blob of a thick brownish gelatinous...
Of Young Girls And Big Responsibilities
"Their mother ran away with her lover, leaving these girls behind”. I looked around to see the girls who were being talked about. The oldest of them looked at me and smiled as the younger ones held on to her tightly. I went up to them and out of habit, asked their...
The Kishori Shramik And The Labour Market
Note: This blog was first published on Feminism in India on 13th January, 2021 In the Sabla block of the Dungarpur district of Southern Rajasthan is where we met a 16 year old Manja* for the first time. Poking the ground with a stick she picked up on the way to where...
Who Are The Commons Really For?
Disclaimer: This blog is a translation of a case study written by the Urban SETU team, working with migrants and the Nagar Palika of Bhuj city in Gujarat. If you read Gujarati, you can read it here! I have only connected the idea of The Tragedy Of The Commons and...
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...
Love Story: Escape – Part 1/2
“ It was in the summers, about 30 years from today. I was pretty like those girls in TV serials. We didn’t have much, but Abba and Ammi spared enough for all my brothers and sisters, every month. I remember going with Abba to the vegetable market. Fond memories,...
How Shakil Bhai is Printing a Different Story, One Block at a Time
It's dirty, noisy and crowded. There's wastewater flowing in from one side. Cows and dogs are picking through piles of garbage, hunting for leftovers. There's an unpleasant stench wafting in the air. It isn't the most welcoming sight to witness, not...
Youth Leadership In Rural Chhattisgarh
Before 2020 could end, we (Nikita D'cruz and I) got to meet a group of 25 local people from the villages of Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh. If you aren’t familiar with the region, it’s one of those towns that aren’t known to many, and have to be referred to, with a...
Impact Of The Lockdown On Children
“What has been the impact of the lockdown on children?” - the question popped up in the chat-box of an online webinar I was listlessly sitting through a few months ago, a time when the world was only beginning to grow accustomed to Zoom classrooms, office meetings and...
The Imposition Of Criminality
De-notified Tribes (DNTs) continue to be denied access to housing, healthcare, nutrition, education, livelihood, political representation, justice and lives of dignity. It’s scary how little we know/are taught about this history. This is my humble attempt to spread the word.
To The Last Mile: Digital Financial Services In Rural Communities
Ever since I completed my graduation, got a job and became financially independent, I do not remember transacting much in cash, except for the few instances of grocery shopping at a local market or paying for an auto rickshaw ride. There was always a digital...