About A Windy Night in Jiri

When time was closing in for Durov, after a long arduous journey, on the evening of 18th day of June, he sat down and imagined the day when his fate was declared. He could not refrain himself from thinking of that evening, which was still clear in his head. The first...

The Polluted Notion of Purity

8/8/18: It was my second day in Mishirpur, a village in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. I was casually interacting with a male and a female member of a household, unaware of their social status in the village. (The original conversation took place in a mix of Hindi...

Maternal And New Born Health Crisis In Dalsinghsarai, Bihar

It was the last week of July. Dalsinghsarai was dealing with a critical issue of maternal and new born deaths. These deaths had instigated a series of investigations like social autopsy, analysis of existing events along with evaluation of the responses by various...

सामुदायिक रेडियो सिर्फ रेडियो नहीं बल्कि लोगों की एकीकृत आवाज़ है

मैं पुरुलिआ, पश्चिम बंगाल के एक छोटे से गाँव में स्थित सामुदायिक रेडियो स्टेशन में काम करता हूँ | मुझसे बहुत सारे लोगों ने यह प्रश्न किया है कि सामुदायिक रेडियो स्टेशन क्या होता है | रेड एफ.एम, रेडियो मिर्ची और आकाशवाणी तो सुना है किन्तु यह सामुदायिक रेडियो स्टेशन...

An Old Man And A Frog In Rural Udaipur

Age is just a number! After the last few days as described in the previous blog post, she woke up in haste that morning. It was her last day in Nayawaas but she was already marking her calendar, planning her second visit. Children hung from every possible corner of...

Pulp Fiction Meets India Fellow

The legendary film-maker Jean-Luc Godard had famously said, “A story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order”. Another guy called Quentin Tarantino, took it a bit too seriously. He picked a bunch of characters, a set of...

A Blackout That Defined Basic Necessities

One evening, when we came back to our room at Science Park, where I'm staying with my colleagues of Shiksharth, all of a sudden, the weather changed. There was heavy rain followed by storm, and to worsen the situation, came a tornado. The wind was so strong that it...

Learning From My India Fellow Journey – Sandeep Praharsha

To be honest with you, I had no clue what I was doing when I had applied for India Fellow. My folks seemed happy that I got into “something”, but they were not excited with the whole idea of me working in a random village anywhere in India. Their fears were further...

Redefining My Idea Of A Village

My father grew up in a village named Purana in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha. My grandmother, whom I fondly call bou (mother, in Odia) still lives there. As a child, I visited and stayed there during summer and winter vacations. However, most of my ideas about the...

Girls Who Stepped Out For Professional Courses For The First Time

As I mentioned about intervention of mentoring cum tutoring girls for various competitive examinations in my previous blogs how I was mentoring couple of girls for various competitive entrances. In this blog, we will talk about the results and the girls who did it,...

Why The Poor Make Expensive Health Choices

Imagine you are a middle aged man living in rural India. For years now, you have seen the government health sub-center behind your home shut. When it occasionally opens, it is for a short time and seems like it is only for name sake. But when you or your...

The Toilet Story in a Village of Udaipur

With this post, I'd like to share my experience of Community Immersion in Nayawaas, a village about 120 km from Udaipur. Last few months were quite hectic for the entire team of Kshamtalya, as we were busy organizing the Learning Festival in various schools of Kotda...

Memoirs of Kalahandi: The Cultural Preservationist

The concept of culture needs no introduction in a country like India. I vividly remember the time I asked an Australian guy about why he was planning a trip to India; and he replied, “For the diverse, amazing and vibrant culture man!”. It’s true, India is diverse with...