iVolunteer Blog - everything about volunteering

Leaving my hometown, Tirupur, and stepping into a new place like Thanjavur was not easy. It was my first job away from home, and with it came countless fears. I had no clear idea of what life would look like there. The thought of living alone for almost a year scared me deeply. Questions kept […]

I grew up in a typical South Indian middle-class family. Our kitchen was not fancy, but it was full. Big shelves, so many utensils stacked one above the other, different sizes of vessels for different dishes, a proper stove setup… everything had its own place. Morning filter coffee smell, afternoon sambar boiling sound, night dosa […]

I am not going to go into the history of the city, because I think I still have a lot to read about it to write about it. So this blog will be more about the city I have lived in, and my experience so far. Let me start from the beginning. So when I […]

An evening lamp flickers  inside the mud hut.  From above the mahua tree, the moonlight falls softly on the face of Dhaneshwar Netam. Beads of sweat glisten on her dust-covered forehead, shimmering like silver under the tender touch of the moonlight. Before the oil in the evening lamp runs out, the tomato saplings must be […]

It began like a quiet river,twelve paths crossing somewhere betweendreams and dusty roads of India.Different tongues, different homes,yet one shared promise to leave the world a little kinder than we found it. First came Kushal,a traveler with books in his backpackand philosophy in his breath.From Ahmedabad’s thoughtful streetsto the forests of Kondagaon and Narayanpur,he debates […]

One of the most intriguing aspects I observed from my very first days in the fellowship was how deeply culture shapes everyday life in the Kumaon region. It is not just present in festivals or rituals: it quietly governs food, health practices, caregiving, and even decisions around childbirth. During my initial field visits, I found […]

Indian spirituality and religion are very deep, diverse, and layered, and in Uttarakhand, it’s at another level, as it is named Devbhumi. Here, the religious practices are very much a part of daily lives; wherever there is a source of water, there is a temple. It’s a common thing here to find a big or […]

As the fellowship moves towards its closure, something strange has been happening to me. Slowly, quietly, without any announcement , I have started seeing things differently. Not just the work. The way I look at what is right and what is wrong has genuinely shifted, and I am still in the middle of figuring out […]

Shyamvati Netam, a cheerful woman. She is quite intelligent and hardworking. I first met her in the month of September. Her homeis located about 200 meters from a small hill on the northern side of Kutulnar village. She staying with her husband Manglu and three childrens along with parents in-law. Today’s story is about that […]

“The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” This is the bookish definition of the word resilience. But I believe that the definition of resilience is different for different people, based on what they are striving for, what they are fighting for, and what their journey has been so far, and how […]