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Fellowship

The Strength To Feel Weak

There’s a particular kind of sting that comes with feedback that’s true. My mentor’s words were careful, almost gentle: “You’re brilliant at planning and management. But your communication… sometimes you’re reactive rather than responsive.” She wasn’t wrong. I knew it even as I felt myself bristling against it. Here’s what nobody tells you about personal […]

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Fellowship

The CEO Who Wore Slippers

I still remember that line from Macaulay’s infamous Minute on Indian Education, the one weall had to memorize for UPSC prep: creating Indians “English in taste, in opinions, in morals,and in intellect.”Back then, sitting with my history textbook, I dismissed it as colonial history-irrelevant tomodern India, a global leader on the world stage. I was […]

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Fellowship

Learning To Spot The Leopard

May 27, 2025. I still remember that date-my first day in the field. Everything felt foreign: the geography, the society, the communities, even the way people looked at me. I was an outsider holding a clipboard, armed with theories and frameworks from the classroom,thinking I knew what “development” meant. I didn’t know anything. This moment […]

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Fellowship

How Buying a Phone Taught me about Fieldwork

I haven’t had a phone for the last three months. I know it sounds hard to believe, but that’sthe truth. I’ve been using my tablet for calling and for all my other work. In field conditions,carrying a tab everywhere is not easy at all, and when the Republic Day sale came, I finally decided that […]

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Fellowship

Maybe It Wasn’t My 100%

On 11 June, exactly at 6:37 PM UPSC CSE preliminary exam results is out with trembling fingers . I typed my roll number in Holy PDF…. “Sorry! Result not found ” Read the screen. I searched it again and again and the result was the same . I felt a choking sensation in my throat. […]