iVolunteer Blog - everything about volunteeringJust when you think you finally understand the ground reality, the field humbles you. It shows you how much more there is to learn. That’s exactly why I love fieldwork. It never lets you live in assumptions. For the past few months, I’ve been on field and visits almost every day. Bastar, with all its […]
This morning I was sitting in Makdi Singray village for a discussion on tamarind collection and processing. Normal field day. After the meeting wrapped up, I got talking with Shrimani didi. Just casually, I asked her – “Didi, aapko pata hai aaj kya hai?” She smiled, almost like it was a slightly silly question, and […]
I have been sitting with this question for a while now. It started when I was in the middle of hiring for my team – going through CVs, sitting across from people in interviews, trying to figure out who to bring in. And somewhere between the second and third round, it hit me: I was […]
Nine months in the field changes you. It changes the way you look at a forest, the way you listen to an old woman sorting through dried amla berries, the way you calculate the worth of a single tree. When I first arrived in Chhattisgarh, I came with maps, data sheets, and a vague understanding […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
iVolunteer Blog - everything about volunteering 