iVolunteer Blog - everything about volunteeringBefore joining the Swar Fellowship, I had read bell hooks’ Feminism Is for Everybody and admired its simplicity and clarity. But only after spending months in the field did her ideas start feeling real. Hooks talks about feminism not as a theory, not as something meant for a classroom or an elite group, but as […]
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 […]
One of the most powerful parts of my Swar Fellowship has been learning how differently women experience life, opportunity, and oppression. In the beginning, I used to think “women’s issues” were similar everywhere mobility, safety, income, workload. But as my fieldwork deepened, I realised something more complex: every woman’s struggle is shaped by the multiple […]
When I look back at the last few months of my Swar Fellowship, I realise that the most powerful part of this journey hasn’t been the activities or the reports, it has been the quiet, slow, human process of building trust. As fellows, we enter communities with a project plan, a purpose, and a list […]
During my fieldwork as a Swar Fellow, there were many moments when the theories I had read suddenly came alive in front of me. But nothing struck me as strongly as the idea Simone de Beauvoir wrote in The Second Sex: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” I had studied this earlier, […]
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 […]
There is a word in Bangla “স্থিতপ্রজ্ঞা” which means a person who stays calm, balanced or steady no matter what the situation is – good or bad. If I had to describe the woman of the mountains in one word, then it would essentially be this word. Living in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand has […]
I was on my way back from Chennai after attending a family wedding. My route was long: Chennai → Vijayawada → Sukma. At Vijayawada, I had a connecting sleeper bus at 10:30 pm. By the time I reached, it was just 6 in the evening. Now, I have this small habit whenever I travel: if […]
The Surprise Visit Diwali came with a gift I didn’t plan the chance to go home. It was supposed to be a surprise, a burst of light in what had been a difficult year. My grandfather, nearly 90, had been ill for twelve long months. But when I saw him, something magical happened. Despite everything, […]
Have you ever been to a place where time seems to pause? That is exactly how I felt when I visited Gangi, the last village of Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. Tucked away in the high mountains, Gangi is beautiful, raw, and untouched, almost as if the world outside has forgotten it. I spent six hours […]
iVolunteer Blog - everything about volunteering 