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 […]
Tag: writing
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A Cup of Tea, A Pocketful of Curses
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 […]
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A Granddaughter’s Goodbye
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 […]
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MOO-ving Away from the Herd
It started with a simple observation.I visited multiple schools during field visits for my project, and in every school I went to, I saw the same pattern repeat: students copying and asking each other for answers for a survey even after being told that there were no right or wrong answers. My first thought was, […]
Reflecting back on my fellowship journey, I feel I haven’t done enough. But I am not done yet. As we go on with life, we go through different experiences. Most of them have been fulfilling for me, but some have been disheartening as well. I joined the fellowship to take a pause and be at […]
“Which project location will I get?”This question echoed in my mind when I joined the JSW Foundation Fellowship in September 2023. My journey began in Pune, on the auspicious day of Ganapathi Festival—a vibrant, culturally welcome to a path that would transform me deeply. That day, strangers became co-fellows, and soon co-fellows became lifelong friends. […]
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What Happens Next?
Not a Plan. Just a Pause. I don’t have a five-year plan.I don’t have a big announcement.What I have is silence. A pause. A moment that feels like standing at the edge of a long road – dusty, uneven, but somehow beautiful. This fellowship wasn’t just a job. It wasn’t just “fieldwork.” It was a […]
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Beginnings, Bonding, and Becoming
On the 28th of September 2023, something quietly powerful began. Thirty individuals from different corners of India — diverse in language, culture, upbringing, and aspirations — stepped into an experience that would soon challenge, transform, and ultimately bind them in ways they could never have imagined. We arrived not knowing what lay ahead, but with […]
I came into this fellowship full of dreams, wide-eyed, hopeful, and determined to make a difference. I believed that when your intentions are pure, the world opens up for you. That if you really want to work, you can work, and everything else will find a way. But life didn’t go that way. These two […]
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