My first week in India Day 1 7/20 Mumbai It has only been 20 hours since we got here and yet I feel like it has been over a week. Me and Vai arrived at 3:15 am and waited over an hour for our bags to find out that the bags were still in Boston (due to a flight delay and therefore a quick connection). Then we had to fill out paperwork and go through customs which took another…
So I know I’m kind of skipping around on these posts, but my travel week has so much info and is taking so long to write and some people wanted to know how my first days at the institute are going, so here’s that. I arrived Thursday at about 1:30 pm after an overnight trip from Varanasi (yet only 5 hours of that were flying). I got about 2.5 hours of rocky sleep in a foreign airport next to a…
In Alternative Spring Break, we often discuss the importance of an “elevator pitch”. That is, if you were in the elevator with someone and they asked about the program, you need a quick spiel that you can pitch them. I have also been told that after big experiences you can prepare a 1 minute, 3 minute or 5 minute brief, in order to be prepared for any given situation. I have never been very good at this because to me,…
In Alternative Spring Break, we often discuss the importance of an “elevator pitch”. That is, if you were in the elevator with someone and they asked about the program, you need a quick spiel that you can pitch them. I have also been told that after big experiences you can prepare a 1 minute, 3 minute or 5 minute brief, in order to be prepared for any given situation. I have never been very good at this because to me,…
My internship with NIRMAN and my seven-week stay in India as a whole challenged the way I think about equity and diversity in society. I have engaged in many conversations surrounding diversity in the U.S. American context, with identities including race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. These categories play out very differently in Indian society, where the aftermath of now-abolished caste system is still very prevalent and sexism affects everyone like no other countries I had been in. Wealth…
My internship with NIRMAN and my seven-week stay in India as a whole challenged the way I think about equity and diversity in society. I have engaged in many conversations surrounding diversity in the U.S. American context, with identities including race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. These categories play out very differently in Indian society, where the aftermath of now-abolished caste system is still very prevalent and sexism affects everyone like no other countries I had been in. Wealth…
About 10 more women ran into our box on the train at almost every stop…there are no other words that can be used to describe the scene other than every inch of the train was being used to it’s full capacity. As the woman from the UP got up to move her things above her seat, along came a slightly older woman and quickly sat in her spot: an argument erupted. The most hilarious thing was that not only were…
“The Nagercoil Express from Mumbai to Pune will leave the platform at 30 minutes after 12”. I ran onto the platform with a bag of some of my things. My second day in India (July 22) and my research plans had already been changed, instead of starting research on August 1st, the date had been bumped up because the Professor I was working prior to my arrival had to suddenly leave the country for work on July 24th. So there…
“The Nagercoil Express from Mumbai to Pune will leave the platform at 30 minutes after 12”. I ran onto the platform with a bag of some of my things. My second day in India (July 22) and my research plans had already been changed, instead of starting research on August 1st, the date had been bumped up because the Professor I was working prior to my arrival had to suddenly leave the country for work on July 24th. So there…
