During my last week in Bangalore, a soft chill ran through the city, burrowing into my throat like a mischievous snake in a garden patch. Perhaps the change in weather—a sharp contrast to the temperate warmth that generally paces through the Garden City’s streets—was a symbol of the journey to come, one in which I must attempt to vaporize back into the world I knew before my fellowship experience. Or perhaps it was nature’s way of challenging me to absorb…
I arrived home from India three days ago. I had traveled internationally a few times before, but I’ve never felt as strange returning home from a trip as I did this Sunday. When I say I felt strange I’m not talking about jet lag. An hour after I got to my house, my mother and I went to the grocery store. While we were driving everything just felt empty. Where were all the people? The cars on the freeway were…
On a particular day when I knew I wasn’t going to be productive, I headed into Bangalore’s central district. I’d been there in passing but never saw it in the way I would have liked. Until then I hadn’t really done any sightseeing and this seemed like the day for it. Bangalore has two nicknames, the Silicon Valley of India and The Garden City. With the latter in mind, I began my day at Cubbon Park. Sitting in the center…
In the weeks before my departure for India, I read Rebecca Solnit’s book “A field guide to getting lost” partly in preparation for the exercise in losing and being lost that would come to be my trip to and through India. In one of the chapters, a Buddhist monk in San Francisco talks about a blind man who, when faced with a street corner, yells help until someone comes to his aid and helps him cross the street. The monk…
As a college student, my perception of time is, for most of the year, measured in the following parameters: days left to study for an exam, minutes between classes, seconds more that I can sleep, and countless moments of laughter and euphoria with friends. We tend to speak of time as a tangible entity, something that we can easily grab by the shoulders and steer in the direction of our dreams. Yet, time is also a sorcerer of sorts, a…
4 weeks. It has been a whole four weeks since I first joined the lab here at inStem/NCBS in Bangalore, and it has already been full of adventure. There is absolutely nothing like the feeling you get when are walking into a completely new life, without knowing what to expect. Will I be able to follow along and make something out of this summer here? How will my mentor and other lab members be? Anyways, I’ll start from the moment I…
My average day here goes something like this: I do research and then I take a walk to explore my small section of the city. In truth it’s not all that glamorous. Anywhere you live will have a certain amount of routine. Yet what makes being in India so interesting for me is that it’s all new and different from what I know. There are some similarities, a McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Dominos and Pizza Hut all within walking…
Week 1: Adjusting my Expectations On the very misleading website of the non-profit I came to work for, there is a photo gallery of all the activities that happen at the center. Among those listed were yoga, drama, dance, and art activities. I had been under the impression that these things were everyday scheduled activities at the community center. In my skype call with the org I asked if I could help out with the creative arts activities. My host…
When I was a junior in high school I read a short story by Hemmingway for English class entitled “A clean well-lighted place.” At this time I was working my way through Hemingway’s book of short stories “In Our Time,” so I had read lots of his work, but this story stuck with me for some reason. The story is about an old man who comes every night to a café and drinks until very late, and a disagreement between…
In my previous blog posts, I’ve written about my initial impressions in India. I’ve discussed my fascination with the concept of borders—physical as well as psychological ones—and the ways in which our minds often construct faulty comparisons as a means of overcoming the discomfort of difference. Since my previous posts, I have started my work with Swasti, a public health resource centre in my host city of Bangalore, and learned even more; this time, not about erratic driving habits, but…
