Every morning my host father and I wake up at 6 (before the temperature has risen over 100º F) to go for a walk in the nearby Jahanpanah City Forest. We walk through a peaceful neighborhood of elegantly decorated Upper-Middle Class Delhi apartment to a massive public park with trails through the forest. As we walk, we pass many live-in servants washing cars for their employers or chatting with each other before their bosses wake up. Each walk is interrupted…
It was 1pm and I couldn’t get Skype to work. Although I came to India to do my own independent research, and not work for a NGO like the other SiSA fellows, I got recruited into one. One of the people who was staying at same Airbnb as me happened to be the municipal finance manager at Janaagraha, an NGO that does work with urban planning, government, municipal finance and democratic access. When he learned what I was working on…
I arrive in Bangalore, India in the early morning of Wednesday, May 17. As I finish exchanging my United States dollars for a colorful stack of Indian rupees—rays of purple, orange and white glimmer from the notes clutched in my fist—I find myself overwhelmed by the tight hug of reality. This is it, I think as I step outside the airport into a thick wall of warmth and humidity. From New York to London to Mumbai to Bangalore, it has…
It’s hard to believe that my arrival in Delhi on May 10th was only 8 days ago. With an overwhelming array of new experiences (in the best since of the word) if I were to try to reflect on all of the week’s events, I would be writing a novel. Instead, I decided to compile a short list of 4 initial realizations. 5 Weeks in India is NOT ENOUGH TIME! Before finding out that I had received this fellowship, I…
3 Right Turns. 4.5 Miles. 15 Minutes. This is the furthest I have ever lived away from my parents’ home in the past 19 years. As a born and bred Ann Arbor townie, I became familiar with the winding, hilly streets of North Campus as a high school cross-country runner training for 5Ks. My summers were spent laying in the grass by the League, listening to live music from local bands during the annual Ann Arbor Summer Festival. Making my…
In the few weeks I’ve been back from school, just about everyone has asked me what I’m doing this summer. The conversation usually goes something like this: “I’m going to India.” “That’s cool! Are you going for a mission trip or just to visit? What will you be doing there?” “I got a fellowship from U of M to do independent research there.” “What will you be researching?” “I’m going to be studying urban planning. More specifically I’ll be determining the…
I stand above an empty suitcase with trepidation. I should be packing for a 3-month whirlwind adventure in Goa, India. However, something stops me. Be it the nerves of traveling across the world alone for the first time or perhaps the realization of the magnitude of what I’m about to dive into – but I can’t seem to move my body and start packing. I gently remind myself that this is what I’ve spent months working towards. Ever since I…
So, I am about two weeks away from my travel date, which is the perfect time to reflect/ get excited/ freak out about my next three months. I remember last year, around this time, when my friend Sam Mcmullen was rushing to get all his affairs in order before getting on a plane to travel halfway across the world as a SISA fellow. I remember not being able to imagine being in his place and yet, one year later and…
I’ve always been fascinated by India. From the picturesque Himalayan mountains and the legend behind the Taj Mahal, to the Bollywood celebrities, the more than 700 dialects of Hindi and the persistence of the caste system, India is a universe of its own. I’ve always had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that an entire fifth of the world’s population lives inside its borders. I’ve always seen India as one of those places that you have to…
Imagine that you are eight years old. It is your first day of third grade at your elementary school, and you are hopeful. As you step off the elevated steps of the sunshine-colored school bus, the stench of gasoline weaves into the crispness of the September air. The wind skirts to and fro, squeezing your shoulders tightly. Its soft grip guides you towards the front steps of the school, as if to say, maybe this will be the year. Inside…
