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While there, this year’s fellows will be blogging to keep their friends, family, and CSAS staff members up-to-date on their travels and adventures. You can read their blogs here and follow along with their work and travel experiences in India. Happy reading!
Disha Sankholkar
May 5
I arrived in Pune on Saturday, May 3. I have had some time to settle in and adjust to the time difference and heat! So far, I have been enjoying refreshing my Marathi and Hindi skills, trying local fruits and vegetables, and exploring Pune! I have also been soaking in all of the cultural differences, including how it feels to navigate all the traffic and honking.
Today was my first day of volunteering at my NGO, Jankalyan Blood Centre. I met the lead technician, and she is extremely kind and welcoming. I Ubered to and from the location, which is about half an hour away from where I am staying. I went through an orientation that explained the different stages of the blood drive process and chose to help out in the ELISA and centrifugation areas where they centrifuge the blood, separate it into plasma, RBCs, and platelets if applicable, and test for antibodies in the blood. It was super interesting and I am looking forward to learning more!
May 12
I have completed one week in Pune! I have been really enjoying volunteering and exploring Pune more. I made a few local friends at my NGO who grew up in Pune and went out for food and sightseeing with them! We saw Shaniwar Wada.
Shaniwar Wada, a cool historic spot that used to be a fort for the Peshwas of the Maratha Empire and is said to be haunted! I also participated in a thalassemia awareness walk, which was an amazing experience because we successfully attracted a lot of attention to the issue and spread awareness about it.
My new friends and I have been practicing speaking in Marathi and English together and I got to ride on their scooters (motorcycles) around Pune, which was so much fun! I was a little apprehensive at first because the Indian traffic can be very jarring, but I quickly got over my fear and it was so freeing riding around on the scooter.
One of my favorite aspects of the NGO is that all of us who work together are like a family. At lunchtime, we pass around our food for everyone to try and some people even cut mangoes and bring them for people to share and eat. I'm very excited for this week as well, especially now that I have a better understanding of the culture here.
May 19
This past week has been full of new and amazing experiences! I have learned so much about people at the NGO, and how different the culture is here than it is in the US, even among Indian-Americans. I am so grateful that I have been able to make more friends who are locals and can tell me about their experiences in Pune and can also help me navigate Pune's local spots.
My friends and I went (by scooter!) to Tulshibaug, a bustling marketplace where I learned how you can bargain. We also visited the famous Dagdusheth temple here, and it was absolutely breathtaking. The entire Dagdusheth Ganpati is made of silver and it is incredible. We have been lucky to travel to see all of these places because the weather has been much cooler and rainier than it typically is this time of year.
Looking forward to another great week in Pune!
May 26
Today was my last day working at my NGO and it was really hard to say goodbye. Volunteering with the blood bank was such an enriching experience. I gained technical knowledge while learning more about Puneri and Indian culture and connecting with my heritage at a deeper level. I said goodbye to everyone at my NGO and they held a small traditional Indian sendoff for me, which was very kind and thoughtful. My NGO friends and I also had dinner for my last day in Pune, and it was great to see them once more before I left.
This past week, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in a women's health screening camp at a rural location outside of Pune. I was able to facilitate translation between the doctor and the patients, as the doctor only knew Hindi and most of the patients only knew Marathi, and since I understand both, I was able to help the patients and doctor communicate with each other. It was an amazing service that the organization provided, holding free health checkups and screening for women's health-related issues by doing free pap smears and educating women about how to complete breast exams, etc.
I also got to roam around my friend's college here, and it was really cool to see the similarities and differences between colleges in India and those in the US. I am traveling to Goa for my last few days in India and then I will head back to the US! I can't believe how fast the time went by here... I have enjoyed every minute and am incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity.
Anniya Maysun
May 6
This past week on May 1, I arrived in Mysore (Mysuru), a city in India's southwestern Karnataka state, starting my internship with the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), an NGO working towards developing human and social capital to build a resurgent India, involved in areas including health, education, socio-economic empowerment, and training and research. Over the past week, I have been introduces to the various works that SVYM does. I spent the first couple of days at the main office in Mysuru, Karnataka, meeting with numerous faculty members to learn more about the work they do. I also spent a day travelling with a group of a nurses and doctors on their palliative home care visits and counseling sessions. On my day off, I travelled to the markets near Mysore's center with a friend I made at the Palliative Care Centre, exploring this beautiful city.
On May 5, I travelled to a small town south of Mysore, Sargur, which houses the Vivekananda Memorial Hospital (VMH), a 100 bedded hospital with 24/7 emergency care facility serving rural and tribal communities. This week I am getting introduced to the work they are doing here, particularly the various interventions and initiatives they do in fields of HIV, TB, Palliative Care, and Mobile Health Units. Eventually I will share the sustainable goals I have generated. Overall, I am learning a lot about SVYM as a whole and I am excited to learn more and contribute!
May 12
I am updating from my second week of interning with the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, delving into the health sector. I relocated from Mysore to Sargur, about an hour and half south of Mysore, which sits the Vivekananda Memorial Hospital, and many of their community health initiatives. This week, I primarily tagged along many of the different initiatives they do here, including Palliative Home Care visits, Mobile Health Unit, and various health camps they engage with the local tribal and non-tribal communities. I was tasked by my mentor with a large subset of data from the Mobile Health Unit and compiled some graphs that show trends. I also updated their Sustainable Development Goals of this year.
Overall, I am enjoying my experience, initially it was a little tough because of changes in my diet and environment. But I became acquainted with a fellow intern and travelled back to Mysore this past Sunday! I'm excited for this upcoming week of delving into more community health initiatives.
May 20
I am updating from my third week of interning with the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) in Sargur at the Vivekananda Memorial Hospital (VMH) This week I continued to participate in more of the community health initiatives in the local community, such as various "camps" where health professionals go to different areas and assist the community on general health or eye health. I also learned more about a research study being conducted at VMH called HeLTI (Healthy Lives Trajectory Initiative), a research initiative to develop and test interventions to prevent obesity in children and promote child development. The randomized interventions with three arms (pre-conception, pregnancy and control), will reduce childhood adiposity, improve cardiovascular and metabolic health, and improve child neurodevelopmental outcomes. This is a study that is happening in many countries across the world, and I was able to engage in home visits for bio sample collection.
I continued to work on the tasks from the week prior and in my free time, would go on walks in the town! I met lots of people and spent the weekend back in Mysore sightseeing, seeing the numerous landmarks in the area. Approaching my final week, I am preparing for my final presentation and wrapping up the activities I have been working on!
Varshini Kashyap
May 21
I arrived in Bangalore on May 13. From May 13 to May 17 I spent time with my family. On May 17, I took an overnight bus to travel to Manipal/Udupi.
On May 18, I explored Udupi. I went to the Malpe Beach and the Udupi Sri Krishna Temple. On May 19, I checked into the University administrative offices at MAHE. I got access to the hostel where I will be staying and I met my internship contacts.
On May 20, I traveled by bus to a preventative breast and cervical cancer screening clinic in Hattiangadi, Karnataka which was a great experience.
Yesterday, on May 21, I traveled by bus to a community health center in Kota, Karnataka. So far, it has been a meaningful experience to understand the state of medical care in rural communities. I am very grateful for this opportunity!
May 26
Over the past week, I have visited additional rural health centers in Kumbashi and Brahmavara and the Udupi District Hospital, which treats all patients for only 10 rupees (equivalent to 12 cents in USD).
Additionally, I visited an Anganwadi with the Kasturba Medical College students to educate the children on hand-washing techniques and healthy food choices. An Anganwadi is a rural child care center established by the government of India to improve the nutritional and health status of children aged 0-6 and pregnant and lactating mothers.
I am learning a lot about how the Indian government healthcare system works and the most pressing health concerns faced by low-resource communities. Thank you for this opportunity!
Vishalakshi Meyyappan
May 19
I arrived in Bengaluru, India on May 15 and took a bus to Karaikudi that night. This was my first time traveling to India by myself and also my first time using the local transportation here alone. My internship begins in June so I spent the last week with my grandparents. I also visited some of my extended family. This week was also the beginning of the Karaikudi Thiruvizha, a ten day long festival associated with the Koppudaiya Nayagi Amman Temple. I enjoyed visiting the intricate architecture and seeing the beautifully decorated deities. I am looking forward to tomorrow when the main event will occur.
May 26
This past week, I got to attend the main event of the Karaikudi Thiruvizha, the temple car festival. I knew it would be crowded since the city's population is over 300,000 people (about five times my hometown!), but I was still surprised to see how packed the streets were, without any space to move. The wheel of the temple car was as tall as me, which was amazing to see up close.
I also went to two special birthday celebrations, an 80th and a 90th. These are really meaningful in Tamil culture and mark a couple’s completion of their family responsibilities. I met some friends I hadn’t seen in years and it was really nice to catch up and get blessings from the couples. I also visited the tombstone of my great-great-grandparents for the first time. It felt really special since most people here are cremated, but they were buried and are considered sacred in our family. I’m traveling back to Bangalore soon and am excited to start my internship. Before I start, I plan to spend the next week exploring this city a bit more. While it’s widely known for its temples and architecture, I’m hoping to also check out some local markets and clothing shops.
