As my semester abroad comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting upon one aspect of urban India that is present in all the cities that I’ve visited during the past three and a half months. Whether in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Varanasi, Agra, or Delhi, poor children roam the streets either begging for money or selling small trinkets around tourist sites. As a pre-med student ...
Reyna Segovia
Bandipur Tiger Reserve – Safari Catalog
On November 3rd, after a six hour bus drive from Coimbatore, we reached the Bandipur Safari Lodge in Karnataka. I stayed in a cabin called Tiger with Hannah. Our room had a huge tiger painting on the back wall, foreshadowing the beautiful cat that we would see later that night during our first Indian safari. In total, we went on four safaris during our stay at the Bandipur ...
Kālā Pānī: A Brief Overview of the Cellular Jail
During our trip to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sophia, Heather, and I decided to visit one of Port Blair’s most important monuments: The Cellular Jail. We walked up the hill until we reached the main entrance, and for 30 Indian rupees we got to see one of the most breath-taking historical sites that I have ever visited. Not only does the jail represent the transitions of a ...
Global Warming, Coral Reefs, and the Andaman Islands
Last week our group travelled to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an archipelago that belongs to the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region that has lost at least 70% of its original habitat and has a high amount of endemic species (species that are native to the region and not found anywhere else in the world). I considered ...
Feminism at its fittest
Back in August, during our program orientation, Georgia Ringle asked the group to share our personal concerns about studying in India. My biggest worry was not being able to exercise regularly for an entire semester. Back home, I work out daily to reduce my levels of stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, finding places in India where I can go out for runs has been challenging at ...
The Todas and The Badagas
On October 2nd, we arrived at Chennai after an overnight, 13-hour, train ride from Hyderabad. Experiencing the Indian railroad system was a thrilling experience. The leather bunkbeds, the beautiful 6:00 a.m. Chennai sunrise, and the multiple chaiwalas walking back-and-forth the train’s narrow corridors fascinated me. Unfortunately, I was only able to sleep for four hours of the ...
Auroville: An Eco-friendly Experimental Township
On February 28, 1968, men and women from 124 different countries and 23 Indian states placed soil from their homelands inside an urn to symbolize the inauguration of Auroville, an experimental township. Its founder, Mirra Alfassa, said that Auroville was “meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above ...
Ganesh Chaturthi, a colorful welcome to Tamil Nadu
I saw my first Ganesh idol within the first hour of arriving to Chennai. A previously arranged bus picked us up from the airport, and even though it was dark, I was able to spot the first elephant god sculpture of my trip. Little did I know that this would be one of many shrines around the city dedicated to this deity around this time of year. After researching online, I found ...
