Roti, sabji, daal, chawal, papad, yogurt.
A cultural fusion that I am most certainly here for
Vrinda-devi, the goddess of Vrindavan, was carved from the same marble as the deities at the main ISKCON temple in Pune. She was gifted to my host mother to be cared for because the temple already had several deities. My first week with my host family was spent preparing the altar for her reception into our home. Her outfit is changed every day, each custom made dress costs about $300. The flower garland around her neck is made fresh everyday by a Hare Krishna devotee and hand delivered to our home
Watermelon stand in Pondicherry
Textiles in Peth, Pune City
Student who begged me to take a picture of him every day at school. I have probably 100 variations of this exact picture
Meena’s chai point, our chai katta (meeting place) for chai after school. Here are some of the Teach for India fellows I worked with, and the owner of Meena’s, looking over our nerdy board game discouragingly because he thought we were gambling
Catch 2, in Lonavala with the Hyderabad fellows, having our morning meeting on the roof overlooking lake Lonavala and some mountains
Hike to Sinhagad Fort, around 5:30 in the morning
Sophia’s host family and a Hindu priest performing a ritual at home
Wrestling instead of doing math revisions
Hello, Mohini didi? Is it you?
Community cat had kittens
Cardamom chai and an Indian Kit Kat bar for lunch
Fyodor, my cow friend, who I passed every single day on my walk to school
