Tastes Like Home by Nithya Venkat I really resent vocabulary that tend to eroticize and exoticize India because I hate the idea of my culture being something fundamentally different. The idea of Indians and other ethnic groups being seen as… Read more

Coconut Adventures by Nirali Patel As we were sailing through the backwaters of Kumarakam, I looked at the top of our boat. It was made from coconut leaves, dried and weaved. This was held together by rope, made from coconut… Read more

Kowtukal by DJ Jassal A couple days ago, we ventured out to Kowtukal, a small beachside village just an hour from Kanyakumari (the southern tip of India). As we approached the village by car, I remember being so astonished by… Read more

Life in the Village By: Riya Bhalla and Ishaan Koradia  We started the day off by going to a bird sanctuary which was located right next to the back waters. It was hard to see birds at first, there wasn’t… Read more

A Stop in the Jungle Growing up, I remember spending days in elementary school learning about the different climate zones of the Earth: the tundra near the poles, the rainforests near the equator, and so on. When we were young,… Read more

I came to India when I was seven years old in 1951 with my American mother, Doris Norden, and my Indian step-father, Rama Chattopadhyaya, son of Kamaladevi and Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. Since then I’ve made India my home and nationality and… Read more

Chennai has recently experienced a water crisis. Four of its main reservoirs had run almost dry, leaving millions of people vulnerable. The city scrambled to truck in water while people suffered sweltering heat and long lines. Daily life, businesses, and dignity… Read more

Retracing Dance to Its Roots As our first day in Kerala was coming to a close, we made our way to the final activity of the evening: a showcase of traditional Kerala dance and martial arts. As we eagerly waited… Read more

Not A Typical American Experience Something that a typical American does not experience is a hands-on experience with entrepreneurship. Contrary to western belief, India is full of entrepreneurship opportunities. Today we traveled to Startup Village Kerala. Startup Village is a… Read more

No Translator Needed   In my family friend group back home I always felt like somewhat of an outsider. Out of all of them, I feel the least connected to Tamil culture. I don’t listen to Tamil music, I rarely… Read more