December 28, 2013

Reliving India

India is a land of diverse cultures…So many languages, customs, festivals… so many lives to live within not so far distances.

Well, I had grown reading and hearing about this diversity but I guess for the first time I am experiencing it .

Even after spending more than 23 years in the country now, I am having new discoveries everyday during the work and specially while travelling to the exteriors of Kolkata. I embarked on this incredible journey as a fellow with American India Foundation to learn and explore more about the development sector in the country but I never expected that it will also serve me so many other rich experiences and happy surprises on the way.

to name a few.. Commuting here is very different form the most places I have seen in India.

Food… hhmm.. I am vegetarian in Bengal. So I am stuck there. Though Street food has certain commonality.

Language…no matter how close BENGALI is from HINDI, I don’t get in the remote parts. However, my interactions with the field trainers are always fun. I try to explain things in HINDI and they act like they understand but they don’t.

Festivals… Now this was the biggest surprise. I come from the land of Rajasthan which apart from having millions of their own regional festivals also celebrates all big national ones. But then I encountered something beyond expression. The festival of DURGAPUJA which beats all other I have seen so far. Technically it’s a 5 days celebration but Bengalis have so many warm-up Pujas before and so many after the main ones. But during those 5 days the entire city is on streets and the madness is endless. Here are some glimpses of the CITY OF KOLKATA IN COMPLETE JOY DURING DURGA PUJA in a small video.

Overall for me , this fellowship started with the service of India …. and now I am also on the path to relive my India.. !!

Author

Abhishek Choudhary

Abhishek graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, with a degree in civil engineering. It was a well-rounded experience where he had the opportunity to get involved in many extracurricular activities and be exposed to a great ecosystem of entrepreneurs. Soon after college, He embarked upon a 'journey of awakening' or Jagriti Yatra around India on a 'live-in' train along with 500 young entrepreneurs to study innovative social enterprises and their grassroots impact. Here, he learnt multi-dimensional approaches to entrepreneurship through the collective experience of people from diverse backgrounds and industry sectors. He began his career in the IT industry to build on his engineering education and acquire a foundation in technology management. In parallel, he also volunteered for an education technology (EduTech) research project which aimed to pioneer 'mobile learning' for low cost private schools in India. He became drawn towards understanding the role of technology to make any social enterprise model more efficient and sustainable. And now as an AIF fellow working with the Anudip Foundation, he is excited to explore the application of technology in the livelihood sector. With regards to his personal interests, he loves photography, writing photo stories, meeting new people and dancing.

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abhishekchoudhary

Abhishek graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, with a degree in civil engineering. It was a well-rounded experience where he had the opportunity to get involved in many extracurricular activities and be exposed to a great ecosystem of entrepreneurs. Soon after college, He embarked upon a 'journey of awakening' or Jagriti Yatra around India on a 'live-in' train along with 500 young entrepreneurs to study innovative social enterprises and their grassroots impact. Here, he learnt multi-dimensional approaches to entrepreneurship through the collective experience of people from diverse backgrounds and industry sectors.

He began his career in the IT industry to build on his engineering education and acquire a foundation in technology management. In parallel, he also volunteered for an education technology (EduTech) research project which aimed to pioneer 'mobile learning' for low cost private schools in India. He became drawn towards understanding the role of technology to make any social enterprise model more efficient and sustainable. And now as an AIF fellow working with the Anudip Foundation, he is excited to explore the application of technology in the livelihood sector.

With regards to his personal interests, he loves photography, writing photo stories, meeting new people and dancing.