India Photo Blog

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