By Reet Goraya ‘21, Keystone Foundation Fellow

As time winds down for my fellowship, I reflect on the various places I have been, and the home Kotagiri has become. As an Indian American, I have grown up wanting to explore different parts of India. The last time I had come to India before this fellowship was when I was 4 years old, so naturally I had a lot of plans saved up travelwise. What was most important to me though was to go to Punjab, and see the place where my parents had grown up.

By Reet Goraya ‘21, Keystone Foundation Fellowship

In the short time I have been in Kotagiri, I have dealt with a few adjustment issues, but still managed to somehow make this small town feel like a home. Working at Keystone has provided me with a group of people who in just a month have begun to feel like family. I have found that they would help me with getting groceries, finding auto drivers to take me home, teaching me Tamil, and even throwing me a surprise birthday party at midnight the night of my 23rd birthday. I came here nervous that I wouldn’t have a support system, or that I would feel lonely, but this group of friends has really provided me with endless memories that I continue to cherish.

By Madeleine Gefke ‘20, Keystone Foundation Fellow

During my time in India, I have had the incredible blessing of loved ones making the long journey across the world to adventure with me. These plans have not only given me moments to look forward to throughout my fellowship, but also have provided me with really interesting time stamps to track my progress around living and working here. Now that my last visit from friends during my fellowship is over, my reflections have encouraged me to feel proud of the growth and learning I have experienced as a Shansi Fellow!

By Madeleine Gefke ‘20, Keystone Foundation Fellow

Hello from Kotagiri, India! I still can’t quite believe I am saying this, but after almost two years of a remote experience as the inaugural Shansi Fellow with Keystone Foundation, I have finally arrived in India. I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity to make this dream of mine a reality, and I very much appreciate all of the support I have received from Oberlin Shansi in allowing me to extend my fellowship for a total of 10 months in-country. This generous amount of time allows me to establish a life for myself here in the Western Ghats and contribute more significantly to projects at Keystone.

By Madeleine Gefke ‘20, Keystone Foundation Fellow

What is my story? My narrative? I think the best words to describe my Shansi story so far are “an unexpected, long limbo period.” Yet even as I continue holding my breath and hoping I can make it to my site in Kotagiri, India, the world continues to revolve and life goes on. I am finding so many contradictions in my life, as exemplified in the wide range of conflicting thoughts, feelings, and emotions that popped into my head as I was brainstorming for this report.

by Kate Little ‘19, Lady Doak Fellow

I recently listened to an International Study Centre (ISC) co-ordinator describe Madurai to a foreign visitor. “Though it is a city, Madurai is more like a big village.” I have been in this city of three million for nine months now and can confirm the truth of that statement. You never meet a stranger in Madurai.

by Kate Little ‘19

I recently listened to an International Study Centre (ISC) co-ordinator describe Madurai to a foreign visitor. “Though it is a city, Madurai is more like a big village.” I have been in this city of three million for nine months now and can confirm the truth of that statement. You never meet a stranger in Madurai.

Austin Cope ‘15, Jagori Grameen Fellow

The laborers carry bricks slowly but steadily, placing them in threes or fours on their heads. They move the cement in the same manner, pouring the dry powder from large woven polypropylene bags and mixing it with water and other materials in a gas-powered mixer. They then scoop the mixed concrete into wide plastic bowls, one at a time, and carry them on their heads as they move between the machine and the growing building.

Austin Cope ‘15, Jagori Grameen Fellow

In India, chai’s preparation and presentation is much less grandiose than in America, but the beverage reflects a much more complex set of global relationships, both historic and contemporary. And although it’s impossible to fully unpack those relationships in one narrative, it is clear that drinking chai in India means so much more than simply a choice of beverage at a coffee shop.

Aliya Tuzhilin ‘17, Jagori Grameen Fellow

One of my favorite places around Rakkar is tucked away behind the very last hotel on the very last road through the village. It is a path between a gorge, meandering along side the Manuni Khad (Manuni river), that curves through a series of foothills before the Dhauladhar Mountains.

Aliya Tuzhilin’17, Jagori Grameen Fellow

Each day I look forward to work at Jagori or in the field for the chance to meet people who are so quick to love and welcome me wholly. My warmest moments are joking with Kamlesh (from the SAFAL team), holding hands with Vimla or Nimbo (Jagori fieldworkers and farmers), eating with Mintu in the kitchen, or working with Ratan (the farm manager) and hearing his stories.

Olivia Hay ‘17, Lady Doak Fellow

One time I jumped in a taxi at the airport, only for the driver to remember me from a previous ride from the airport about a month prior. I was reminded then that despite being a city of 1.6 million, Madurai really was the small town that everyone believed it was.

Olivia Hay ‘17, Lady Doak Fellow

The first time I saw an elephant was at Alagarkoil, a temple in the hills of Madurai dedicated to Vishnu. I stopped in my tracks to marvel at the size of the thing and wonder whose job it was to decorate the elephant’s face with painted symbols.

My friend encouraged me to give it an offering in exchange for a blessing. Eagerly I placed a five rupee coin in its trunk, only to get smacked across the face a few seconds later by the same limb.

“…did the elephant just slap you in the face?”

“You’re supposed to bow your head after you give the donation…” my friend laughed.

Emmanuel Greenberg ‘15, Jagori Grameen Fellow

It is unusually cold today. The bright sun is here but the air has yet to catch up. I walk out the large metal gate in front of my rented flat and my eyes fall on the piles of brick, concrete, and sand in front of me. The piles are not separated by material. There are bricks stuffed in the sand and dirt running through the slate tiles. The group of workers are a bustling of bodies—men, women, and children—haphazardly assembling the building in progress.

Emmanuel Greenberg ‘15, Jagori Grameen Fellow

Susan Sontag writes that all people hold dual citizenship, “in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.” For the first time in my life I have been able to use my passport and enter into the kingdom of the sick, if only as a visitor.

Vanessa Champagne ‘13, Lady Doak Fellow

It was a difficult goodbye. After two years living in India, it was hard to think that in a few days I will no longer be able to hop on my scooter and zoom through the streets of Madurai to my favorite restaurants. Savory dosas, biryanis, and idiyapums would soon be distant memories. Flash-forwards of me struggling to make sambars in my US home were accompanied by long sighs.

Vanessa Champagne ‘13, Lady Doak Fellow

I’ve honestly lost count how many times I’ve been told “come home sometime” by students, professors, and friends outside of Lady Doak College. So far, I have come to understand the statement in these ways: I am curious about you and want to know more of your story; I am a great cook and want to subject you to overwhelming portions of food that no one human being can possibly consume; I want to tell you more about the time I studied abroad, went on vacation, or about my relatives who live abroad.

Christian James ‘14, Jagori Grameen Fellow

So here I stand, my fellowship term nearing its end, finally marching deeper into the mountains that had been under my feet the whole time. Shamu, who will serve as our guide, joins us on the pavement just uphill from my residence.

“Kriṣṇu bhai, namaste!”

Christian James ‘14, Jagori Grameen Fellow

Transcribed from my personal diary: an entry from 12/25/2014

“ कोलकता –

never before have I felt British India, about which I have been reading in Paul Scott’s novels, so close to the surface of my environment. It may be that the experience of Christmas has a special effect of emphasizing the history of British Raj, but it is an emphasis on its permanence, which only two hundred years of direct rule could establish

Kiran Puri ‘13, Jagori Grameen Fellow

When people find out that I enjoy watching Pro-sports, they ask me about how I feel about the Eagles not making the playoffs or if the 76ers might finally improve with the help of their newest draft pick. (If you can’t tell, I’m from Philadelphia).

Kiran Puri ‘13, Jagori Grameen Fellow

In my first couple months as a Shansi fellow at Jagori Grameen in India, I missed little from my life in the states. The food was great, the people were warm and caring, and work was exciting. But there was something missing. Something that had been a part of my identity for over 10 years, and had suddenly been cut out: sports.

Stephanie Mora Hernandez ‘13, Lady Doak College Fellow

It’s been exactly 43 days since I left my home in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Although I know I just spent 21 months of my life there, it eerily feels like I never left my Chicago home in the first place. Yes, my parents’ faces show a few more wrinkles and grey hairs than before.

Stephanie Mora Hernandez ‘13, Lady Doak College Fellow

In early October, I was invited to join the third-year English students on a five-day excursion to Bangalore and Goa. It was roughly a month since I had settled my belongings in the Shansi apartment at Lady Doak I jumped at any opportunity to see more of the country that I would call home for the next two years.

Christina James ‘11, Jagori Grameen Fellow

At Oberlin, I decided to major in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies because I felt that my gender identity, consciously or subconsciously, influenced many decisions that I made and was the lens through which I saw the world.