Hello World!
I was brought up in the suburbs of Portland Oregon, a city mainly known for the amazing food, gorgeous waterfalls, and incessant rain. My parents, both born and brought up in India, left their families and everything they knew to start a new life in Portland. I owe my parents the world. The scary, and bold decision they made to achieve a better life is the sole reason I have had opportunities to immerse myself in cultures from all around the world and have had the privilege to explore various careers and work in many diverse settings. |
Who am I?
Growing up, I always struggled between finding the balance of fitting in with my Caucasian peers that often judged my lunches and did not understand the weird dot that I always seemed to have in the middle of my forehead to the rich culture and tradition that defined my home life. The values in our household stood in stark contrast to the ones championed by secular American culture. This cultural imbalance that stemmed from trying to fit into both cultures, without fully identifying with either, has fueled a life-long journey of iterative learning and reflection to develop my identity.
I often shunned any outward display of my culture in a desperate attempt to fit in at my school and spent many years hiding from the Indian side of me. Though I did not want people at school to find out about my culture and religion, I loved our bi-yearly visits to India. I grew up with no family in the States but those early trips to India were filled with so much love, color, and family. It was three months where I did not have to pretend and could embrace my heritage completely, with no fear of judgement. From learning Indian Classical dance for over 19 years to learning to ride motorcycles in the Andhra countryside, I continue to learn so much about my heritage and where I came from with every interaction and experience I have in the Unites States as well as in India. Growing up with the privilege of navigating two very different cultures inspired my curiosity for understanding all the cultures and people around me. As I have struggled to find the balance between the American and Indian sides of myself, I have realized that embracing one does not mean abandoning the other.
Growing up, I always struggled between finding the balance of fitting in with my Caucasian peers that often judged my lunches and did not understand the weird dot that I always seemed to have in the middle of my forehead to the rich culture and tradition that defined my home life. The values in our household stood in stark contrast to the ones championed by secular American culture. This cultural imbalance that stemmed from trying to fit into both cultures, without fully identifying with either, has fueled a life-long journey of iterative learning and reflection to develop my identity.
I often shunned any outward display of my culture in a desperate attempt to fit in at my school and spent many years hiding from the Indian side of me. Though I did not want people at school to find out about my culture and religion, I loved our bi-yearly visits to India. I grew up with no family in the States but those early trips to India were filled with so much love, color, and family. It was three months where I did not have to pretend and could embrace my heritage completely, with no fear of judgement. From learning Indian Classical dance for over 19 years to learning to ride motorcycles in the Andhra countryside, I continue to learn so much about my heritage and where I came from with every interaction and experience I have in the Unites States as well as in India. Growing up with the privilege of navigating two very different cultures inspired my curiosity for understanding all the cultures and people around me. As I have struggled to find the balance between the American and Indian sides of myself, I have realized that embracing one does not mean abandoning the other.
The need to Connect
The need to connect with people has inspired me to learn four languages, foster a passion for hearing stories, and appreciate the nuanced differences between cultural knowledge and cultural competency. This passion was first fueled by feeling a disconnect [with the people] due to a language barrier while working in India through community service, and later strengthened while working with underserved, homeless, and gang populations in both Portland and East LA. Despite having a translator, the different languages in the cities I worked in led me to feel isolated from the people. By learning the languages, I witnessed diversity transforming from a reason I was isolated from others to a platform where ideas and values could be shared. Working with low income populations in East LA and Portland, I once again witnessed diversity being the cause of social divide. Especially through the week I spent in my East LA Immersion, I realized that the social divide that was created between parts of LA created many long lasting health problems including a lack of resources and health programs. My experiences in India inspired me to work towards turning diversity into an asset, both personally through listening and sharing stories but also on a macro-level through utilizing my public health background.
The need to connect with people has inspired me to learn four languages, foster a passion for hearing stories, and appreciate the nuanced differences between cultural knowledge and cultural competency. This passion was first fueled by feeling a disconnect [with the people] due to a language barrier while working in India through community service, and later strengthened while working with underserved, homeless, and gang populations in both Portland and East LA. Despite having a translator, the different languages in the cities I worked in led me to feel isolated from the people. By learning the languages, I witnessed diversity transforming from a reason I was isolated from others to a platform where ideas and values could be shared. Working with low income populations in East LA and Portland, I once again witnessed diversity being the cause of social divide. Especially through the week I spent in my East LA Immersion, I realized that the social divide that was created between parts of LA created many long lasting health problems including a lack of resources and health programs. My experiences in India inspired me to work towards turning diversity into an asset, both personally through listening and sharing stories but also on a macro-level through utilizing my public health background.
Social Justice
Social Justice is a mantra that has been drilled into my brain since I was a 9th grader at Jesuit High School. Though the term was introduced to me in high school and continues to be very prevalent in my life, the meaning of social justice in my life has drastically changed. As a 15 year old hearing about social justice for the first time, I was convinced that I was living a very socially just life. I volunteered at a soup kitchen every week, worked at my library, and “donated” money to local charities. To me, social justice was volunteering and throwing money at a cause, not particularly engaging with it. Moving forward, as I became president of REAL youth to youth, an organization based on providing rural education and literacy in India, I started to engage and interact more with the populations we were serving. Though the work I was doing was helping a group of students gain better access to education resources, I still was an outside source looking into their problems. It was upon my arrival at Santa Clara that I truly learned what social justice meant, and that I had been mistaking social charity for justice my whole life.
The first time I encountered the difference between charity and justice was during an immersion I went on to the Mexico Border. Nothing prepared me to hear the stories of utter desperation to escape the depths of poverty and violence that was destroying their homes and forcing immigrants to embark on the death defying trek across the border in hopes of a brighter future for their families.
I had the opportunity to learn from a culture based on listening and engaging in conversation in hopes of empowering their voices and stories. I had no solution for the people that I was interacting with but I did have a voice to advocate for them and help them in any way they deemed necessary. Social Justice became about engaging in dialogue with people at detention centers and meeting with border patrol and non-profit organizations aiding in the immigrant rescue effort, not creating temporary solutions for people I just met. It became about listening, advocating and truly immersing myself in a culture to learn from them.
Social Justice is a mantra that has been drilled into my brain since I was a 9th grader at Jesuit High School. Though the term was introduced to me in high school and continues to be very prevalent in my life, the meaning of social justice in my life has drastically changed. As a 15 year old hearing about social justice for the first time, I was convinced that I was living a very socially just life. I volunteered at a soup kitchen every week, worked at my library, and “donated” money to local charities. To me, social justice was volunteering and throwing money at a cause, not particularly engaging with it. Moving forward, as I became president of REAL youth to youth, an organization based on providing rural education and literacy in India, I started to engage and interact more with the populations we were serving. Though the work I was doing was helping a group of students gain better access to education resources, I still was an outside source looking into their problems. It was upon my arrival at Santa Clara that I truly learned what social justice meant, and that I had been mistaking social charity for justice my whole life.
The first time I encountered the difference between charity and justice was during an immersion I went on to the Mexico Border. Nothing prepared me to hear the stories of utter desperation to escape the depths of poverty and violence that was destroying their homes and forcing immigrants to embark on the death defying trek across the border in hopes of a brighter future for their families.
I had the opportunity to learn from a culture based on listening and engaging in conversation in hopes of empowering their voices and stories. I had no solution for the people that I was interacting with but I did have a voice to advocate for them and help them in any way they deemed necessary. Social Justice became about engaging in dialogue with people at detention centers and meeting with border patrol and non-profit organizations aiding in the immigrant rescue effort, not creating temporary solutions for people I just met. It became about listening, advocating and truly immersing myself in a culture to learn from them.
My vocation
Since I was two years old I wanted to be a doctor. Having been exposed extensively to the poverty-stricken streets of India growing up, I always thought I was going to become a doctor in the back of mind. I found myself yearning to cure their “illness” and believed medicine was the only way I could. As a result, I interned with a mobile health clinic in a rural village of India last summer. However, while I found it incredibly fulfilling to interact with these patients on a daily basis, I found myself always thinking back to how I could help them on a larger scale. As a doctor, I would be able to see patients one on one, but some type of systematic change was necessary if I wanted to help the situation on a larger scale. Most of the cases we saw on the mobile clinic were pneumonia or the common cold, illnesses that could be easily prevented with better access to food and better hygiene. However, working in such a low-resource setting, I also came to realize the importance of effectively allocating resources in order to make the most change. While theoretically there can be a ton of public health policies, understanding how the budget and resources fit into the context became really important – thus inspiring me to take on an economics major. The internship in India gave me a glimpse into the macro level change that can occur in societies all around the world through policy change and how merging business and public health to create sustainable changes is the most effective way to better health norms in a community.
Full Circle
India is home and I am excited to go back to the place that not only inspired me to pursue a health-based career but showed me the importance of social justice for marginalized communities. As I have come to understand my privilege better, I am excited to use the experiences and knowledge I have to help Care Nx disrupt unjust maternal health equilibriums that continue to disrupt many communities all over India!
Since I was two years old I wanted to be a doctor. Having been exposed extensively to the poverty-stricken streets of India growing up, I always thought I was going to become a doctor in the back of mind. I found myself yearning to cure their “illness” and believed medicine was the only way I could. As a result, I interned with a mobile health clinic in a rural village of India last summer. However, while I found it incredibly fulfilling to interact with these patients on a daily basis, I found myself always thinking back to how I could help them on a larger scale. As a doctor, I would be able to see patients one on one, but some type of systematic change was necessary if I wanted to help the situation on a larger scale. Most of the cases we saw on the mobile clinic were pneumonia or the common cold, illnesses that could be easily prevented with better access to food and better hygiene. However, working in such a low-resource setting, I also came to realize the importance of effectively allocating resources in order to make the most change. While theoretically there can be a ton of public health policies, understanding how the budget and resources fit into the context became really important – thus inspiring me to take on an economics major. The internship in India gave me a glimpse into the macro level change that can occur in societies all around the world through policy change and how merging business and public health to create sustainable changes is the most effective way to better health norms in a community.
Full Circle
India is home and I am excited to go back to the place that not only inspired me to pursue a health-based career but showed me the importance of social justice for marginalized communities. As I have come to understand my privilege better, I am excited to use the experiences and knowledge I have to help Care Nx disrupt unjust maternal health equilibriums that continue to disrupt many communities all over India!