Ratna writes

Udai and I just wrapped up our first weekend together in Hong Kong! So far it's been culture shock to the MAXIMUM. With the exception of a short conference in Seoul in 2015, this is my first time since I was 19 visiting a country I haven’t been to before...and I guess I live here now! Hong Kong is unlike any place I have been, and also different from what I expected. I was prepared for towering buildings and high population density, but it also has a certain coziness and walkability to it that I wasn’t expecting. Between the tall buildings boasting (bougie) international brands there is a local any-type-of-establishment-could-pop-out-of-here energy to the streets that reminds me of Mumbai, but everything is SO clean. The sense of anonymity (the good kind, like no one is gonna get in your business) reminds me of New York. And the rest, I’ll have to keep getting to know better and better! We started Saturday with breakfast at Elephant Grounds and a tour from Udai of his neighborhood ...

Greetings from Hong Kong, where I just moved last week to join Udai, who has been working here for the past two years!  It's day 6 of my 7-day government-mandated hotel quarantine and I started my job with  PathFinders Hong Kong  this Monday. I am working on a research report to prepare for a roundtable in November -- outlining the experiences of migrant domestic workers who come to Hong Kong for work, usually from Indonesia and the Philippines. These women have multiple, complex caretaking relationships with the children they leave behind with fathers and caretakers in their origin countries, the children they look after on behalf of the employers who hire them, and the children they may get pregnant with during their time in Hong Kong. I am tasked with figuring out how to most succinctly present the challenges faced by all three kinds of children as they navigate their relationships with these migrant mothers, as well as the questions of home, identity, safety, and econ...

The last few months have been rather eventful on my end as I spent my first four months of the lockdown in India, wrapped up my job in Mumbai, and packed up my apartment in a frenzied 24-hour period, to relocate back to the States! I have news about an exciting transition to share, which is that I'll be starting my Masters in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School this fall!  I am excited about this next step to further my ability to advocate for the world's most silenced communities. My two years at Aangan India were everything I could ever ask for in a job. I had the chance to work up close and personal with policymakers around the country to protect children at risk of trafficking and abuse, surrounded by colleagues who empowered young people to lead in a way that allowed me to grow professionally and personally beyond what I thought was possible.  The organization's founder Suparna and I recently published this piece on the increased risk of domestic violence as coun...

Imagine having a job where every day, you do something you've never done before. I can say without exaggeration that this is what working at Aangan has been. I knew that working for an organization that engages deeply with community in an international context would be an important learning experience, but I truly couldn't have pictured how challenging, exhilarating, and transformative it would be. Literally my first month on the job I met with the Director General of Police for the state of Rajasthan to present our child safety work to him and work to create buy-in with his department (as part of a project we run to increase trust between communities and police in child harm hotspots in India). Engaging with Indian bureaucracy has been so fascinating and for all we hear about corruption in government systems, I have met so many passionate civil servants and government officials grateful for good work being done and keen to support us. I'm lucky enough to have t...

As an ever-fervent proponent of the gap year, I am proud to say that my little sister Priya just finished up an awesome year off from college! We thought we'd take some time sharing our experiences, in case they are helpful for other students thinking of doing the same.  I took my gap year before college and Priya took hers between her sophomore and junior years of college, so our answers to these four frequently asked questions may have some answers for those considering taking time off at any stage. We also want to acknowledge that the decision to take a gap year comes with a great deal of privilege, and we are lucky to have had the support of our families and friends as we traveled and explored opportunities around the world. Q1: Why did you decide to take a gap year? Ratna:  I was honestly pretty burnt out from high school. I remembering having a moment one day in the middle of cramming for AP exams and applying to colleges when it dawned on me that...

Hello, dear readers! By now, you've probably heard the news: in Ratna's-gap-year fashion, I've taken a leap and moved to Mumbai for a one-year consultancy with Aangan Trust , a nonprofit that works to make sure that even the most vulnerable child has the right to a childhood free from trafficking, child marriage, child labor, and abuse. Transitions are tough, and it turns out that this one is no different, even though it's one that I've chosen for myself and been very excited about for a while. It's one thing to pack up your bags from New York and move to a new place in Mumbai; it's quite another to adjust to the daily reminders of the little things you don't yet understand about where you live, and the small ways in which you don't fit in. Part of what has made the transition tricky is a stream of (well-intentioned) questions that sometimes make me feel like I have to justify why I made the choice to be here. These can be hard for me becaus...

Transferring from the 7 to the 6 under Grand Central I was transported to a different time. I heard his smoky strains as I passed him and smiled without seeing his face. My personal rule is that if someone can make me instinctively, unthinkingly smile with their music then I only owe them the change I have saved from the last time I was stingy. In one motion I walked past and instantly turned right around to add a tip to his hat and before he could say it I said, “thank you.” Thank you for slowing time down in this terminal, for transforming what it feels like to be alive in this station right now. The air felt full of mist and more serious somehow under the influence of his song. I climbed the stairs and it wasn’t enough. I felt like a woman with dark hair and a red dress in a jazz club and maybe I was all of those things, except the dress was a salwar kameez and I was on my way back from an Eid celebration. I stood at the top and wished I had a partner with me because I wou...