Ratna writes

Mama and I woke at the crack of dawn today to board our bus to Sintra , a town about 14 miles from Lisbon, to the northwest. The town is home to at least five major palaces, and other small castles and royal chalets. We went in pursuit of Pena Palace, which our wonderful guide Bruno told us was constructed by King Ferdinand in 1838 for his wife, who tragically died in childbirth before she could ever lay eyes on it. What a sight it was to behold. We'd truly never seen anything like it in our lives, straight out of a Disney movie with the dreamy Portuguese countryside in the background. The vegetation around the approach of the castle was unique and evocative, transporting us to another time, in tandem with the petulant mist settling over the mountains as we ascended. Mama and I made our way through a tour of the inside of the palace, and when I constantly got separated from the tour group I found myself scampering through other groups whispering "excuse me, pardon, obrigada , ...

Anyone who’s spoken to me in the last 4 years likely knows that I have quite a serious chronic ankle injury. I fell while on a work trip in Rajasthan in 2019, and torn ligaments unfortunately never fully heal. As an aspirationally active person, it’s something I think about every day. Since moving to Hong Kong, I’ve made remarkable progress on the injury because, to be honest, there’s been no other choice! Streets here are steep as staircases and walking is the mode of transit that makes the most sense for the majority of routes. At the end of grad school last June, I struggled with walking more than a mile a day, and now, I can walk 6 miles in a day once or twice a week with ease! My overall fitness level (cardio) is much higher, and I’ve built routines that allow me to strengthen, push, grow, and recover. My physiotherapist and I have a weekly rhythm for this, where my exercises progress each week (I’m now doing single-leg squats and lifting weights while standing on one leg 3x a we...

“So who are your friends here?” I asked as we cruised down the Magnificent Mile, my older sister figure Tierney at the wheel. She mentioned a few great folks she’d met in the last few years living in Chicago, and then a familiar refrain: “But my best friends are scattered all over.” We talked about how great a privilege it is that our world is so connected that being from anywhere, we can live anywhere. We can be digital nomads and work remotely while we globe-trot and FaceTime. But also: how there were some lovely perks of a different time and space when all the threads of one’s social fabric lived in the same village. Some younger folks would venture out to acquire more knowledge/education/wealth and then return to re-join and edify the same neighborhood. I am a 29-year-old Indian-American living in Hong Kong with my husband. I grew up in Washington, D.C. and he grew up in Jaipur. My three best friends from college, who know me better than anyone is likely to know me again, live in N...

As I continue to acquaint myself with what Hong Kong looks and feels like, I've been curious about the uber-efficient uses of space I see around me, how walkable the city is, and how every nook and cranny that could be turned into something useful seems already to have been. I started this Sunday morning by reading the Hong Kong Urban Planning Department's "Urban Design Guidelines" to try to start to understand why this city looks the way it does. Some notable excerpts included: "The Hong Kong Island has a magnificent natural setting with the spectacular Victoria Peak overlooking Victoria Harbour and Kowloon Peninsula. Developments in the north shore of Hong Kong Island should respect the dominance of Victoria Peak and other ridgelines / peaks when viewing from Kowloon side, in particular from the West Kowloon Cultural District; Cultural Complex at Tsim Sha Tsui; and the waterfront promenade at Kai Tak Development (Figure 3). Uncontrolled building height for deve...

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...