About

Hi! I find myself in India and I want to share that experience with you! I have been studying Gender and Reproductive Health in the International Institute on Population Science in Mumbai, and I am with a government-financed MFS-scholarship going to write my thesis on Affirmative Action Policies in Higher Education in Tamil Nadu.

Why do I want to do all this abroad? I have been to India before, and I felt I wanted to go back. I feel that it is changing my life, drastically, dramatically and extremely positively. I am challenged and that makes me challenge. My curiousity is exploding, my empathy is expanding. Suddenly, I see and I dare to meet people, not only places. And being put in a new context makes you think. Why am I here? What am I doing here? Am I contributing? Can I even contribute? Would it be different at home? Am I a part of this new environment? Can I be a part of this new environment? Am I a part of my old? What makes me feel at home, and who? Why am I acting as I am?

I feel India is opening up to me, and makes me open up to her. There is a warmth that really inspires me and pushes me to talk, to sing, to laugh, to joke, to dress, to understand. And things don’t need to be so advanced. A meeting can be simple, and still so joyful. Or complicated, and painful. You make me feel. Very much.

Sonja Ashti Ghaderi