In my five years of work experience, research has undoubtedly been the most important and rewarding element of my professional life. Research empowers us with knowledge and it drives progress. In fact, that is what first drew me to the social and development space.
2022 began on a rather exciting note for me as I geared up to travel across India in my new role at Social Lens. I expected the trip to be short and slightly gruelling where I’d go into the field, conduct my research and come back. This trip was different. It gave me a new perspective on the significance of community and particularly how community involvement can impact children’s development.
I have lived in Mumbai my entire life and as someone from the city, I always viewed rural India as somewhere that was isolated, rustic and plagued with community facing concerns. This experience allowed me to witness the role that society can plan in impacting the emotional and physical development of children and create an environment of safety for them.
On my first day, a student from a nearby school excitedly came up to me and recited a poem in a language I did not understand. Soon after, his mother came up to me to understand how he was fairing at school. The conversation with her left me pleasantly surprised and after probing a little I realised that it was quite usual for parents from within the community to be actively involved in the children’s education. In fact, when parents were unable to pay for their children’s education, the community would often come together and compensate the school through in kind contributions.
A lot of what I observed and learned on this visit is intangible but these are experiences and insights that have affected and changed my perception of our society and expanded my understanding of India’s rural communities.
