This past November, I was given the opportunity to speak at the TEDxGeorgiaTech Student Speaker Salon! If you’d rather read than watch, the text of the speech can be found below. Performance of “Posters” Spoken Word Poem I am tired of posters. Everywhere I go. Every doctor’s office, professor’s desk, waiting room, classroom, bedroom, everyplace…
It was the first time in my life that I had found myself on crutches. My left ankle had been sprained but with a lot of airline assistance and hopping from wheelchair to wheelchair, I had managed to travel from the United States to India. There was a lot that I learned while I was…
College is coming! It’s a scary time, a new environment, new people. Sometimes it’s really intimidating to make friends. But don’t worry, it’s pretty easy, here’s what you need: 1. A Smile Smiling automatically makes you approachable. Most students are just as confused and worried as you are, so smiling is an easy way of showing…
Guest Post written by: Saurabh Kumar The Concert A couple of weeks ago, I was given the incredible opportunity by the Georgia Tech Stamps President’s Scholarship to witness Indian classical musicians present the Masters of Percussion concert at the Rialto Center for the Arts. I attended the event along with Georgia Tech students Suraj Sehgal,…
Read more The Universality of Music: Exploring Indian Classical Tradition
This was a post I wrote – and it was originally published on Huffington Post! ——————————————————- The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a commitment made by over 190 leaders around the world to change this planet as we know it. With 17 bold goals to tackle massive problems by 2030, including eradicate extreme poverty, fixing…
This was a spoken word poem that I had written and performed on February 25, 2016. Although the performance was recent, the poem was written during a time that now seems quite foreign to me. To You You came to me when I least expected it. You, a person I needed, when I didn’t even realize I…
If you’d rather listen than read: — My Day Four assignment for the “Blogging 101” course that I have enrolled in is to publish a post for my ideal audience member. Seeing as this was assigned five days ago, I’m definitely playing catch-up, but I am determined to make it! Well, this got me thinking, who is…
At Georgia Tech, I am surrounded by students (myself included), who are consistently complaining about the amount of work they have to do or how much they are dreading the amount of studying that awaits them. It has become so commonplace to accept studying as an inevitable evil that dooms us all that many of us don’t…
It wasn’t until I came into college that I began to appreciate my friends and what it meant to have a friendship. When you are suddenly surrounded by people everywhere, and are also given more duties and responsibility, the day-to-day tradeoff between investing in friendships and expending effort on classes, work, and organizations becomes much more tangible. For me, this…
This past summer, I had an amazing opportunity to go on a 10-week study abroad program in Europe, learning about the European Union, US-EU relations, European security, and human rights. I spent 6 weeks in Brussels with a host family, and about a week each in Ireland, France, Germany, and Poland. Needless to say, it was an…
Read more 10 Valuable Lessons I Learned from Studying Abroad
After staying for almost a month in Brussels, Belgium, spending a week in Dublin, Ireland was quite the change. All the chocolate shops and Belgian waffle stands were replaced with barber shops and Irish pubs. Suddenly my ears had to adjust from hearing French to English, a language that I was more familiar with, but being spoken in an…
After seven weeks of discussing security issues and matters of US-EU relations, it was a pleasant change of pace to begin learning about human rights. There were several topics that we discussed in the first two days of comprehensive lectures that were very interesting to see play out in our site visits, including the tension…
Read more Reflection on Human Rights from Brussels and The Hague
One of the most fascinating things that I have been able to see on this study abroad trip across Europe learning about the European Union and various policy areas has been the intricate intersections between culture and policy. Culture. Culture is absolutely fascinating and so incredibly influential. If there is one thing that I have learned…
Yesterday, after we all took a challenging exam testing our extensive knowledge over the different institutions and important actors of the European Union, their functions, and their influence (or lack thereof) in Europe, we had the pleasure of hearing from a Special Advisor to the NATO Secretary General. With over 20 years of experience, he had…
I’ve always been told that it’s important not to live in the past. But I’ve also been told that it’s important to learn and remember history in order to make sure we don’t repeat the same mistakes. This apparent contradiction between having to live in the present and yet immerse yourself in the past creates an interesting tension.…
As I make my way through a crowded walking trail in Brussels, Belgium, I feel free. No one talks to me or gets in my way, and I don’t get in theirs. For a moment, I am nameless. And in that beautiful moment, I am allowed to forget myself. I can shed my identity and embrace the world. I am everything…
For those of you who do not know, I am currently on a study abroad trip in Europe! I was given this wonderful opportunity in part by the President’s Scholarship Program and the Stamps Leadership Scholarship at Georgia Tech, and of course, my parents. The program is called the EU-Brussels study abroad program, which is a 10-week…
Perpetual Change 