Born in Kolkata, but raised in the suburbs of Atlanta…
We immigrated to the United States when I was 3 years old. My father worked long and odd hours when I was young and my mother taught and studied to finish her Ph.D. at
Georgia State University. I also had the pleasure of growing up with a wonderful older sister who graduated from Vanderbilt University last year. After several jobs, my father decided to start his own business (ASFT) with my mother's help; it has since become wildly successful. I had always attended public schools in suburban Atlanta before I enrolled in the University of Chicago for my undergraduate education.
I noticed that I wasn’t like others in my school…
Fortunately I wasn't the only Indian person in my schools, though I was usually
one of less than a dozen or so. Being Indian definitely played a role in
developing my interests, but in strange ways. Of course, there were certain
expectations of me-- generally being obedient and excelling academically
especially in math and science-- which I certainly fell short of. More
importantly, I was lucky to have the opportunity to combine my academic
learning with the experiences of visiting India and living in the United
States.
First, visiting India exposed me to widespread deprivation and corruption,
especially in West Bengal, which has a permanent psychological effect on a
visitor from the US. Second, I was in many ways a minority in my schools,
which were predominantly Christian, white, and wealthy. I was none of these,
although my father's business did make my family quite wealthy by the time I
was leaving middle school. I not only noticed I wasn't like others in my
school, but being in the South, our family was also particularly exposed to
discrimination. Not being foreign may have made this difficult to notice and
understand. Also, I was always proud of the way India had won independence and
sustained a liberal democracy in the face of innumerable obstacles.
John Rawls's Theory of Justice influenced me to dedicate my life to public service and social justice…
I was challenged by a high school teacher on my support for the death penalty.
This led me to do some research into the subject and I began to find it
troubling that so many apparently arbitrary factors influenced one's prospects
for receiving capital punishment. Through my research, I came across
the "human rights movement" and many human rights NGOs that seemed to be doing
something about such injustices. I joined my high school Amnesty International
group, but this was a minimal commitment. Then, a friend of mine gave me a
copy of John Rawls's seminal work, Theory of Justice, which made me think more
and more about the priority of justice and how we could reconcile our notions
of what people deserve with the world as it is. I think this text more than
anything influenced me to dedicate my life to public service and social
justice, particularly by becoming an active participant in the global movement
for human rights. Since reading this book, I have become deeply involved with
organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International
USA, along with the Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago. I try
to balance administrative and strategic human rights work, including
organizing, with direct activism and action. Currently, I have become more
interested in the promotion of economic and social rights so I am interning in
Accra, Ghana with the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions this summer. I
have just been appointed to Amnesty International USA's Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights Advisory Group and I represent the Midwest on their National
Campus Advisory Council.
Truman scholars are meant to be those individuals who are not only committed to a life of public service, but who are in particular
interested in changing institutions and attitudes in whatever their field of
interest may be.
It takes a lot of good luck to win the Truman scholarship! I cannot emphasize this enough. Not only was every finalist I met equally or more deserving, so were many people I know who were not lucky enough to make it to the final interview stage. While it is difficult to generalize, Truman scholars are meant to be those individuals who
are not only committed to a life of public service, but who are in particular
interested in changing institutions and attitudes in whatever their field of
interest may be. Initially, we must get nominated by our schools, which can
each nominate up to four students. Schools have different processes for
selecting their nominees. My school required short versions of the full Truman
application along with personal interviews. Those who do win a nomination then
fill out a full application, compile 3 recommendations: one for academic
ability and potential, one for leadership ability and potential, and one for
commitment to public service. Thought the application is only 5 pages, every
sentence, and every word counts, so I spent over 60 hours on it. Out of the
600-700 nominees that usually apply for the scholarship, about 200 receive
final interviews in the state for which they applied. We are again judged on
the same qualities, though probably even more so on especially personal
qualities like poise, articulateness, and confidence. 75-80 Truman Scholars
are then selected, usually one from each state and two-three from larger
states, though this is flexible. Usually Georgia receives one Scholar, but
this year three Georgians won.
Dedicated to securing human rights…
Eventually I want to be a policy advisor on a national and/or international
level, with a focus on human rights. I hope to accomplish this either through
NGO work or government work in the United States, though I am also interested
in intergovernmental organizations like those in the UN system. I hope I can
contribute to the global movement to secure human rights and dignity by
improving our understanding of, and activism in relation to, political, social,
and economic institutions. I think the role of non-legal arenas is not
prominent enough in the human rights movement and much of the struggle for
human rights will in fact have to be one outside of the courtroom. I am
especially interested in the relationship between economic policy and
institutions and human rights. Specifically, I would like to further the
substantive use of economic and social rights in the policy realm.
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