When I left Delhi last August, I never imagined I would be back so soon, riding autos through the traffic-jammed streets of Bangalore, admiring the Gateway of India alit at night in a million colors, visiting Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram in Ahmedabad, and learning once more about the incredible potential of this beautiful country. From December […]

When I first returned to Philadelphia at the beginning of August, I was amazed. The streets looked so clean and the cloudless sky radiated. Students had not yet arrived on campus, so Philadelphia was a welcome respite from my last few days in Delhi, trying to shove my way through crowds and hail autos. India […]

As I board my flight back to New York, I feel mixed emotions – fatigue, relief, nostalgia, gratitude, and sadness. While working for IFMR, I learned a lot about the challenges of raising debt and equity, navigating managerial hierarchies, and using Excel shortcuts. During our last week in Chennai, Nikhil and I traveled with our […]

Chennai is a fascinating city that blends both tradition and modernity. Although I am often frustrated by the frequent power cuts, blistering heat (around 38-40 degrees Celsius on average), lack of proper infrastructure, street poverty, pollution, mosquitoes, and impossibility of crossing roads, the city is at a very convenient location for accessing many sites of […]

This Saturday, the monsoon started in Chennai, which meant holding the umbrella horizontally to try to avoid the spray from the cars on the hectic roads, scrambling to pick everything up off the floor when the guesthouse started to flood, and dealing with frequent power cuts. After working with IRCS for a month and conversing […]

Over the past few weeks, I have traveled during my days off – first to Bangalore, where I visited the Lal Bagh botanical gardens with a friend, shopped in the street markets, and sampled my first Kulfi (frozen Indian dessert) and then to Mahabalipuram, a beach town 60 km south of Chennai with temples, open-air […]

I am slowly growing accustomed to India. During the week, we spend most of our time in an air-conditioned office with pretty modern amenities, so the weekends are our main opportunity to see the other facets of Chennai. This past weekend, Nikhil and I visited temples in Mylapore (the one pictured is the Kapaleeswarar Temple), […]

I arrived in India on May 28 after a daylong layover in Abu Dhabi, during which I visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Emirates Palace. I still remember the early morning taxi ride from the airport in Chennai – driving past women cutting fruit by the side of the road, palm trees swaying […]

Hi, my name is Leah! I am a rising junior in Wharton with intended concentrations in management and finance. Beginning on May 28, I will be interning with IFMR IRCS (Rural Channels and Services Limited), working in financial modeling and also in areas such as debt raising, risk analysis, and customer profiling. Around a month […]