Posted by Celina Kareiva on August 27, 2011  |  0 Comments More from this author  |

The serrated, snowcapped peaks seem to materialize out of thin air. Tinged pink and framed by wispy clouds the Himalayas appear ethereal in their early morning light. To my left chir pines and banj oaks ring the hillside like scales on a fish. Below, shimmering slates of mica jut from the ground. Imagine. It seems surreal, like a glossy photograph out of a travel magazine. No, this is not a scene stamped on the back of a postcard. It’s my classroom, my backyard and my home for the next three months.

Namaste friends! I’m writing from the northernmost state of Uttarakhand in the Himalayas of India. As a journalist and self-described storyteller, I’m thrilled to be surrounded by such an aesthetically and spiritually stimulating scenery. While here I'll be studying gender relations, social movements and the environment, as well as designing and conducting my own research project about the effects of outsourced labor on perspectives towards rural women. In the following few posts I hope to catch you up to speed and offer you a glimpse of India as I immerse myself in my surroundings. Stay tuned!