Interning at AAP's educational wing

Interning at AAP’s educational wing under Manish Sisodia and Roshan Shankar is a life-changing experience.

By Sindhu Ravuri, Sophomore, UC Berkeley

When working with AAP this past year, I realized that revolutionary adopts diverse, modern hues. However, the one constant that must remain no matter what in any AAP-ian is a perpetual thirst for justice, and an acute awareness of one’s environment.

When I entered Delhi’s climate, I reeked of first-world privilege and naiveté. I quickly understood that inciting change in such a place, where shortcuts are instinctual and economic struggle plentiful, was severely intimidating. Where would you even start? As a woman in a sea of men, I also wondered how Indian leaders like Jayalalitha could muster the courage to actually help their community.

Working with AAP, however, changed my outlook.

When I entered AAP’s headquarters in the Delhi Secretariat, after seven floors of leers and judging stares, I finally met the men I would be working with. They all had different styles. Two (one policy advisor and another media strategist) wore jeans and a polo to work with Reeboks or sandals, another, my direct superior and advisor to Education Minister Manish Sisodia – Roshan – always wore nice slacks and a button-down, while yet another (Sukirti) changed it up every other day, each different from what I could have ever anticipated. Collectively, they all changed me, my outlook, and they helped me grow.

I wish I could go back. What first felt like hell, staying in Delhi’s humidity, being stared at every turn, mumbling my broken Hindi, started looking up. I enjoyed going to work – seeing Happy’s exuberant smile first thing in the morning and hearing his great choice of music, hearing Roshan play enthralling classical tunes, discovering the parameters of choosing a career from Sukirti, and exploring all of India’s education system with Pranav – one of the most assiduous people I have ever met – are memories that are embedded within me. I finally understood how narrow my universe was, and also realized that not all men in India are chauvinists. They showed me how much of life there was left to live. When I look back, I don’t think a group of people impacted my persona as much as these men.

I applied for the position on twitter when I saw an invitation to volunteer on AAP website. Roshan, in charge of education outreach responded and accepted my position after an interview. It was as simple as that. Next thing I knew I was in Delhi interacting with top people of the government. At 18 at that time, I was youngest volunteer busy being part of educational research documents!

Interning at the Delhi Secretariat — home of Delhi’s Chief Minister and some of its most imaginative, insightful, magnanimous political geniuses — was, strictly speaking from the perspective of gender dynamics, terrifying. I am the only female in the team: I was working on the exploration of the quality and quantity in technical education in Delhi. However, my terror as far as my team is concerned, was unfounded. My immediate boss Roshan Shankar, a Stanford alumnus, and my colleagues were amazing. They made me feel part of the team and my gender was never an issue. Meeting Manish Sisodia, the educational minister of Delhi government, was a dream come true. He is intelligence plus kindness personified. Until then I never knew Indian politicians could be so cool and so without any power dynamics!

That’s what AAP does – it embraces you as you are, and changes you for the better. They all don’t have to look or act like Kejriwal, in fact some of them have habits I hate – like smoking. But they are kind, compassionate, attentive, aware. I want to be just like them when I grow up. They are of the ilk that will change India. Can’ t wait to go back and work with AAP again! Yes, even without pay, just as last time!

About the Author:
Sindhu Ravuri is a highly motivated UC Berkeley undergraduate with extensive volunteering, medical, and leadership experience.

Her passion for writing began way back in middle school but was crystallized with her internship at the prestigious San Jose Mercury News’ Mosaic. Her article on child-sex trafficking received Merida Award for fearless reporting. At school she became the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the first ever WingSpan, a longform feature magazine. Previously she acted as the Business Editor(2012) and Global Editor (2014) to the School Newspaper Winged Post. In 2014 summer she got into the Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill Journalism program. Currently she writes for UC Berkeley’s Daily Cal and the prestigious Stanford’s BioCoder Magazine. She is an Active Voice Scholar 2016-2017.