also is in the habit of listening, as if the policy ideas you make matters. Not just that but are also imple- mented.
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 ac- cepted my position after seeing my resume followed by 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, I was youngest volunteer busy being part of educational research documents! At first, interning at the Delhi Secretariat — home of Delhi’s Chief Minister and some of its most imag- inative, insightful, magnanimous political geniuses —was, strictly speaking from the perspective of gen- der 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. How- ever, 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 ed- ucational minister of Delhi government, was a dream come true. He is so deeply infatuated with grassroots educational reforms its hard not to respond to his passion. He is intelligence, passion plus kindness personified. Until then I never knew Indian politi- cians could be so cool about a cause and so without any power dynamics! I thought only activists could go through such intense spiritedness for a cause! He Ideas and policies were not merely taken into account but incorporated as well!
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, and aware. I want to be just like them when I grow up: Passionate, fiery, ani- mated and obsessive. 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 sophomore at UC Berkeley, with extensive volunteering, medical, and leadership experience. Currently she writes for UC Berkeley’s Daily Cal and the prestigious Stanford’s BioCoder Magazine. She is an Active Voice Scholar 2016-2017. Her passion for writing began way back in middle school but was crystallized with her internship at the pres- tigious San Jose Mercury News’ Mosaic. Her article on child-sex trafficking received Merida Award for fearless re- porting. 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 Northwest- ern University’s prestigious Medill Journalism program. My boss, Roshan Shankar, and others made me feel part of the team and my gender was never an issue
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School Special 2017
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