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KUMBH MELA BEGINS IN INDIA
Harvard Group Arrives in Varanasi in Preparation for the Kumbh Mela
Professor Diana Eck, along with a group of Harvard Students, arrived in Varanasi this week to witness the Makar Sankranti, the first royal bathing day of the Kumbh, and one of the most auspicious Hindu festivals.
Professor Eck writes, "By dawn, pilgrims were coming in a steady stream along the walkway in front of our guesthouse in Asi Ghat, headed toward the clay bank of the river and a dip in Mother Ganga. They bathed in the chilly waters, made offerings at the small shrines of Hanuman beneath the great tree on Asi Ghat, circling the tree and offering water, flowers, and bilva leaves to Shiva, represented by the dozen or so Shiva lings there at the base of the tree. Having bathed and worshiped, they offered a handful of rice grains to each one of the multitude of beggars lining the pathways and the walkways of the ghats. The crowds were festive and full, all along the river at all the major bathing ghats. We boarded a boat at Asi with a boatman named Guari Shankar, who rowed downstream past one ghat after another for more than two miles to Panchganga and then back. It was a Varanasi bathing festival at its best."
Read more from Professor Eck and her students at our Kumbh Mela blog.
Harvard's next case study: The logistics and economics behind the Kumbh Mela, the largest human gathering in history
Logan Plaster, managing editor of Emergency Physicians Monthly, featured Harvard's university wide multidisciplinary project Mapping the Kumbh Mela in his article for the Atlantic's Quartz blog this week. Logan will be joining the Harvard School of Public Health team at the Kumbh in early February.
He writes, "The hope is that by studying a pop-up mega-city, researchers would learn lessons applicable to a wide range of mass gathering events, from refugee camps to festivals like Burning Man. How do people move en mass? How can the spread of disease be kept in check by using minimal technology? The questions aren't new, but by bringing four major disciplines under one tent - literally - Harvard is creating a new strain of dialogue, one which just might be able to keep up with the crush of the crowdT." Read the full article here.
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SPOTLIGHT ON PAKISTAN: Internship Opportunities for Harvard Students
 Teach for Pakistan, Karachi & Lahore - Teach for Pakistan is a social enterprise with a mission to create a nationwide movement of recent college graduates and young professionals who commit two years to teach in under-resourced schools and go onto become lifelong leaders working across all fields to expand education opportunities for all children.
Learn more.  Center for Law and Policy, Lahore - The Center for Law and Policy is an institute for the study of national and international legal and policy issues, and for translating those studies into solutions, strategies, and decision-making tools. The Center undertakes and facilitates research on various areas of local and global concern, and collaborates with Paksiani and foreign law professors, judges, practitioners, and policymakers. Learn more.  Aman Foundation, Karachi - The Aman Foundation is the Pakistan component of the Aman Trust, a social sector enterprise that champions dignity and choice for the under served throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia Regions. The Aman Foundation's mission includes the pursuit of sustainable, scalable, and systemic development in the areas of Health, Education, and Capacity building in Pakistan. Learn more. Hear about some of our partnered organization in Pakistan from SAI Karachi Coordinator, Asim Jahangir. Visit our website for a full listing of partnered organizations in South Asia and details on how to apply for SAI funding. SAVE THE DATE: Information Session for SAI Summer Research and Internship Grants
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Join SAI and the Independent University of Bangladesh for Tea in Dhaka:
Meet with students from the Harvard School of Public Health currently visiting Dhaka for the Winter Session to learn about Bangladesh's extensive development work. The Tea will take place on Saturday, January 19 from 5-7 PM in Room 1016, School of Public Health, Academic Building, IUB in Bashundhara. For more information and to RSVP, contact SAI's Bangladesh Coordinator, Maria May.
SAI Announces Postdoctoral Fellowship - We are seeking applications for a Harvard University South Asia Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship in South Asia Studies for the Academic Year 2013-2014. Click here for the full announcement!
Invitation to Apply for the Harvard Medical School Global Clinical Research Training Program
A one-year program of blended learning intended for clinicians and clinician scientists who desire rigorous training in the methods and conduct of clinical research. Full details here.
Washington Leadership Program Internship for South Asian College Students
The WLP cultivates the South Asian American community's next generation of leaders by placing them in Congressional offices or Government Agencies for eight-week summer internships and a structured leadership-training curriculum. Application details here.
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CGIS South Bldg, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge MA 02138
617-496-4862, sainit@fas.harvard.edu
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