Sonali Das is KaviKrishna’s first international intern.
27 January, 2023
Sonali Das, a high school graduate to begin attending Bowdoin College in September 2023, is KaviKrishna’s first international intern. From January 2023-June 2023, Sonali worked at our telemedicine clinic (KTC) and upcoming Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS) department located in Sualkuchi.
Sonali Das, the daughter of Dr. Bikul Das, came to Sualkuchi to research the cultural, philosophical, rural developmental, and clinical aspects of healthcare as per the ancient tantric medical philosophy, Jiva Upakara Tantra.
Since September 2022, she has been editing her father’s book, “Recovering the Spirit of Jiva Upkara Tantra,” which she was able to further improve based on her research here. Sonali spent most of her time living in the village, visiting local satras, temples, community centers, and schools, interviewing local members of the community, and engaging in festivals and travel related to the history of Kamarupa.
She also co-coordinated multiple cultural and linguistic initiatives, such as the Yuva Sangam Muga Museum visit of 180 Indian students, a two-day workshop on spoken English at the local SBMS college, and KaviKrishna’s first international student week-long internship, with Prerna Karmacharya and Alexander Payne from the USA.
After working for five months with graduate students to develop a Medical Humanities program proposal, Sonali Das prepared and gave an oral presentation at IIT-Guwahati’s National Gau-Vigyan Conference titled “An Indo-American Medical Humanities Program: Researching Kamrupa’s IKS-based Healthcare.”
She is now back in the USA, engaging with the Thoreau Lab for Global Health to build the Medical Humanities program and create an Indo-American bridge connecting KaviKrishna to Walden Pond.
Read More