In Richa, they have found one. Gulati plans to pursue a law degree at the New York University Global Law School program in preparation for a career focusing on international development in South Asia. In her application for the Truman Scholarship, she wrote about her experiences with her extended family in the village of Yamunanagar, Haryana, India. Born, raised and educated in the United States, Gulati returns each summer to India, where she encounters first-hand the impoverished living conditions there compared with the material prosperity common to the West. I turn on the water faucets.
Nothing comes out.
I go to buy vegetables at the market, but the vendor has sold out his meager supply for the day. I used to think it was fun, when I was little, to sleep on the roof. And this is the life of the middle class. Gulati said it is not just the nameless poor in India who have motivated her responsibility to better the lives of others, but also her vividly painful discussions with her two cousins, Pooja and Gauri. Yet, despite such striking similarities, the opportunities available to those like my cousins whose academic successes are no different than my own are scarce.