Name: Vasundhara Jolly
Year: 2013
Major: IR (concentration: Middle East and South Asia); Minor in Entrepreneurship and Leadership Studies
Hometown: New Delhi, India
How did you become interested in Tufts?
I came to Tufts because of the university’s International Relations program. Growing up in India, I was surrounded by a lot of inequality and problems, which made me want to study IR.
What activities do you do around campus?
I am one of the Synaptic Scholars with the Institute for Global Leadership. I was inducted in my freshman year to pursue a research project funded by IGL over three years (until graduation). We have meetings every week to discuss social issues.
Wow. What is the focus of your research project?
My project was going to Kashmir for an internship as an Oslo scholar. I worked at a mental health organization in Kashmir that focuses on conflict-related post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. So my research explored the mental effects of conflict.
What did you learn from that experience?
That experience was very valuable, because I got to live in a conflict area, which is a very difficult thing to do. It was really interesting to see how people live and how life goes on, despite their hardships. I was there during winter, and winter in Kashmir is cold. Imagine what winter is like at Tufts, but without heat and with limited electricity.
Aside from being a Synaptic Scholar, are you involved with anything else on campus?
Yes, I am also the coordinator of the Oslo Scholars program, which sends students to a human rights conference in Oslo called the Oslo Freedom Forum. The three-day conference is a very intimate gathering, so students get to interact with speakers who are politicians, policymakers, human rights activists – basically, anyone one is who is making a difference. Last year, we gave an award to Aung San Suu Kyi, and she Skyped into the conference! I also participated in the program at the end of my sophomore year, which was the year of the Arab Spring, so it was really interesting to meet the people who made the revolution happen. As the coordinator, I am part of the candidate selection process, and I also pair scholars with an organization or an individual based on the scholar’s interest. So in my case, because I am interested in the Kashmiri conflict, I was matched with a Kashmiri organization. I am also the chair of South Asian Political Action Committee (SAPAC), which focuses on political and social issues. Basically, we hold roundtable discussion and events about political, economic, and social issues. Sometimes we invite specialists, such as documentary filmmakers, to talk about their work and interests.
Who is your hero?
I have so many, but two that I can think of are Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, and Shashi Tharoor, who is an Indian politician, a former UN Under-Secretary General, and also a Fletcher alumnus!
Do you aspire to be like him?
I am not really sure what I want to do in the future, but I would like to pursue higher education, maybe by applying to Fletcher and working with international organizations on social issues.
Any words of wisdom for the younger Jumbos?
Don’t take life too seriously. Don’t make small problems bigger than they actually are. Personal happiness and health are more important than grades.