Janhavi Nilekani

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Janhavi Nilekani is an applied microeconomist, an accidental healthcare entrepreneur, a researcher, an advocate of systems reform, a public policy practitioner, an effective philanthropist, a mother, a spouse, a daughter, an avid reader, and more.

13/12/2024

A School Saga: The Postman (circa July 2023)

In the early weeks of school, my 6yo son made a friend.

I suggested to 6yo that perhaps we could invite Neha for a play date. 6yo was *very* excited and persistently followed up to ensure this vague proposal turned into reality. We had no access to any email, phone, or contact for Neha’s parents, and didn’t even know their names.

So I decided to go old-school and send a handwritten invitation. My son wrote one to his friend, and I wrote one to her from “Janhavi Aunty”, sharing my number, and requesting her to give the letter to her parents.

After 6yo left for school, very enthusiastically, carrying an envelope with both letters, I turned to .

Me: I’m just a *tad* concerned that a postal chain consisting of two 6 year olds is going to be unreliable. Oh well, 🤞🏽

That night:
Me: So, did you give the letter to Neha?
6yo: Yeah!!! But first, I gave it to the postman!
Shray and I: …. What?
6yo obligingly repeated himself: I gave it to the postman.

Shray and I stared at our son in bemusement.

Our son looked back, puzzled, probably thinking, “Why are my parents so confused by the idea of giving a letter to the postman? Do they not know what a postman is?? Should I show them in a *picture book*?? Or should I ask Alexa to explain??”

Me: You gave the letter to a postman.
6yo: Yes.
Me: How did you *find* a postman in your school?
6yo: Oh, that was easy! Today was dress up as a community helper day! Rahul came as a postman, so I gave the envelope to him!
Me: … That is extremely adorable, and also, is actually really clever! And did Rahul give the letter to Neha?
6yo, nonchalantly: Oh, no! Rahul gave it to Priya, and then she tossed it to Raj and he passed it to Simran and then Abdul gave it back to me. And I gave it to Neha!

Me, turning to Shray: The postal chain’s unreliability was WAY worse than I feared!!

P.S. Swipe for a picture of my son’s play date invite. If you ask me, it reads like a hostage note.

*All names anonymized

02/09/2024

I need time to absorb everything from Aastrika Foundation’s 5th anniversary celebrations!

For now, here are some snippets, from our conference to celebrate !

We had fascinating keynote speeches, panels on innovative capacity building methods, panels on scaling professional midwives, and more.

As I mentioned in my closing remarks, we at Aastrika Foundation are deeply honored to partner with so many committed and passionate leaders in public health. Whatever Aastrika has been able to contribute in the last is because we have stood on the shoulders of giants.

As we develop our mission and plan for the next five years, I want to thank everyone involved in bringing Aastrika’s vision to life - most especially, the Aastrika team!

09/04/2024

I’m back in the land of snow and slopes!!!

I’ll be on skis tomorrow morning 🤩

Looking forward to a delightful trip with friends and family!

12/10/2023

It is World Sloth Bear Day!!

Here is a non fiction story written by my six and a half year old son, all about how a sloth bear recently broke into Gables, our family home in the Nilgiris.

This really is a non-fiction story, and accurate in every detail, from the bear’s sugar consumption, to the security sleeping through all of it. 😆

My child was extremely particular that “This is nature. There are predators and prey, not good and bad. No one should say that the bear in the house is bad." He quite rightly thinks that the key actor is the security guard. 🤣

You can catch CCTV footage of the bear’s adventures in my stories!

13/09/2023

turns two today. 🥰🥰🥰

This anniversary has been just full of joy.

Welcoming the 50+ Aastrika families who came to our September 10th party.

Dancing the afternoon away with the team.

Receiving an outpouring of congratulatory messages and best wishes from Aastrika mothers.

Being enveloped in a hug from the father of a two-day old Aastrika baby.

Hearing from an Aastrika grandmother who said that she has never seen a hospital throw a party with so many happy faces - and that AMC must be doing something right!

It took effort from many, many, people to bring AMC to where it is today, and I thank each and every one of them.

Last year, my deepest gratitude went to our earliest families, who took a chance on us when we were an unknown entity.

Today, I find myself overflowing with gratitude towards the Aastrika Midwifery Centre team, who work tirelessly, 24/7, on weekends and holidays, with compassion, empathy, and warmth. Midwives, nurses, doctors, operations staff, housekeeping, security, and more, all ensure that Aastrika families leave our Centre beaming.

We celebrated today, with abandon, as a single, interdisciplinary, team. Complete with joyous news midway through the party from a beloved colleague, that had us bringing the roof down with cheers!

Thank you, so much, to Aastrika families, to Aastrika team members, and to our many partners and well-wishers. My heart is full.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

26/08/2023

A School Saga, Resumed: The Shoe Monitor

Earlier installments in these School Sagas have covered our extremely traumatic 2019 entry to nursery, and our fairly traumatic return to in-person kindergarten in 2022.

In comparison, first standard in 2023 was relatively smooth, with only a couple of weeks of tears!

And my son is having fun!

Late June, 2023:

6yo, to me, to , to his nanny, to all his grandparents, to everyone who would listen: “I am the SHOE monitor🤩🤩🤩!!!”

Shray, rather mystified: “What does a shoe monitor *do*?? Do you have to monitor the shoes?”
6yo, exasperated: “Papa! No! You have to monitor the CHILDREN about how they put AWAY their shoes!”
Me: “What about the other children?”
6yo: ”Most are not monitors, one is the stationery monitor, one is the food monitor, one is the bag monitor … and *I* am the SHOE monitor 🤩🤩🤩!!!”

A few weeks later:

Me, curiously: “So, how is it going, being the shoe monitor?”
6yo, with a heavy sigh, and sounding a bit glum: “Hard work.”
Me, taken aback, especially after his previous enthusiasm: “Oh! How come?”
6yo, sounding exhausted: “26 children, throwing their shoes this way, that way, this way, that way…”
Me: …
Me: (Recalling all the times I have requested my son to put his shoes away neatly and not kick them off ‘this way’ and ‘that way’.)
Me: (Rapidly realizing that I am a grown 35 year old woman who can afford to take the higher ground and ignore a 6yo’s hypocrisy.)
Me, aloud: “Ah, well. Being a shoe monitor is a tough job. Keep up the good work!!”

16/07/2023

A School Saga, Resumed: “Big” School.

Having learned my lesson with the whole kindergarten episode, in which my then Almost-3yo believed that school was a one day affair, I made it very clear to my now 6yo that “big” school lasts for 12 years. 1st standard is followed by 2nd standard, etc, etc. This time, I set clear expectations.

May 2023

Visiting my in-laws in another city:
My mother-in-law, bidding farewell: Come back soon! We can’t wait for your next trip!
6yo, in a matter-of-fact manner: I can’t come back for 12 years, school is starting soon.
Me, raising an eyebrow, but soon dismissing it: Of course we can come, there are weekends and holidays.

Bangalore:
My father: I’m going out of town, but I’ll see you next week when I return!
6yo, somewhat mournfully: No… school starts next week. Now I can’t meet you for 12 years.
Me, spluttering: 6yo, it’s going to be just like kindergarten! You have weekends! You have vacations! You have EVENINGS and can just walk over to visit your grandfather! He lives on the next ROAD!

By this time, I was taking this misapprehension seriously. I spent a lot of time convincing 6yo that elementary school would not be 12 years of unalleviated purgatory.

There would be free time.

He would still be able to play and meet people.

It would not be, to quote , twelve years of vanvas.

I thought I had made my point…

My mother: The visit to our vacation home was such fun! When shall we go to Coonoor again?
6yo, thinking.
6yo, looking a bit confused.
6yo, clearly engaged in mental effort.
6yo, turning to me: Which year will it be when I graduate? 🧐
Me: 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

15/07/2023

A School Saga, Resumed: The OG Story

October, 2019:

Having experimented with (and having abandoned) school earlier in the year, this time, I was convinced that Almost-3yo needed to go to play school. I could no longer come up with all the new activities and exposure he needed.

We prepared. Oh, how we prepared.

We read about Llama Llama’s first day at school, and about Chester Racoon’s first day.

We watched Cocomelon’s JJ apprehensively sing “Today is the day, it’s the first day of school, so many new things to learn and do.” (Apparently, nearly 4 years later, I still know the lyrics. 🙄)

And the first day was great! I was so pleased. He enjoyed it, he told us all about it, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

and me: 🙌🏽🙌🏽

Next morning:

Me: Almost-3yo, it’s time to get ready!
Almost-3yo, surprised: For what?
Me, taken-aback: For school, of course.
Almost-3yo, alarmed: Again??
Me, my heart slowly sinking: Almost-3yo… you have to go to school every day.
Almost-3yo, utterly aghast: So many times???!!!!

…

(Me, flabbergasted.)

…

(Me, struggling to absorb the monumental challenge ahead to reset expectations.)

…

Me:🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯❗️

At no point had it EVER crossed his mind that there would be a second day of school. Llama Llama didn’t have a second day of school. JJ didn’t have a second day of school. No book or cartoon had ever mentioned a second day of school.

And at no point had it ever crossed MY mind that my son would think school was a one-day affair!!

Well, that was it. He howled for MONTHS.

November 2019? Howls.
December 2019? Howls.
January 2020? Somewhat reduced howls.
February 2020? No more howls!
March 2020? As soon as he stopped howling… school shut down for more than 2 years. 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

As for the post-COVID school saga… you can find it in my highlights. 😄😄

09/10/2022

A Savannah Saga: Part 2

We spent our first 3 nights at the Namiri Plains Camp, in the eastern part of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. This area is what I would call “traditional” savannah - the kind you see in most imagery, with wide open grasslands and acacia trees.

Yet, I was unprepared for the sheer variety within that landscape - from the rocky kopges to the savannah woodlands, from marshlands to open plains, from grasses of all sizes and colours, to the diversity within the acacia trees.

And the skies!! The savannahs stretch straight to the horizon in every direction. Dramatic skies are on display in every hue - soft morning sunlight, raindrop-laden clouds intermingled with sunshine, visible rain showers over distant plains, glorious sun bursts through cloudy skies, golden dusks, striking sunsets…

Swipe for a taste of the geology, flora, and skyscapes of the eastern Serengeti!

02/10/2022

Fresh snow has just fallen in a wintery clearing in Siberia.

A little while later, a magnificent Amur tiger stalks across the landscape in all his glory.

The tiger moves on, leaving clear pugmarks near a rock brushed with recent snowflakes.

Snow-laden tree branches cast afternoon shadows.

A Eurasian lynx emerges purposefully from the trees.

When the scents of carnivores have abated, a male reindeer with recently shed antlers cautiously steps out.

And then, at the end, the Amur tiger, the Asiatic black bear, the reindeer, the Eurasian lynx, the Siberian musk deer, the tundra wolf, and the Siberian eagle, come together for a carefully posed final symphony, joined by a mother snow leopard and her cub, who are looking down on the clearing from their nearby mountain habitat.

…

And in case you notice some repurposing of American bald eagles and so on… as the 5 year old said: “You have to pretend!”

Weekend landscape dioramas with my son 🥰🥰🥰

Many thanks to Vara, , and .

28/09/2022

😭😭😭🥹🥹🥹 Why?? He isn’t even six yet, MUST he loose his first tooth?

The 5yo has been obsessing about the wobbling tooth for several days now - staring in the mirror, fiddling it with his tongue, and so on.

Today it was wobbling so much, he had become full blown distressed while I was at work. Before I had time to properly delve into his unhappiness, it fell out altogether and now he is overjoyed. “At least I can chew now!!”

He has put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy, which he has read about in books.

Me, the other day: Is the tooth fairy real?
5yo: No, it’s you only.
Me: Oh, okay. Got it. Well, what do you want from the tooth fairy?
5yo: Milky Way.
Me, relieved that it was an easy ask, and surprised that he would ask for chocolate (he has no sweet tooth): Sure.
Me, a few seconds later, with dawning suspicion: Wait, do you mean the *galaxy*??
5yo: Yes.
Me: Okay, no, sorry, you cannot have that from the tooth fairy.

Since I had managed to lower his expectations, after some contemplation of a coin, he today settled on a badge, and told me to figure out what should be on it. 🤞🏽🤞🏽 he likes my effort when he wakes up…

So… swipe to behold a Milky Way galaxy badge,
some pictures of his afternoon despair, which he *reenacted* for me 😂, and adorable pics from around when the tooth had first come in, many moons ago!

😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥹🥹🥹

23/09/2022

Questions about ecosystems from a 5 year old who is obsessed with animals, wildlife, and more (the picture is from a zoo visit, that’s a Komodo dragon - I think!)

5yo: What if birds disappeared?
Me: Oh, that would be so sad! And who would pollinate the flowers?
5yo: The bees! (In a very duh, my mother doesn’t know anything voice)
Me: ……
(He is right! Why does he need me at all in this discussion?)

After we covered what would happen if rats disappeared, spiders disappeared, and many others, and I had dredged up all my knowledge of the ecosystem niches occupied by various species…

5yo: What if snakes disappeared?
Me: Well, there would be more rats…
5yo: And there would be no venom. We need snake venom to make medicines.
Me, somewhat surprised: What medicines?
5yo: ALL medicines.
Me: ALL medicines? Like Crocin and Kailas Jeevan? Our medicines?
5yo: Yes.
Me: No! Our medicines are made in factories by humans!
5yo: But they are made in factories out of venom.
Me: No! Some other medicines maybe, but not ones like Crocin and Kailas Jeevan!
5yo: So then, Honitus?

I cracked up at this point 😂😂 Apparently the questions are inspired by Aumsom on YouTube, but I have absolutely no idea why he thinks Dabur Honitus is made from snake venom!

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Koramangala
Bangalore
560034

Website

https://www.aastrika.com/contact/

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