Working at Carnegie India: The First 4 weeks
About the author: Raina Talwar Bhatia ’25 is an FSI Global Policy Intern with Carnegie India. She is currently a student at Stanford University majoring in Bioengineering and International Relations.
Having grown up in India, most of my foundational memories involve threats to India’s stability. Whether it be the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, 30 minutes from where I grew up, the neverending conflict in Kashmir and its consequences on how the Hindu and Muslim communities interact with each other or even COVID-19 and the devastation it wrecked upon communities.
This summer, through the FSI Global Policy Internships Program, I was able to channel my passion for these issues through my work so far at Carnegie India. It has only been 4 weeks since I started, but the time I have spent here so far has exposed me to some incredible ideas and individuals.
I walk into the office every morning, not knowing what I will be doing that day, but completely confident in the fact that I will enjoy my work. Sometimes, the resident biotechnology and India’s public health expert at Carnegie India will ask me to prepare her research for meetings with government officials on India’s biosecurity and pandemic preparedness and response or help her check facts on India’s vaccine diplomacy. Other times, members of the Security team will ask me to help out with smaller tasks like identifying scholars that could be interesting guests for Carnegie India’s podcast, Interpreting India or helping them with data collection for their Ceasefire Violations along the Line of Control (LoC) Project.
However, I must confess that there are 2 things at Carnegie India that I adore above all else: weekly Wednesday afternoon Security team meetings and the relationships I have been able to form with other interns and even some senior members of the team.
During the Wednesday weekly meetings, every member of the team is assigned a particular region of the world (East Asia, South Asia, Europe, etc) and has to update the rest of the team about what has transpired in that particular part of the world in the last week. While the updates are fairly routine, what I adore is the discussion and deliberation the updates inspire amongst these experts. These meetings go much further than just sharing the news, but have shown me how to interpret the news and its implications on broader global issues and security.
The senior members of the team and other interns have been incredibly welcoming and kind ever since I joined the team. While we all have vastly different life experiences, we are still able to get along and connect based on our love for politics and international affairs and of course, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some things will always be universal.
I only have 4 weeks of this internship left and I cannot wait to keep learning and growing over this time. FSI has provided me with this incredible opportunity and I am eternally grateful. If anyone reading this is considering applying to intern at Carnegie India, I strongly encourage you to go ahead. It will be the experience of a lifetime.
