![Freshman Milan Earl and sophomore Lucy Kaplan sit with their grandparents at Archer’s annual Grandparents and Special Friends Day Friday, March 15. The event took place over three 75-minute sessions. “[I hope my grandparents] gain an understanding about what I do, Kaplan said, because I know they ask a lot of questions and can sort of see what I do in school and what the experience is like to be here.](https://archeroracle.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/grandparents-day-option-2-1200x800.jpg)
India through photographer Rose Shulman-Litwin’s eyes
Photo credit: Aviva Intfeld
Rose Shulman-Litwin ’18 poses in front of the Taj Majal in Agra, India during the Archer Abroad trip to India. All of Shulman-Litwin’s previous thoughts on India were completely changed once she arrived.
Junior Rose Shulman-Litwin says she uses photography to share her unique experiences with the world. She was one of the 12 upper schoolers that went on the Archer abroad trip to India over Thanksgiving break with the program Where There Be Dragons.
“My entire thing, especially when I went to India, is showing people something that they wouldn’t see,” Shulman-Litwin said.
Prior to going on the trip, she researched information about India to get a sense of what was to come.
“When I searched for photos of India, they were all super one type. But, when I got there, it was completely different. All of my preconceived notions were incorrect,” she said.
Most of her favorite photographs were taken at the Nindor slum camp, an impoverished neighborhood about an hour away from Vatsalya, the school that Archer students stayed at during their trip.
“Once a week or pretty often, the school would have a health camp [at the Nindor slum camp] where we would clip the kid’s nails, and they would get medicine or get washed,” she said.
According to Shulman-Litwin, the Archer girls had time to engage with the people at the camp and develop relationships with them.
“A lot of my favorite photos are at this slum camp,” she said, “because the people were so willing to have their photo taken.”
Prior to arriving at the camp, Shulman-Litwin felt apprehensive because she knew it was going to be different from anything she had experienced before. However, she said the Archer girls’ trip to Nindor was not only completely new for them, but also for the locals there.
“This was one of their first times seeing foreigners,” she said. “It was definitely super weird for them.”
Although it was challenging at first, Archer girls and Nindor residents were able to communicate with one another in both Hindi and English.
“It was really, really sweet — they made a huge effort to talk to us. We learned some Hindi, so we were able to converse a little bit, and they knew a little bit of English, too,” Shulman-Litwin said.
Although Shulman-Litwin’s experience at the slum camp was positive, she does recall the poverty that she and the other Archer girls encountered. Upon seeing all of the suffering, she applied her own personal motto to the situation.
“One of my biggest themes in my art is finding beauty in darkness. In India, it’s finding beauty in poverty. The beauty in the poverty is that there is hope,” she said.
Click below to view some of the photographs Rose took while on her Archer Abroad trip to India.
Burning plastic in Delhi, India. ‘This is a picture of burning trash in Delhi, where we were for the first part of the trip. I like this one because it captures a little bit of what India is like. It is, in certain areas, very dirty, but I think that adds to the culture,’ Shulman-Litwin said.
Photo credit: Rose Shulman-Litwin
Two young children from Nindor greet Archer students. ‘A lot of the younger children had eyeliner on, sometimes really thick. I didn’t know what it meant but later found out it’s to create a type of imperfection on the child so souls don’t take over their bodies. Their idea is that the more beautiful the child is, the more they’re wanted by souls to take over,’ Shulman-Litwin.
Photo credit: Rose Shulman-Litwin
A little girl in the Nindor slum camp stares into the camera with tears in her eyes. ‘This little girl came up to me and she didn’t say anything, but it was interesting because she just had this look to her that was super captivating and honestly kind of haunting. She’s very beautiful and adorable, and she’s crying — but you don’t really know anything. I don’t know why [she was crying], I don’t know what her name is, I don’t know much about her, except the fact that she came up to me and just kept looking at me with this really intense curiosity,’ said Shulman-Litwin.
Photo credit: Rose Shulman-Litwin
Three women in the Nindor slum camp pose for a picture. ‘I like this photo because it just shows the friendship that they have. These girls have grown up together… it was really nice of them to welcome me in,’ Shulman-Litwin.
Photo credit: Rose Shulman-Litwin
Isika, from the Vatsalya school, spends some time with Archer students. ‘This is a girl named Isika. She was one of the youngest students at the school. She didn’t really speak any English — only Hindi, but she was so adorable,’ Shulman-Litwin said.
Photo credit: Rose Shulman-Litwin
Harley Quinn Smith, the newest addition to the 2016 Oracle staff, is very excited to be a part of journalism this year. She has been an Archer student...
Anon • Jan 4, 2018 at 4:19 am
It’s quite myopic to say that trash ‘adds’ to Indian culture. It is akin to saying that homelessness is part of Downtown L.A. culture. The serious pollution problems that India faces are a result of rapid industrialization, insufficient infrastructure, and a very large population. In 1900 the Indian Empire was about as populated as the U.S. is today. After 100 years the population grew to 1.324 billion. Air, water, and river pollution are not things that define Indian culture—they are grave issues that the India is taking pains to correct, although progress is inevitably slow.