My parents started taking us to India when I was 12 years old, and when I was in my mid-20s, I decided I wanted to go to India for the first time by myself. Staying with family in Mumbai initially, I secured a short-term writing job that would see me document a social enterprise project to inspire young people in which 300 students from across India would visit leading social and community enterprises in various parts of India.

The trip lasted around 20 days and we travelled across India to 18 places including its prominent tech-hub Bangalore, Kanyakumari on the tip of the country where three oceans meet, Hyderabad, Orissa in the east of the country, Lucknow as well as the capital Delhi. We met some fascinating figures and community leaders on the way, including the founder of an internationally renowned eye clinic, fabric weavers in Rajasthan and a community-led sanitary programme that had improved access for people living in a rural part of Orissa.

As this was the first time exploring India alone and in this way, I was exposed to the vastness, richness and differences that make up India. Living on the train with young people from various walks and socio-economic backgrounds gave me an insight into the various communities that India is home to. Traversing across the country along its famous rail lines, which they say millions of people travel on daily, while also documenting the experience on a daily basis couldn't have been a better way for my curious and adventurous self to get to know India and my ancestral land better. The trip not only allowed me to connect more with India, it also inspired me to want to understand it more and write about my own personal familial, cultural and historical connection to it.