Shalini Venugopal Bhagat

Nov 25, 2023 | nyti.ms | Emily Schmall |Amanda Taub |Shalini Venugopal Bhagat |Andrea Bruce

There are moments in life that stick in memory as a fulcrum between before and after. Arti Kumari’s came on a morning a few months after her wedding, when she took her place on the starting line for her physical exam to qualify for a government security job — running a mile in seven minutes or less. It was the culmination of months of early-morning training sessions and years of study. Her mother, Meena, waited anxiously outside the recruitment center.

Nov 25, 2023 | shorturl.at | Emily Schmall |Amanda Taub |Shalini Venugopal Bhagat |Andrea Bruce

There are moments in life that stick in memory as a fulcrum between before and after. Arti Kumari’s came on a morning a few months after her wedding, when she took her place on the starting line for her physical exam to qualify for a government security job — running a mile in seven minutes or less. It was the culmination of months of early-morning training sessions and years of study. Her mother, Meena, waited anxiously outside the recruitment center.

Nov 18, 2023 | nytimes.com | Emily Schmall |Amanda Taub |Shalini Venugopal Bhagat |Saumya Khandelwal

For Nasreen, getting to New Delhi after she ran away from her family and the betrothal they had arranged for her was a daring feat. But surviving there tested her determination. In the summer, the heat bore down like a steam iron. In the winter, the air pollution was among the worst in the world, clinging to skin and choking lungs. In her family’s flat, she cooked on a stove that added to the heat and smoke. When she could get outside, she had to walk a gantlet of leering men who lined the sidewalks.

Nov 11, 2023 | nytimes.com | Emily Schmall |Amanda Taub |Shalini Venugopal Bhagat |Andrea Bruce

For Indian families, a modest wedding is an oxymoron. No matter how meager a household’s earnings, no expense can be spared. It was no different for Arti Kumari’s parents, despite their limited means as an NGO worker and a subsistence farmer. Her parents, Meena and Anil, had put aside whatever money they could save. They pleaded with extended family members for loans. They even took a lien out on their small parcel of farmland to be able to host and feed upward of a thousand people in style.

Nov 4, 2023 | nytimes.com | Amanda Taub |Emily Schmall |Shalini Venugopal Bhagat |Andrea Bruce

Arti Kumari, 22, crouched on a dusty dirt track in a runner’s lunge, waiting to spring forward as soon as her mother started the clock. Although Arti had risen before dawn to train, the oppressive heat bore down on her. It was May, and northern India was experiencing its worst heat wave in 45 years. But Arti was determined to continue her training for a run that could change her life. She, like millions of other young people in India, dreamed of getting a job with India’s central government.