Kalyan Neelamraju

Scott Lane Elementary School, Millikin Elementary School, Harker Academy, Harker School, Bellarmine College Prep, UC Berkeley, NYU Wagner

University of California - Berkeley, Attended 1998 - 2003, Class of 2003, Bachelor's Degree, Legal Studies & Psychology

Research Associate

Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Phi Sigma Pi, California Alumni Association

photography, blogging, reading, exploring New York City, traveling, policy areas: human rights, international development, and homelessness

1984, How To Be Good, The Anubis Gates, A Tale of Two Cities, A Hero of Our Times, A People's History of the United States, Dune, The Master and Margarita, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, The Death of Ivan Ilych, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Tokyo Story, Bombay, Blade Runner, Frequency, American Beauty, Memento, About a Boy, A Fish Called Wanda

Dave Matthews, Anoushka Shankar, Badly Drawn Boy, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Switchfoot, Snow Patrol, Guster, Fountains of Wayne, The Clash, Coldplay, Jimmy Eat World, Sarah McLachlan, Mouse on Mars, The Shins, OK Go, Snow Patrol

Arrested Development, The Simpsons, The Daily Show, Futurama, Family Guy, Little Britain, Sealab 2021, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office

Capricorn

Born in the village of Tsundur in Andhra Pradesh, India, Kalyan moved with his parents to the Bay Area as a young child. Raised amongst the silicon chips and simple pleasures of suburban life in Santa Clara, he eventually arrived at the University of California at Berkeley, earning degrees in Psychology and Legal Studies in May 2003. Whilst he was surrounded by profoundly intelligent people, Kalyan volunteered at the Suitcase Clinic, a student-run clinic for the homeless of Berkeley. More than anything else during his time in Berkeley, Clinic changed his outlook on life.

Wanting to make a (small) difference in his local community, Kalyan served as an AmeriCorps member with BAYAC in San Jose, working with homeless youth and kids in Santa Clara County's Juvenile Hall. Kalyan then found himself living in New York City, studying the sexy and glamorous world of international policy analysis at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. In New York, he enjoyed the company of friends in quiet corners, the familiar smells of Indian grocery stores, and the elegant polemics of writers like Howard Zinn. A lover of travel, Kalyan attempted to develop "creative accounting" techniques with his student aid to finance his trips across the globe. While in the States, Kalyan regularly flies between the Left and East Coasts, though he has been known to tour parts of Redstatelandia.

Kalyan spent the Summer of 2005 interning at the Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana, helping to set up a microfinance project with a Liberan refugee-run NGO. He was able to venture to much of Ghana, as well as parts of Togo and Burkina Faso. He completed his second year at Wagner, while working as a graduate project assistant. With his Masters degree in hand Kalyan is now in India, working as a Research Associate on a micro-health insurance study at the Centre for Micro Finance.

Also, as you may have noticed, Kalyan very much enjoys talking about himself in the third person. (Or not...)

This is probably way too earnest for Friendster, but whatever ... someone who can teach me to be a better person than I am. Someone who can help me to better understand these words written by Arundhati Roy: "To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget."



Told ya that was a bit too earnest. Now, let's be friends.



If you want to waste a precious few seconds, check out my blog at http://kalyan3.livejournal.com.