A TRIP TO INDIA

SENIOR STUDENT SPENDS WINTER BREAK IN INDIA

As the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year came to a close, many students enjoyed the break in different ways. Whether it was to see family or enjoy a vacation, most students left Fort Smith during some portion of the three week break. However, senior Ananya Taggarsee took a different approach to the break, and traveled across seas to Hyderabad, India. 

Before this trip Taggarse’s last time in India was in 2022, but she had gone to visit many times before. During this time, she traveled with her mom but met up with all her extended family in India. 

When asked what was special about her trip Ananya answered, “It’s definitely special to me because I get to see my grandma, who I talk to daily but it’s not the same on the phone, and my favorite part of the trip was seeing all my cousins and bonding with them.” 

Besides the purpose of getting to see family, Ananya also got to do an internship and work on her international business project. The project focused on renewable energy and converting rice hull waste into ethanol biofuel to use in gas. 

“While I was there I learned so much about the Indian economy and got to see where my mom studied in the Indian School of Business. I got to meet representatives from Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan in India, which I thought was really cool,” Taggarse said. 

During her 24 day trip, 8,754 miles away, Ananya noticed some changes across seas. 

“The biggest challenge I noticed in India compared to the United States was the traffic. We think that L.A. traffic is bad, but India traffic is so much worse and it takes so long to get anywhere,” Ananya said. 

She hopes to go back this summer, but worries about facing extreme temperatures. 

“In India, I really wanna go near the Himalayas, and trek the Himalayas, but I want to go to Delhi again and Goa, which is basically the beach,” Taggarse said.