Meghana Narahari

I’m Meghana Narahari. I’m a Junior from Portland, Oregon. What drew me to Tulane was honestly, at first, the money. But also, I wanted to go to college somewhere that was completely different from where I was raised. The south is as different as you can get. I remember touring Tulane, walking onto campus, and seeing people playing spikeball, throwing frisbees, and tanning in the sun. It felt like I was walking into a college magazine. They say you get that feeling when you step onto a college campus, and I think I did get that when I came to Tulane.

It has been everything I was expecting but not how I expected it. I think COVID and Hurricane Ida have been crazy. Also, being in an election year while in college, a tornado, has all been so different from what I expected. But in a lot of ways, I think it was a blessing. COVID really taught me to figure out what I want in a friend and what the word friendship means to me. Also how important it is to make time for people you care about. During Ida, I got super close with people who had just been acquaintances in the past because we all escaped the hurricane together. They have all been crazy experiences and not how I thought college would turn out, but I would not change anything.

My majors are Neuroscience and Public Health. [I then asked her what she wanted to do with this, and she laughed]. You asked me at a time when I am trying to figure that out myself. My goal is to go to medical school, and I want to be an MD MPH. I think right now, I want to be an OBGYN with my MD, and on the side of my MPH, I would love to work in women’s health. [I am interested in] the luxury tax on period products and women’s access to healthcare, and I think New Orleans has inspired that too because there is such a big gap here for the outcomes of Black mothers. [I believe it is important] to address those gaps in maternal healthcare, women’s access to healthcare, and women’s reproductive rights. Those topics really interest me, but I need to hone in on one eventually.

I worked with the New Orleans Maternal and Child Health Coalition. I worked with them on social media stuff, working with different policy people they have and different organizations they are working with to create a big organization that can rally and make a change. Basically, they get all of the groups together to do something big.

I’m trying to be a roller skater in my free time because I always see that happening in Audubon, and I want to be one of those cool people who are roller skating backward. That’s like an incoming hobby. But besides that, I really like to run; I just ran my second half marathon in New Orleans. I did the Rock n’ Roll, it was super fun and my parents came down and my dad ran it with me. It was a great family experience.

I also really enjoy scuba diving. I got certified when I was eighteen, right before I came to Tulane. Every year I’ve done one scuba diving trip, and I’m planning my one for this summer. I want to go to Mexico and hopefully see a whale shark. I think they usually come to Puerto Vallarta and the Yucatan Peninsula. I think that by the time they come around here they have just given birth so I think you can see some baby whale sharks which is really cool. That is my dream but I don’t know if it will happen because I have to save up for it.

One thing that I love about New Orleans that I did not expect to come here and find out is that it’s a city where people come to love their hobbies. Kind of like how people go to LA to pursue their Hollywood dreams. People come to New Orleans and they have their 9 to 5 jobs, which they love, but they have all of these passions on the side. Many of these restaurants were opened by people working a 9 to 5 or people going play their trumpets in a square during the weekend or selling their art in a market. It has taught me that I don’t just need to be this one, Indian, pre-med girl. I can be a pre-med girl who loves roller skating backward and scuba diving.

About Hannah Mayer

Hannah is the Co-Director of Humans of Tulane. She is currently a Senior majoring in Political Science in coordination with Social Policy and Practice and minoring in English. Hannah loves to travel and explore new places and you can often find her reading a good book.