Gateway to India We reached Bombay (Mumbai). The seminar is ended. Besides last meals and conversations together, we are asked to work on our individual projects. I take time to reflect on my experiences, then, and now years later. An image captures my experiences in and of India. My first impression of India is that …
Continue reading 526. What about India? Remembering My First Visit
When traveling, visitors watch the people of the land being visited; those host people notice those who are visiting. Westerners have had a growing fascination with India. The list is endless. Westerner Playing Sitar along Ganga During my lifetime, the Beatles resided in Rishikesh. George Harrison Poster While I didn't take his course, my DePauw …
Continue reading 525. Westerners Seeing India: Indians Seeing Westerners
I’ve met Hindus. I’ve met Muslims. I’ve met Christians. I haven’t met a Buddhist. My experience is not unique. Weeks earlier, during our seminar's lectures, Professor Raman reminds us of Buddhism’s connections with India. Born in Lumbini (present day Nepal), Siddhartha Gautama lived his life in northern India during the 6th-5th BCE. Raised Hindu, Siddhartha …
Who doesn’t know that there has been war between India and Muslim dominated Pakistan? Who doesn’t know that the Taj Mahal is built by a Muslim ruler? Who hasn’t heard of tensions in Ayodhya because Hindus believe that a Muslim mosque covers an original temple to Lord Ram? Unfortunately, for all that we learned about …
Varanasi is the city of Shiva. Everywhere I went there were images, statues, temples to Shiva. While statistics show that Vaishnavites outnumber Shivaites throughout India, I have to believe that most Hindus in Varanasi are Shivaites. For an outsider like me, I can tell a person is a Shivaite if they have three horizontal lines …
View of Ghats from Above Varanasi. The ghats on the Ganges River. Visitors are pulled to this city and these ghats. Husband and Wife For probably five miles, there are numerous ghats, stone steps which enable the thousands of Hindu worshipers to reach the river. Because the Ganges is at flood stage, Carl and I …
Varanasi Sunrise Behind Men in Boat I long to visit Varanasi. Einar, one of my DePauw college roommates, studied at Banaras Hindu University and returned to DePauw a changed man. How else could I explain his wearing sandals during a January snowstorm? During a1896 world tour, Mark Twain wrote: “Banaras is older than history, older …
In Kolkata, Subodh Mondal, our host, take us to an amazing array of places and enable us to meet fascinating individuals, Hindus and Christians. The highlight is our visiting Mother Teresa at her Mother House. Memorable. We also visit the House of the Dying, Nirmal Hriday which means “the Home of the Pure Heart.” Carl …
Continue reading 518. Kolkata’s House of Dying and Mother Theresa
Carl Griffin and I are visiting Kolkata. Rev. Subodh Mondohl, a United Methodist minister, acts as our host in Kolkata. One afternoon, he and his friends Probal Dutta and Rev. Mohan Lal take Carl and me to the Kali Temple. Statues and photos of Kali show a fierce feminine deity. She has swords in her …
Upon receiving notice of my acceptance in the Fulbright seminar, I know that I want to meet Emory's Professor Thomas Thangaraj. Although my doctoral degree is from Emory, I had not met him during my years of course work. Graciously meeting me, he invites me to visit him in his hometown of Madurai since he'll …
Continue reading 514. Visiting Professor Thomas Thangaraj: Tamil Nadu Christians
