We have a free night! Despite being exhausted, we see that there is a classical dance performance not far from our Madras hotel. Several of us decide to attend! We enter the small auditorium. We are directed to sit on the front row of the auditorium. Unfailingly kind, the ushers wanted these American visitors (us) …
Author: sabbatical2017blog
512. Rural India
Before the formal Fulbright seminar begins in Madras (Chennai), we learn about rural India. In our particular seminar “The Geography and Culture of India”, one of the major goals is to familiarize its participants with the people and the land of the host country. While we all have stereotypes of Indian cities and slums, we …
511. Family Life in India
Learning about India is not confined to the hours of lectures. We learn from the lecturers, but we also learn from their younger graduate assistants. As a result, we get to know Uma and Shuba, the two women graduate students who spend hours each day with us. Through them, we sense some of the aspects …
510. Early Morning Walks
Garbage Beneath Build A Healthier India What does one do at 5AM? I know that it will be hot as the day goes along; I know that the group schedule will leave little free time. I go for my walks. In Delhi, the morning after our arrival, I leave our hotel around 7 or 8 …
509. Bhakti, Religious Festivals, and Devotion
I hope to learn about Hinduism. Being an academic, I thoroughly enjoy the earlier lecture about classic textual Hinduism as expressed in the Bhagavad-Gita and the Ramayana. Because Sunithi, one of our seminar organizers wants us to learn about "lived" Hinduism, she leads several of us to Mylapore’s Shaivite “Peacock Temple” as well as the …
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508. Women’s Roles and Status
Not only the seminar's women, but also the men, want to understand Indian women’s roles and status. While we all realize that there is a complexity to this set of issues, we also could not forget ancient texts, older practices, and current exploitation. At its extreme, classical and parts of contemporary India encouraged women’s inequality, …
507. The Working Women’s Forum
Massive suffering often brings responses. Since women’s roles and status in India are often dismal, there are organizations which seek to rectify the situation as best as it can. One such organization is the Working Women’s Forum. Because of a 1977 flood in Madras (Chennai), Ms. Jaya Arunachalam formed an organization to help women of …
506. Trying to Understand Varna, Jati, and Caste
My own seminar goal is to familiarize myself with Hinduism and some of the basic features of religious life in India. I never forget that I’m new to studying Hinduism. Obviously, one of the features to understand is the historically influential varna, jati, or caste system. The very words suggest the complexity of India life. …
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505. Everybody Knows This Man: Gandhi
Everybody in the world knows Gandhi. While our seminar organizers provide a wonderful selection of speakers, one of our most appreciated speakers is Professor K. Swaminathan, the 94-year-old editor of the Collected Works of Gandhi. Upon receiving a master’s degree from Oxford and becoming a professor at Presidency College in Madras (Chennai), he became the …
504. A Taxi-Race and a Train Compartment
One of the seminar’s purpose is to familiarize us with India’s geography. No simple feat! Not only varied geographically, India, one-third the size of the USA, is a huge country! The seminar begins in the Ganges river basin in north central India, Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. We travel south to the Deccan plateau city of …
