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 …
Continue reading 509. Bhakti, Religious Festivals, and Devotion
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, …
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 …
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. …
Continue reading 506. Trying to Understand Varna, Jati, and Caste
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 …
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 …
Humayans Tomb 3 Qutb Minar We arrive in Delhi. Our first days are primarily to adjust to India. Hotel Claridge's is only a few blocks from Humayans Tomb. As a group, we visit Qutb Minar and the Red Fort. Whether sightseeing or walking on the street, street sellers, and individuals hanging around tourist sites, want …
Departures and Arrivals. Every trip has these components. It doesn't matter whether I'm going to the grocery store, driving to Stone Mountain to climb the mountain, or flying to India. Departures and arrivals are part of the journey. Our departure from Atlanta to New York is not smooth. Because of stormy weather, we miss our …
Similar to many other recent, freshly bestowed, humanities PhDs, I didn’t have a full-time job. Fortunately, I am an adjunct at DeKalb College. Because my wife Mary teaches English at DeKalb Technical College which is right next door, we both know, and are known, by several of the local college faculty and administrators. One winter …
Continue reading 500. Remembering India through a Fulbright-Hays Seminar
Strangers from Overseas came for the neolithic hill forts. The Romans came. The Angles and Saxons from northern Germany and southern Scandinavia came. The Vikings from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden came. The French from Normandy led by William the Conqueror came, and landed at Hastings. The Spanish in the Armada came. Plymouth Sir Francis Drake …
Journeys: Explorations in Body, Mind, and Spirit 