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Ten students toured India for 16 days in May with professors Nita Kumar, the Brown Family Professor of South Asian History, and Lisa Cody, associate professor of history.
"There are so few historical places that are not packed with tourists," Cody says. "To be somewhere that was so pivotal in complete silence and stillness was extremely powerful for all of us in conjuring up the specter of empire and individual lives."
The group's visit to the world's second-most populous country enabled students to understand that, despite vast differences, Indian civilization should not be viewed as mysterious or incomprehensible, Kumar says.
Through photos and thoughts shared below, a portion of their journey is shared in Inside CMC:
"The experience that sticks out most in my mind was when our group traveled to a village outside of Varanasi," says Charlie Sprague '10. "Professor Kumar arranged for us to talk with a village leader, meet a family, and interact with people in the village. Her ability to translate from Hindi to English allowed us to ask questions of everybody—an experience otherwise impossible without her knowledge and contacts . . . The children loved playing with the digital cameras brought by some of the students."
"As a history major, I especially loved traveling with two historians," said Becky Grossman '08. "And it's nice to step outside of your own circle of friends and meet people of all different backgrounds, and really get to know them."
"We were stared at quite a bit," says Katherine Kellett '08. "One fond memory was on the train platform heading to Mussorie. We arrived early and had to wait a while. Lots of people gathered around and watched us. It was a little awkward at first, but we embraced it eventually and started reciting old playground chants and games. We drew a crowd of probably 100 people! We laughed and so did they."
"Having recently read Orientalism by Edward Said in Professor Arash Khazeni's seminar last semester," Grossman says, "I was really aware of my own judgments and biases against Indian culture. That awareness revealed how influenced I am by Western culture and how I can't deny that I am a Westerner viewing India and the East through Western eyes."
"My favorite memory was a night in Varanasi," Grossman recalls, "talking with several other students and Professor Cody. Around 3 a.m., we all decided to see what the Ganges looks like in the middle of the night. We walked toward the main street and caught a bicycle ricksha to the river. We sat on the steps watching pilgrims entering the water and families preparing food and laundry and doing various other daily chores, all using the river. It was incredible to see the streets nearly empty when everything is usually so bustling. We didn't even mind being tired the next day."
"Cultural barriers were a challenging and exciting part of the trip," Sprague says. "Although many Indians speak some or fluent English, I found myself constantly struggling to communicate because Indian accents are very different from American accents. Also, the streets of India are filled with people, animals, cars, and rickshas, which made navigating across town and knowing when to cross the street challenging. Also, when cars are passing in India, they use the horn to inform the other driver of their presence."
"Last summer I interned in Washington, D.C., and had the opportunity to attend a conference on U.S.-India relations at the Heritage Foundation," says Katherine Kellett. "After spending a day hearing from expert panelists, I was very intrigued and interested in visiting India. When I learned of the opportunity to apply, I took it. The heat was the most difficult part of the trip."
"I would say that my favorite historical moments were in Lucknow," Cody says. "In the morning the students and I worked our way, by ourselves, through the British cemetery at the Residency, which was the site of the 1857 First War of Independence (or Rebellion or Mutiny depending on the historian's point of view!). It was a hot day, the grounds were deserted, and we had to push through thick weeds and flowers to see all of the gravestones, and climb the ruins of what was left of the very English, very Georgian buildings in an otherwise Asian landscape."
"We went to the monumental Bara Imambara," says Cody, "which was the last, great and enormous piece of Islamic architecture from the 1780s before the British controlled Lucknow. At the top of the main part of the ornate and beautiful Imambara is a four-floor labyrinth of several hundred doors and corridors and only one right way out from the farthest end. The space is fascinating (and maddening), and in the spirit of the 5C, we decided to have our own Amazing Race and compete through the labyrinth in teams."
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