Self-designed Honors Experience to Indore, India, June 2014
This summer I was blessed to be able to go to India to visit a classmate of mine, and to explore religion with a focus on Islam. We explored Indore and it’s temples and palaces, took a few days trip to Bhopal and visited family and mosques, and took another several day trip to Gujarat to see the countryside, temples and monuments. I experienced a country and culture so different from my own that it’s not fair to even compare. I learned new concepts and experienced incredible hospitality and lived in a society where spirituality prevailed, which was an amazing and very refreshing contrast to the sexually sodden society of the West. The three weeks filled up and passed by, but I will have to return a few more times to really say I saw India and experienced a decent part of its huge, diverse country.
I designed this experience after a few conversations with my friend and classmate Radhika. She kept mentioning how prevalent Islam was where she had grown up, and in general what amazing temples and mosques there are around her city. So we thought it would be a lot of fun if I came for a visit and got to see and explore some of India with her. I expected to follow our itinerary, but nothing goes as planned. I did not know what to expect, except that Islam would be followed as written in the Quran, and practiced by Muhammad, but I found out that culture changes things for better or worse. I experienced hospitality that gave me hope in humanity again and saw that not the whole world functions the way the West does, and that’s beautiful.
This experience changed concepts I had, and fully integrated others, like how beautiful dignity and self care are, no matter how poor or old you may be, and how long covering clothing is actually wonderfully safe and freeing, rather than oppressive. I learned that the world is very different than all I know, and it is therefore all the more important that I learn and experience more of it. I know I only saw a glimpse of India, and hope that I can go back many more times to actually grasp the experience India offers to a full extent.
These are a few pictures representing my trip, beginning with things, people and places I saw in Indore, then on our trip to Gujarat and back, and finally in Bhopal. As I had a focus on religion there are many places of worship depicted, but I also included Radhika, her friends, villagers, and typical scenes you might find in India.
I designed this experience after a few conversations with my friend and classmate Radhika. She kept mentioning how prevalent Islam was where she had grown up, and in general what amazing temples and mosques there are around her city. So we thought it would be a lot of fun if I came for a visit and got to see and explore some of India with her. I expected to follow our itinerary, but nothing goes as planned. I did not know what to expect, except that Islam would be followed as written in the Quran, and practiced by Muhammad, but I found out that culture changes things for better or worse. I experienced hospitality that gave me hope in humanity again and saw that not the whole world functions the way the West does, and that’s beautiful.
This experience changed concepts I had, and fully integrated others, like how beautiful dignity and self care are, no matter how poor or old you may be, and how long covering clothing is actually wonderfully safe and freeing, rather than oppressive. I learned that the world is very different than all I know, and it is therefore all the more important that I learn and experience more of it. I know I only saw a glimpse of India, and hope that I can go back many more times to actually grasp the experience India offers to a full extent.
These are a few pictures representing my trip, beginning with things, people and places I saw in Indore, then on our trip to Gujarat and back, and finally in Bhopal. As I had a focus on religion there are many places of worship depicted, but I also included Radhika, her friends, villagers, and typical scenes you might find in India.