Like many other persons of Indian origin in the US, I have struggled to find balance between my Indian and American identities.  Having grown up in the US, negotiating an American identity has not posed many problems.  However, I have spent most of my adult life attempting to understand my Indian identity.  Part of this search led me to major in South Asian Studies, which opened up the possibility of taking classes such as Hindi and Indian history.

Last year, I heard about an opportunity to study abroad in India through my university, UC Berkeley.  At first, I was a bit skeptical.  Wouldn’t I rather travel to England,Australia, or Japan?  After all, that’s where many of my Indian American friends were planning to study.  Besides, I felt I knew plenty about India.  I had already taken classes relating to South Asia and I could easily fit a few more into my schedule before graduating.  Finally, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to deal with dust,glaring poverty, and other hardships for six months.  Yet something about traveling and studying in India as a student, without the presence of my parents, intrigued me.  Convincing myself that this would be an adventure, I enrolled in the program.

Months of filling out tedious applications, obtaining inoculations, and taking dozens of passport photos seemed to whiz by.  All of a sudden, I found myself in Mussoorie, a scenic hill-station located in the Himalayan foothills, 8,000 feet above sea level. Surrounded by spectacular views and pleasant weather akin to what I would expect in my hometown, San Francisco, 30 other students and I learned Hindi at the historic Landour Language School.  Our day started with breakfast at 8 am, morning classes from 8:30 am to 10 am, a half hour break for tea and biscuits at a neighborhood tea stall, followed by another hour and a half of instruction.  We would be done by noon with the rest of the day at our disposal.  Two other students and I also took Urdu classes.

I constantly had to remind myself that I wasn’t living a dream.  Each morning, as I stepped out for school, I was greeted by the smell of devdar trees in the misty air, sounds of langur monkeys jumping from branch to branch, and sights of endless valleys below, bathed in green and speckled with villages here and there.  A new adventure awaited me every day, whether it was negotiating the price of clothes at the main bazaar below, visiting the Ganges on a weekend trip, or even taking a routine evening walk that I knew wasn’t so ordinary simply because I was doing it halfway around the world.

Towards the end of our stay, the administrators at Landour organized a trip to Yamunotri, a holy pilgrimage site 10,000 feet above sea level.  I had heard of the Yamuna River before, but seeing its power in person was an altogether different experience.  I recall how, as I sat on a rock in the middle of the river, I was mesmerized by its sounds and awed at how it flowed with an almost supernatural force.  The second day, after many arduous kilometers of hiking, our group landed upon a grand temple dedicated to Yamuna Devi, the goddess of the river.  We bathed in natural hot water springs and witnessed priests performing devotional ceremonies to the river goddess.  Traveling there and back, amidst the backdrop of silent mountains of green and simple village life, I felt a sense of spiritual contentment that classes at home could never afford.

At the close of the language program, our group separated into students studying at Delhi and my group, which went go to Hyderabad.  Hyderabad University amazed me in every which way.  Situated an hour from the city, we enjoyed moderate temperatures and were free from noise and air pollution.  I always thought UC Berkeley was quite green and beautiful, but the lush HU campus sprawled out over 2500 acres, with trees on every path and many picturesque lakes.  The paths were ideal for jogging and bike riding.

Prior to my trip alumni from the program had warned us not to expect too much of the academics.  I, however, found the academic experience most rewarding.  I took a class in Sanskrit with a learned scholar and professor who was also a Vedic pundit.  He regaled me with verses from both secular and religious texts, often singing them in the traditional way.  Another class I had was on India in world affairs, taught by an eminent foreign policy analyst.  It exposed me to some critical aspects of India’s relations with its neighbors and the rest of the world.  I also participated in a special class for American students introducing different aspects of India each week, including economics, music, history, science, business, religion, etc.  Finally, I had an independent study project analyzing the state of slum education in Hyderabad.  Not only did I find the topics to be of great interest, but the classes challenged me to learn new strategies for studying and learning, as their form at was different from the instruction I received at home.

For many years I had wanted to learn to play an Indian musical instrument.  I finally achieved this ambition when I took tabla lessons in Hyderabad, along with seven other students.  Every week I looked forward to sitting down with our instructor and learning new taals, or rhythms.  I brought my tablas back home to continue pursuing this new passion.  Other students also took lessons in Kuchipudi, sitar, and Hindustani vocal music.

While many weekends were spent exploring the city of Hyderabad, occasionally I traveled out of the city.  I visited Chennai and, in the spirit of globalization, sampled their Mexican cuisine; I swam in the Bay of Bengal at Mamallapuram and walked amid temple ruins at Warangal.  Our group also had a week-long trip to Kerala, where I visited sacred temples and churches, took a backwater tour, and witnessed the confluence of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean at the southernmost tip of India, Kanyakumari.  That week of traveling,sampling regional cuisines, and speaking to locals probably taught me more about South India than I had learned in any of my South Asian studies classes at home.

It’s interesting to note that out of our group of 25 students in Hyderabad, only one other girl and I were of Indian origin.  I sometimes consider that had I gone to England or Japan, she would have been the lone Indian-American in the program.  While I strongly believe any study abroad experience would have been worthwhile, I am most satisfied that I selected India.  The journey reaffirmed ties to my motherland and taught me so much that books and classes could never offer.  I encourage students thinking about studying abroad to give it a serious thought.  Seeing India as a student is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that cannot be duplicated as an adult or with family.  For more information about these programs please inquire at your university’s Study Abroad Office or check out the Council for International Education Exchange.