Students spend four weeks immersed in Indian life

While their fellow UNT students spent Winter Break with family and friends celebrating the holidays and enjoying some time away from academia, eight students and two faculty members took the break time to learn about India's music and culture firsthand.

The trip was UNT's first study abroad program to India and is part of the university's first formal educational exchange program with an Indian university, Mysore University.

Though offered through the UNT College of Music, the exchange program is open to students of all majors.

 

Cultural discovery

The trip was made in December during the region's concert season. The students attended concerts, heard artists' lectures, visited historical sites, watched filming and recording sessions in India's massive filmmaking industry and visited Mysore University for a residency to study religion, philosophy and music.

Indian families hosted the students, even providing them with clothing for a few days when their luggage was lost.

 "Being with the families was great," says Steven Friedson, professor of ethnomusicology who taught the course. "Having great musicians in the house with us, playing and taking questions from students was amazing. The human contact, meeting of cultures. Those are the things the students will remember."

Graduate student Carl Vermilyea says one of his most treasured memories came about because the group's host family arranged something special that few tourists get to experience.

"We were in Manargudi, which has a Vishnu temple called Rajagopala Swamy," Vermilyea says. "The family we were staying with was in contact with the priests of the temple, and we were given a special tour which included seeing the deities hidden away in the inner-inner sanctum. They were covered with gold, silver, and jewels, and were some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

Friedson credits Poovalur Sriji, a renowned South Indian drummer and UNT adjunct faculty member who co-taught the course, with much of the success of the trip.

"Sriji was instrumental in getting the contacts for us. He's the expert on Indian music," he says.

 

Learning curve

Most forays into foreign territory include at least one cultural or communication breakdown, and this trip was no exception. Friedson says the westerners had to learn that in India sometimes "no" means "yes."

"In the west we nod our heads up and down to say 'yes' and shake them side to side to say 'no.' But in India, they indicate 'yes' with a kind of back and forth, up and down motion that looks a lot like our 'no.' It took us a little while to learn the difference."

Friedson says that it is also the custom there to only eat with the right hand.

"You don't even touch or hold food with the left hand, so there's some coordination that has to be learned when eating," he says.

 

Adjusting to a different way of life

In addition to learning new ways to communicate and eat, students and faculty had to adjust to the day to day living in India including transportation differences and techniques to avoid medical issues.

"We knew that sanitation would be a problem, so we were careful to eat only cooked foods and drink only bottled water," Vermilyea says. "We took malarone pills for malaria everyday."

Treks to far-flung cities and villages required travel in buses down makeshift roads.

"The unexpected challenge for me was keeping my sanity on the long and extremely bumpy bus rides through remote towns," says undergraduate student Michael Morga. "And the horn honked continuously while we dodged animals and other vehicles."

 

Studying a changing system

While at Mysore University, students spent time studying India's changing guru system and what affects the changes are having on the country's rich music.

"We received wonderful publicity while we were there on TV and in the major Indian newspaper," Friedson says. "I think they were impressed because we were interested in  karnatic music, which is an elite tradition but deep in religion and meditative practice."

 

The other exchange

Friedson says the program has identified one Mysore student that he would like to see come back to UNT to study ethnomusicology.

"Financing is a huge challenge," he says. "There is a small endowment for ethnomusicology but we hope since there is a large Indian community here that they will take an interest in funding our residencies.

"We hope to make another trip next year," Friedson says.