I think that this was a successful semester of language learning.  It was a different, and frustrating experience to not have a steady language partner to work with.  Last year I might have said that my favorite part about Hindi is writing it because I like working in the script, but this semester has definitely made me realize that what I most enjoy is speaking the language.  

I spent a portion of the semester reviewing material I had previously learned, but forgotten especially since I did not use Hindi over the summer.  I now feel more comfortable than ever with this material, particularly the past tense which I have previously struggled with.  I learned a lot about immigration first hand through talking with the kids I tutor. I learned several new, useful verb constructs.  I can write them all well, and I would feel comfortable incorporating almost all of them into a conversation in Hindi.  Education definitely became my focus throughout the semester.  I was able to interview Saifali about his education.  The interview was very informative.  Among other things, I learned that Saifali went to private school and that he was taught in Hindi and English.  He did not live at school, because his home was very close and classes only lasted about six hours per day.  He attended a co-educational school and they learned about religion as part of their curriculum.  These were the most interesting things that I took away from our interview.  I was also pleased with my ability to read a newspaper article reasonably well that related to education.

I was very happy with the oral assessment that Nina and I completed together.  It was great to know that my conversational skills have not gotten rusty, even without speaking the language very regularly.  As I wrote in my evaluation, I was most proud of my ability to explain things that Nina did not understand in an alternative way, using different verbs or descriptive words.  This was something new for me, as I have always spoken to people who are much more advanced Hindi speakers than myself.  Thus, I have always been the person to need something explained in a different way.

I was satisfied with my individual presentational speaking that was recorded, as well.  I am actually glad I did that component without specifically preparing a monologue in advance, even though I was nervous about it at the time.  I am someone who really likes to prepare for things, and practice them a lot in advance.  This showed me that I may underestimate my ability to speak spontaneously and without prompt from someone else.  I was able to say essentially everything that I would have otherwise prepared, and with minimal error.

One of my most ambitious goals for the semester was to learn several expressive, but irregular verb forms. These sentence constructions are listed throughout my goal sheet.  I worked on these forms throughout the semester, and compiled some representative examples of each on these sheets.  The only verb form listed on my sheet that I did not cover was expressing "must." However, I did an additional form to replace this: "need" which is similar to "must."

Although Andrew's project was the only presentation I was able to see, I was extremely impressed with his delivery of the presentation in Bengali.  He seemed able to speak with reasonable confidence and only minimal notes, entirely in his target language.  The statistics that Andrew shared were very informative, and I liked the way that he gave statistics about the number of ICU beds, doctors, etc in America as well, for context.  I also liked his approach of talking to different people that he had met in Bangladesh about their experiences with healthcare.  I know, in India, that what is published can often diverge from what typically happens for working class Indians.  

I also enjoyed reading over some of Jason Stickel's blog posts.  I especially enjoyed what he had to say about politeness in Polish.  The article he cited about the percent of language devoted to politeness in typical conversation as compared to English was really interesting to me.  I think Hindi may actually have a lower percentage of language devoted to politeness, because as I noted in a previous culture post, Hindi incorporates formalities into the subject.

Presentation%20on%20Indian%20Education.pptx

My cultural project this year was very different from my previous one on Hindu death rituals.  I think a lot of the terms I learned for this presentation are more practical for everyday use and that I was able to incorporate slightly more of my language this year, or at least did so with greater complexity.  From looking at the literacy statistics I found through the Indian census, it is clear that India has made great improvements to its quality of education.  However, it is still disheartening to see the gap that exists between male and female literacy rate and access to education.  Literacy has been shown to be important for enhancing women's rights, improving quality of life, and reducing child mortality, so it is extremely important that India work to improve access to education for girls.  

I found the following news article in the Hindi Bhaskar newspaper.  The original article can be found at <http://www.bhaskar.com/article/RAJ-JAI-the-lives-of-the-students-took-the-exam-stress-2635739.html?C3-JAI>

I wrote on my learning plan that I hoped to translate an article about immigration to America.  However, I could not find such an article written in Hindi.  Therefore, I chose to find an article that had something to do with education, since learning about education was my primary goal this semester.  I found reading newspaper articles to be a much more approachable and reasonable task this semester than I did last semester, so I was pleased with my reading progress.

I was very happy with my comprehension of the article. I was largely able to understand the events described in the article (many of which seem completely irrelevant to the point of it).  My vocabulary was sufficient enough to allow decent understanding and I also learned several new words that the article used repeatedly, such as exam, stress, police, and investigating.  I got together with my old Hindi partner, Prayas, for assistance with parts of the article that I found more difficult.  Prayas especially assisted me with unfamiliar verbs and with recognizing which words were actually proper nouns for places or people's names.  Sometimes it is difficult for me to distinguish between unknown vocabulary and names; Hindi does not use capital letters like English does, which I think adds to the confusion.  

The sad events in the article are, unfortunately, extremely relevant to Indian education today. Extreme stress is a growing issue for Indian students, as more and more young people compete for a limited number of degrees and jobs.  The stress has led to a large number of suicides in recent years, especially among university age students.  It inspired one of India's most popular movies, and my favorite Hindi film, Three Idiots, which raises awareness about the alarmingly high expectations that lead to extreme stress and suicides.  

जयपुर.सात दिन पहले परीक्षा देते वक्त तबीयत बिगड़ने पर एसएमएस अस्पताल में भर्ती युवक की रविवार देर रात मौत हो गई। जब वह वार्ड में लाया गया था, तो डॉक्टरों ने परीक्षा के तनाव की वजह से ब्रेन हेमरेज होने की आशंका जाहिर की थी। हालांकि, सोमवार को पोस्टमार्टम करने वाले डॉक्टरों के मुताबिक युवक की मौत के कारणों का पता एफएसएल भेजी विसरा रिपोर्ट से चल सकेगा। शिप्रापथ पुलिस मामले की जांच कर रही है। 

पुलिस ने बताया कि भैरूंराम (26) उर्फ भैंरू पुत्र कोजाराम गांव चिड़िया, बायतू बाड़मेर का रहने वाला था। वह करीब दो वर्ष से सोढाला स्थित रामनगर में दो साथियों के साथ किराए पर रहकर बैंकिंग व एसएससी परीक्षाओं की तैयारी कर रहा था। 4 दिसंबर को उसका एसएससी का पेपर था। वह दोपहर 2 बजे राष्ट्रीय संस्कृत संस्थान में पेपर देने गया था। 

वहां करीब एक घंटे बाद उसकी तबीयत बिगड़ गई और उल्टियां होने लगीं। इस पर उसने सेंटर से बाहर आकर दोस्त अशोक को फोन किया, वह भी किसी अन्य परीक्षा केंद्र पर था तो उसका भाई वहां पहुंचा और भैरूंराम को एसएमएस पहुंचाया। दोस्तों ने बताया कि भैरूंराम के दो बड़े भाई हुकमाराम व एक अन्य गांव में मजदूरी कर परिवार घर खर्च चलाते हैं। पिछली बार भी बैंक की भर्ती परीक्षा में भैरूंराम का चयन नहीं हो सका था। उसके बाद से वह असफल होने के डर से तनाव में आ जाता था। 

तनाव से ब्रेन हेमरेज और बिगड़ी तबीयत

भैरूंराम की हालत गंभीर होने से उसे मेडिकल आईसीयू में वेंटिलेटर पर रखा गया। मामला संदिग्ध मानकर अस्पताल प्रशासन ने शिप्रापथ पुलिस को इसकी सूचना दी। तब उपनिरीक्षक महेंद्र सिंह वहां पहुंचे। डॉक्टरों ने पुलिस को भैरूंराम के परीक्षा का तनाव होने से ब्रेन हेमरेज होने का अंदेशा जताया। इसके बाद भैरूंराम के परिजन भी बाड़मेर से यहां पहुंच गए। उनको भी डॉक्टरों ने वही कारण बताया। भैरूंराम ने रविवार देर रात करीब 2 बजे दम तोड़ दिया। सोमवार को पोस्टमार्टम के बाद परिजन शव बाड़मेर ले गए।

Take away words:

परीक्षा = exam

तबीयत = health (a different word for it than I already know)

बिगड़ने = deteriorate

मौत हो गई = died

तनाव = stress

पुलिस = police

वजह = reason

करीब = around

ब्रेन = brain

परिजन = family (a different word for it than I already know)

Translation:

The article is entitled, "Exam Stress Takes Student's Life!"

Jaipur. A man who was admitted to the SMS hospital seven days ago died on Sunday evening after he fell ill during an exam. When he was brought to the ward, the doctors suspected brain hemorrhage induced by stress to be the cause of death. The report of the postmortem that was sent to SMS hospital will confirm the exact cause of death. Sriphraphat police are investigating the case.

Police claim that Bhairuram aka Bhairu is a resident of Kojaram bird village. He has been living in Ramnagar with his two friends for the past two years and has been preparing for banking and S.S.C examination. His S.S.C examination was on the 4^th of December.

After an hour his health began to deteriorate and he started to vomit. He then called his friend Ashok, who himself was taking an exam. As a result Ashok's brother brought Bhairuram to SMS hospital. His friends confirmed that his two brothers are day laborers in another village and make their living from it. Last year he wasn’t selected for the banking job after the entrance exam. Ever since he was really worried and stressed about being unsuccessful.  

Tension causes brain hemorrhage and deterioration of health

Bhairuram was admitted to I.C.U and was kept in a ventilator because of his critical condition. Suspecting of wrong doing the doctors notified the Sriphraphat police. Then sub-inspector Mahendra Singh arrived. The doctors told the police that they believe the stress to be the cause behind his death. The family of bhairuram arrived from their village. The doctors confirmed the same with the family. Bhairram died around 2am on Sunday. The dead body was handed over the parents after the postmortem was conducted on Monday. 

The other day, one of the students I tutor asked me to do something for him at school the next day.  I waited and waited for him to say “Please,” as many an adult did to me when I was his age.  In the world of manners I grew up in, “May I…Please…Thank you!” were all requisites of any polite request to be granted.  When I explained what I was waiting for, he was slightly exasperated and bemused.  He said that this had been an issue before, but that the habit of please and thank you was not one he had yet developed.  He went on to explain that this is because please and thank you are words so uncommonly used in Hindi and Nepali.  In these languages, the subject that one uses to address a person indicates respect and incorporates the please and thank you formalities all into one word.  I was taught to always use the respectful form of the you (aap, versus tum) in order to avoid being rude in Hindi.  I thought it was interesting to see how a person’s background in one language can seemingly affect their mannerisms in another…

When I told people in India that I was American, I was fortunate always to receive a warm and enthusiastic reception.  The most typical responses of working class Indians were along the lines of, “America! The land of dreams!”  and “We love Obama!”  Many people described to me their hopes of “making it” to America at some point during their lives.  If they could not afford to do so, then they worked in hopes of being able to send their children.  I avoided admitting the cost of a plane ticket to the US in rupees to enthusiastic patients at a free hospital where I volunteered.  I took pictures with families excited to meet a real American as they told me all about the wonders of America. 

After some time, I couldn’t help but wonder:  Are the people who make it here ever disappointed? 

Yes, America is wonderful.  Yes I am appreciative and generally proud of my citizenship and country.  My travels have enlightened me about other cultures, but also my own and I realize how fortunate I am to call this most coveted place home.  But, I still wonder, is it all that it’s cracked up to be?  In talking to some Indians about the US, one would think America to be a place free of corruption, violence, injustice, and poverty, a place where everyone truly has an equal opportunity to be what he or she would like.  And yet, that is far from the truth.  So I wonder, are immigrants to the US ever disappointed?

For Indians, there are certain improvements in quality of life here that are undeniable.  Saifali explained one example of this is terms of space in the library.  (He’d previously been marveling at how empty the library was, though I did explain that one wouldn’t typically expect to find the basement of the library jam packed on a Friday evening.)  He said, just look around here at all this space.  If we were in India, this library might only be one story; forget about us having our own table to sit at; we might have nowhere to sit at all and it would be loud because there would be so many people.

But improvements in physical living conditions, comforts and securities surely come with a tradeoff of living in a place likely so different from any they have previously known.  Everyday accepted practices, religious holidays, and clothing that is so normal at home become unusual anomalies here.  The young girl I tutor tells me all the time that she wishes to go back to Nepal.  She hasn’t adjusted to life here yet: school is difficult, English is difficult, and connecting with friends is difficult.  She can’t understand the complicated reasons why her family had to leave home, she just knows there are a lot of things in the US that are hard and that she doesn’t like.  Her older brother and parents seem slightly happier here than she, perhaps because they have a more vivid recollection and understanding of why they left.  Her brother told me that when he left Nepal, he thought that everywhere in the world was the same; he didn’t know that the US would be different and he is pleased with many of the differences he sees.  I still don’t know that the pros outweigh the cons or that American lives up the expectations of all the refugees and immigrants that come here.

Kaitlin Education Interview

Interview

I made this artifact to review working with past tense, which was the tense I had the most difficulty with last semester. In the slide show, I describe India, what I did there, and what I enjoyed.  

My narration includes:  I lived in India for four months.  There I was a student.  I studied Hindi and Indian culture.  In Jaipur, I lived with an Indian family.  When I was in India, I wore Indian clothing.  I ate Indian food and now, I think Indian food is great.  Indian culture is very different from American culture.  India is very interesting and very colorful.  I went to many places; I travelled by train. In Agra, I saw the Taj Mahal.  The Taj Mahal was very beautiful. This photo is also the Taj Mahal.  Then I saw the Red Fort.  I also went to a small village.  I learned about healthcare.  In Amritsar, I saw the Golden Temple.  I went to Varanasi.  Varanasi is a very old city.  In Varanasi, I went to an Indian wedding with my friend.  In Kolkata, I met many nice people.  I hope to return to India.

voicethread.com/share/2547060/

The principal official language of India is Hindi, while English is the secondary official language, as India was a British colony until 1947.  In addition to Hindi and English, there are other official and unofficial languages numbering in the hundreds spoken throughout the subcontinent.  India’s 1961 census recognized 1,652 mother tongues; the most recent census conducted in 2001 reports that there are 30 languages spoken by more than 1 million native speakers in India.  Some of the most commonly spoken languages after Hindi are Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu. 

Something that I found to be really incredible when I was in India was the abundance of people who spoke more than one, two, sometimes even more than five languages.  Indians must be able to speak multiple languages as a matter of practicality; travelling even just a short distance from one’s home may mean being among a population of people who use a completely different language as their primary communication.  In recent years, the Indian government instituted a “Three Language” policy.  After grade 7, Indian students in government schools are expected to receive instruction in three languages:  the regional language, a modern Indian language, and English.  In addition to this, other languages such as Chinese or Arabic may also be offered.  It is expected that Indian students be fluent in multiple languages.  This is likely what prompted my language partner to ask me recently what other languages I speak in addition to Hindi and English (to which I could answer, “Technically I’ve taken classes in French and Spanish, but…”). 

I think India’s language system is great, and really in stark contrast to America’s, where English certainly dominates.  Here, foreign language courses are increasingly being cut from public school curricula in middle and even high schools.  I suppose this is due in part to the fact that we have much less of an immediate or domestic need to become multilingual.  However, I think it may also intimate some notion that Americans feel other people should learn English if they want to communicate with us.  Granted, this is not necessarily an entirely American phenomenon.  English has very much become the language of academia, as well.  I was at a microbiology conference this past weekend, and one of the speakers indicated that English is absolutely the standard in Science; he said that no matter where he travels, presentations are given in English and scientists from other countries must learn the language in order to contribute.  

Given our high expectation for English as the standard in America, I find it disconcerting how rather unsupportive we are of non-native English speakers in America.  This was an observation that I did not make until returning from India.  In India, any stumbling Hindi phrases I could get out of my mouth seemed just about the most exciting thing to happen all week to shopkeepers and others I talked to outside of school.  So many Indians I interacted with were absolutely enthused to hear a foreigner taking the time to learn their language.  They were also generally gracious to offer their knowledge and assistance, were sympathetic listeners, and were eager to teach new words they thought I should know.  Here, I don’t see much handholding at all towards people who are new to America and may not speak English well.  At times, people who don’t speak English are seen as an annoyance and interactions and generally short and to the point.  I can definitely say I’ve never seen anyone here beaming about a perfect stranger attempting to learn English. 

I’ve also seen that it is not just an Indian phenomenon to be supportive of language learning.  I tutor a family from Bhutan whose native language is Nepali.  They are convinced that I will just “pick up” Nepali from being around them.  I’m mildly ashamed to say that as this point I can officially remember only two words:  onion and Wednesday.  But, you can believe that anytime I say the English/Nepali phrase, “See you on Bhudavar,” it’s cause for them to celebrate because, I’m learning! 

Hindi uses post positions instead of prepositions as we use in English.  Post positions change the form of the subject and adjectives that they follow in different ways depending on the gender of the subject/adjective and whether it is singular or plural.  I did some exercises out of my book early on to help me recall the necessary changes, though this is something that I should refresh regularly; the changes are small and easy to forget, but would certainly be noticed in conversation with a native speaker.

This semester of autonomous language learning has been a unique challenge.  I liked the flexibility of self- directed learning, though did find it difficult to make substantial progress for some time.  I had taken one semester of intensive Hindi while in India, but after just one month away from the language I was nowhere near the level I was at when I left there.  So, I had to spend a significant amount of time relearning some of the material I had familiarized myself with there.  I certainly relearned it much more quickly the second time around, but it was disconcerting to find that I could forget so much in a relatively short amount of time!

My time in India was my first experience learning a new language while living in the place where that language is spoken.  I did not appreciate until this semester how helpful such immersion is.  Last semester, I might learn something in the classroom and then hear the same vocabulary or grammar in my interactions with my homestay family or other people after I left school.  This semester, my exposure to spoken Hindi was limited primarily to my meetings with my language partner.  The contrast made me realize how such constant exposure can help accelerate the language learning process.  In an effort to simulate this, I tried to listen to Hindi news or radio shows.

Another realization I had this semester is that self-directed learning requires a substantial amount of dedication and self-discipline.  I am a serious student, but I found it difficult to maintain the same level of motivation that I came in with throughout the semester.  I think that being consistent is very important in language learning; my learning experience could have been improved if I really carved out a certain amount of time everyday where I worked only on Hindi.  On many occasions, I let other responsibilities take priority over my Hindi learning.  I am beginning the process of applying to medical school which is very time consuming, so this semester may have been a particularly hard time to begin self-directed learning.  When I was able to sit down and work on my Hindi for extended periods of time I would literally tell my friends, “I wish I could just study Hindi!”  It is by far my favorite language I’ve had the opportunity to learn.  I like writing in the script and overall find that Hindi requires a very different kind of thinking than I am accustomed to doing, especially in my science classes.

I also have a newfound appreciation for the structuring that goes into traditional language courses.  In language learning, repetition and exposure to new elements learned is extremely important.  Thus, in a traditional language course, for example, one might learn new vocabulary, read a passage which uses that vocabulary, and listen to a recording which uses that new vocabulary to reinforce it.  I think this is a good system because it ensures that words are actually learned through use and repetition.  This was something I found hard to replicate in my self-directed learning with only limited and unrelated books and recordings available.  It was time consuming and often unproductive to try to seek out such resources on the internet.  If I continue with my self directed learning, I will try to get myself a very comprehensive Hindi text and make a very organized learning plan based on that book and other resources I can gather from the beginning. 

I accomplished some of my learning goals this semester including:  being able to speak in past, present, and future tenses, being able to translate a song, being able to write well in the devanagari script, describe people, and learn health and body part vocabulary.  I definitely did not accomplish my goal of being able to listen to and understand Hindi newscasts.  The newscasts are incredibly too fast for me to comprehend.  I can pick up some words and recognize the tense spoken in but I could not provide an accurate description of the topics covered.  I also did not make much progress in my reading skills as I could not find much reading material at my ability level.

My language partner, Prayas, was absolutely my best learning resource throughout the semester. I would not want to attempt to learn a language without a language partner.  Languages are meant to be spoken; to learn Hindi without being able to speak to someone would have felt pretty futile.  I am able to learn vocabulary by myself, but Prayas was really helpful with sentence construction and taught me new vocabulary words I would not have thought to learn myself.  It was fun and extremely interesting to talk to Prayas about culture and lifestyle in India and Nepal.  In many ways, the cultures seem quite similar and both, of course, are very dissimilar to the US.  I found it interesting that Prayas has observed cultural changes during his lifetime as far as conservatism in Nepal for example.  Hearing about Nepal made me disappointed that I had not gone there while I was in India.  If I do make it back to India, I would plan a trip to Nepal as well.  Prayas really helped me to progress this semester.  He was knowledgeable and also very patient! 

I absolutely want to keep up with my Hindi this summer.  I will aim at least to not lose any of the proficiency I have gained and, if possible, to progress further.

Working with my language partner Prayas has been the most rewarding and effective component of my language learning this semester.  During many of our meetings, we used my Hindi notebook from India and did grammar drills.  This helped me to become more confident in using the different tenses in Hindi.  Each day, we focused on a particular grammatical area.  For example, we did drills using past, simple past, habitual past, future, and present tenses separately.  In addition, we practiced using other sentence constructions such as, “I can” or “I want to” statements.  We also worked on my vocabulary and pronunciation skills.  More recently, we have switched to just engaging in conversation.  This is much more realistic, way harder, but a lot more fun as well.  We have talked about topics including daily routine, things I did in India, what life is like in Nepal because Prayas is from there, and plans for the days ahead.  I like the conversation learning because it is a challenge for me to see how much of what Prayas says that I can understand, and an additional challenge to develop an appropriate response.  From listening ot Prayas speak, I have picked up on some new vocabulary I wouldn’t necessarily have thought to look up directly.  I’ve found that I have a habit of sticking with just one tense when conversing.  It is important that I listen closely for changes in tense in conversation.  Overall, meetings with Prayas have been great.  He has been an awesome resource throughout the semester for my language learning.

This is the translation I came up with for this song which I first heard in India.  It's from a very well-liked movie called "3 Idiots."  For phrases such as "when your heart is restless/put a hand on your heart and persuade it" and "i guzzled the liquor of scholarship" I still definitely had to look to outside sources/a dictionary.  However, even without doing so I would have had a good understanding of the song as a whole.  Enjoy!

Jab life ho out of control

Honthon ko kar ke gol

Honthon ko kar ke gol

Seeti bajaa ke bol

When life is out of control

Round your lips

Round your lips

Whistle and say

Jab life ho out of control

Honthon ko kar ke gol

Honthon ko kar ke gol

Seeti bajaa ke bol

When life is out of control

Round your lips

Round your lips

Whistle and say

All Izz Well

All is well

Murgi kya jaane aande ka kya hoga

Are life milegi ya tawe pe fry hoga

Koi na jaane apna future kya hoga

How can a chicken know the future of its egg

Will it get life or be fried in a pan

Nobody knows what our future will be

Honth ghuma

Seeti bajaa

Seeti bajaa ke bol

Bhaiyaa All izz well

Round your lips,

Whistle

Whistle and say

Brother all is well

Arre bhaiyaa all izz well

Arre chachu All izz well

Arre bhaiyaa all izz well

Brother all is well

Uncle all is well

Brother all is well

Confusion hi confusion hai

Solution kuchh pata nahin

Solution jo mila to saala

Question kya tha pata nahin

Confusion only confusion

No one knows the solution

When a solution is found

We don't know the question

Dil jo tera baat baat pe ghabraaye

Dil pe rakh ke haath use tu fuslaa le

Dil idiot hai pyaar se usko samjha le

When your heart is restless

Put a hand on your heart and persuade it

The heart is an idiot, persuade it with love

Honth ghuma

Seeti bajaa

Seeti bajaa ke bol

Bhaiyaa All izz well

Round your lips

Whistle

Whistle and say

Brother all is well

Arre bhaiyaa all izz well

Arre chachu All izz well

Arre bhaiyaa all izz well

Brother all is well

Oh Uncle all is well

Oh brother all is well

Scholarship ki pi gaya daaru

Gham to phir bhi mitaa nahin

Agarbattiyan raakh ho gayi

God to phir bhi dikha nahi

I guzzled the liquor of scholarship

But still grief did not vanish

The incense has burnt

But we still haven't seen God

Bakra kya jaane uski jaan ka kya hoga

Seekh ghusegi ya saala keema hoga

Koi na jaane apna future kya hoga

How does a goat know what will happen to it

Will it be skewered or minced

Nobody knows what our future will be

To Honth ghuma

Seeti bajaa

Seeti bajaa ke bol

Bhaiyaa All izz well

So round your lips

Whistle

Whistle and say

Brother all is well

Arre bhaiyaa all izz well

Arre chachu All izz well

Arre bhaiyaa all izz well

Oh brother all is well

Oh uncle all is well

Oh brother all is well

Jab life ho out of control

Honthon ko kar ke gol

Honthon ki kar ke gol

Seeti bajaa ke bol

When life is out of control

Round your lips

Round your lips

Whistle and say

All Izz Well

All is well

A link to my project is included in this posting. My sources are included as the final slide in the presentation. In addition, below is a list of the Hindi words that I learned and included in my presentation. Whenever possible I gave the words written in the devanagari script. However, for some words, only phonetic spellings were available and I could not always deduce the correct devanagari spelling. Thus, these words are given in the Latin alphabet.

hindu%20death%20rituals.pptx

Khali - Goddess of Death

सनातन धर्म - Hinduism

वेद- Veda, Holiest Hindu Texts

जीवन - life

मौत - death

कर्म - karma

संसार - samsara/reincarnation

नरक - hell

पाप - sin

pātaka - crime

krmibhojana - Hell of Feeding on Worms

kālasūtra - Hell of The Thread of Time

स्वर्ग - Heaven

Punyam - piousness, virtuousness

मोक्ष - moksha, liberation

चीत - consciousness

आनंद - pure happiness

अंत्येष्टि - death rites

सम्सकारा - sacrament

तुलसी - tulsi/holy basil

पूजा - prayer

दाह - संस्कार - cremation

जीव - soul

भूत - ghost

साधू - holy man/ monk

कशी - Varanasi

सती - widow burning

I really enjoyed watching this week’s cultural presentations and was glad that I could finally come to the MLC class.  I did not know anything about Turkey before seeing the two presentations that were made.  It looks like a beautiful country, especially Antalya.  The culture there seems very rich, though definitely on the conservative side.  I found it interesting that although the culture is conservative, alcohol is still very popular.  I also liked the presentation about the Israel Defense Force.  I found it extremely interesting that all people in Israel must enroll in the army for some period of their life.  I also thought the exception for Arabs was intriguing.  While I don’t think this policy would go over well in the US, it seems like people in Israel genuinely enjoy and value their time in the army.  I was curious if there were instances of people fleeing the country to avoid enrolling, but an Israeli sense of pride in serving their country was made evident in the presentation.  The final presentation was on Birthright.  This is something that I was familiar with prior to the presentation, as I have several friends who have taken advantage of the opportunity to go to Israel.  I was not aware, however, that the Israeli government provides significant funding for Birthright.  This is something that I can definitely see as being controversial, which was brought up in the presentation.  I too think that domestic provisions should be taken care of before funding is provided for what many people see as “a paid vacation for American college students.”

I am very pleased with my choice of topic for the cultural project.  I became fascinated with Hindu death rituals when I encountered cremations in Varanasi.  At that time, I knew very little about the cultural customs surrounding death in Hinduism.  This project gave me the opportunity to explore Hindu beliefs about death; the more that I researched, the greater my interest became.  Though I was familiar with the ideas of karma and reincarnation, I did not realize that Hinduism also recognizes the concepts of heaven and hell.  The 28 Hells described in the Hindu texts were really fascinating.  There are different hells for different sins one might commit in a lifetime.  The hells are very specific and vividly described and the punishments often fit the crime; for example, those who do not share their food with others will be punished in a hell where they are eaten by and must eat worms. 

In researching antyeshti, the Hindu death rites, I also learned that there exist samskaras or sacraments for other stages of a Hindu person’s life as well.  This emphasizes the Hindu belief that death is simply one of many milestones in life.  Hinduism embraces the importance of the soul far above and beyond that of the body.  The body is seen almost as an accessory or container for the soul.  I can really appreciate this perspective; as a science student it is nice to imagine that people are more than just the molecules and enzymes that make up our physical beings.  This knowledge makes the Hindu reasoning for cremation quite apparent.  Hindus believe that cremation will allow the soul to escape from the body more swiftly and easily.  In my researching, I came across an article which indicated a Hindu person cannot donate his organs.  I did not include this in my presentation, because I had not been able to find such information elsewhere.  Furthermore, such a rule seems inconsistent with the Hindu concept of a separate body and soul.

Along these lines, something which made this project a bit more difficult was the lack of reputable research available about death beliefs in Hinduism.  Generally I would prefer to use journals or other peer reviewed publications, but combing through all the resources available in the UR library system turned up only one very relevant article.  Even that article mentioned that death in Hinduism is a rarely studied subject.  Apart from beliefs described in the Hindu texts, most information seems to be passed on orally. 

The concept of Sati or widow burning is certainly something I felt I should not overlook in my project, as many people have heard of this practice.  It is hard to imagine that women ever did this, even harder to imagine that still today, there are rare instances of sati.  Also, I cannot help but wonder if it was truly religious faith or social pressure that drove more women to commit sati.  Instances of sati have decreased exponentially in recent years.  This speaks to the adaptation of the culture to fit into a more globalized and modern world, as well as to the growing empowerment of women in India.