ARTS: India

By Jonathan Black

Having gone to study water practices and diarrhea in a few small villages in Tamil Nadu, a state in southeast India, I followed my heart into this experience and discovered more than I could have imagined. During my ten weeks in India, my experiences were broad and varied. I saw sunrises from my friend’s fishing boat, climbed the steps of the Taj Mahal, and spent the night in a kettuvellam (houseboat) on the backwaters of Kerala. I learned how to carve stone, how to drive a rickshaw, and how to speak Tamil. I rode a motorcycle for 8 hours straight, walked barefoot for 13 miles under a full moon with 300,000 other people, and learned to cook South Indian cuisine. I got head massages, went to a rock concert, picked up hitchhikers on my bike, and ate a lot of food! From vadai to samosa, fried rice to rice wine, pappadum to chapatti, and mango juice to Kingfisher beer, my palate was content. Mango pickle became a staple of my diet, as did chai, masala potato chips, and Indian sweets. Carrying out research on my own turned out to be a great learning experience. From finding a translator to implementing a survey in a small rural village, I learned the process of carrying out an international research project from start to finish. Most importantly, though, I learned to expect the unexpected and discovered how to deal with these situations accordingly.

The colors, people, smells, sights, and sounds of India are indescribable and I don’t know if my photographs or words do them justice. Still, I hope you enjoy the India that I saw and fell in love with, through my lens. Enjoy. Namaste.

Click on any of the images below to start the image gallery. You must have JavaScript enabled on your browser in order for the gallery to work properly. The gallery is best viewed with the Firefox browser.

(Print page will open in a new window)