Study much in India?

As I've mentioned before, I'm doing research for my Women's Studies course on women in Indian film. I've narrowed my research to female directors who are heading a realist movement in film. Screenplay writers and directors like Deepa Mehta (Water, Fire, Earth) and Mira Nair (The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding) are really heading this movement, and I love that it's two women who are not only refurbishing leftovers from the melodramatic Golden Age, but are actually focusing on excellently political stories. Hopefully this will move away from the star-obsessions and move toward director-oriented art-obsessions. I could care less about star following--I like directors.

Anyway, I'd like the research coming from the professors end to maybe amp it up a bit.

With the exception of two days where we simply discussed Indian women or Indian traditions, every day in my Women's Studies class has been lecture based. She's an activist, but I don't feel like I've met the activist. And it's common to write way too much on powerpoint slides here, so the lecturer is just reading from their presentation. I can tell every powerpoint lecture is regurgitated, somewhat plagiarized information.

We recently had an anatomy and physiology section in yoga with Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lakshmi who talked about the heart's left and right auricle (not atrium), and how human beings are naturally vegetarians (eating meat is evidence of human corruption).

But it's my beloved English professor Mohan Ramanan, epitomizes how Indians can say something most assuredly with the least amount of evidence. He was lecturing on idol worship in Hinduism, and how it wasn't much different than Jesus on the Cross or the Virgin Mary statues. I can definitely agree with this--even though we don't offer sacrifices to them anymore, some certainly used to. And anyone--Christian or Hindu--would agree that it's not about the statue, it's about the being that it represents or the feeling that it conjures. But then Prof. Ramanan explained thoroughly that the cross symbolizes the ego being cut in half. It looks like an "I" with a line through it. I didn't want to argue that Jesus and his executioners spoke Hebrew, not English. It was also right after I'd given my presentation on Swami Vivekananda and argued that even though he instilled a collective nationalism in Hindus (for better or for worse), his rhetoric was contradictory and horribly biased toward upper-caste Hindu nationalism. Kind of like Ramanan.

Also (this makes me laugh), in my Women's Studies course we're required to do two powerpoint presentations and a research paper. The first powerpoint was due over two weeks ago, but because of a bandh, class cancellation, and my professor wanting to lecture, we never got around to it. On March 18, because some girls were travelling, only two of the six of us were there. My thumb drive wouldn't read onto the system of the very old computer, so the other girl was the only one to go.

Our professor told us she felt like lecturing on globalization the next Tuesday, which would be our last class until April 15 and 20 because she's leaving the country. We can turn everything in then. Another friend of mine in the class, Melissa, tole me she stayed up all night two weeks ago finishing it. But! No T/Th 11-1 class for almost a month!

You crazy, India.