Learning Journal 6

For class on Wednesday we were supposed to read a section of a book that Margaret pulled out for us about the history of India. I'd like to start by saying that I am not a very big fan of reading. As I printed off the reading, I was mainly focused at how many pages kept rolling out. Depending on the subject of material that I read, I tend to zone out fairly easily. As I started reading through the history of India, I was half focused and half thinking about other things going on in my life. When I realized that the reading was long but concise, I began to tune in more. I came to realize that it was covering a lot of history in a simple manner, it caught my attention. The more I read, the more I was enticed. I recall very little about Indian history from all of my years of world history classes. Everything I read was new and that fact alone kept my attention. There is also the fact that one is more interested in something when connected to it in some way. I am connected to India I thought, this is exciting.
One thing I struggle with is going into things with no clue what I am doing. I would hate to go into India without some basic history as to why it is the way it is. This has continued to fuel my interest. In class we watched some videos on YouTube about India, one of them was a BBC production. We started watching an hour long documentary, but had to stop because class was over. What I took as a sarcastic joke to go home and finish watching the video (who goes home and wants to continue doing class work) turned into something I actually ended up doing. I actually had to work after class so at work I pulled up the video on YouTube and watched the rest of that documentary and a whole other documentary on India. I was enthralled because it was so interesting. Since I am a very visual learner, the material with the locations made it very interesting. Location after location came up on the screen and little pieces of treasure about the history were covered. I noticed that some of the material that was covered was a repeat from the reading that needed to be completed for class. Watching it and hearing it again helped solidify what happened in the early history of India. I liked the documentary so much, that I am ready to spend my weekend watching more films about India.
After I came home from work that one night, I watched more and realized something that I didn't know about. An old king named Ashoka was covered in one of the documentaries and they mentioned that there was a newer film produced about his life. I sent Nathan (a friend also going to India) a text right away and told him that we had to rent it and watch it because it looked great.
Anyways, the more I can understand about the history of India, the better prepared and comfortable I will feel in India. I am excited to continue to understand more about the place I will be living for 90 days. This history will hopefully help me connect to people so that as I research them they will feel comfortable with me. It will also be neat to see ancient history in the modern places we will be around.

The Ashoka Chakra, "the wheel of Righteousness" (Dharma in Sanskrit or Dhamma in Pali)"