A Winter Term in India: an Obie connection abroad, Part 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of my winter term spent in India. The second week of my winter term was, by far, my favorite part – I got to visit my Oberlin best friend and my Obie work bestie, spend time with their families, and see what school, friends, and circumstances led them to study at Oberlin and become my friends.

A World Wonder: The Taj Mahal

Before any other stories, I want to tell you what I learned about the Taj Mahal - the first Wonder of the World I got to see. The Taj Mahal has a long and rich history, and encompasses the love of an emperor who lost his wife and was looking for a way that would honor her to the extent she deserved. He built the Taj in perfect symmetry, with details as little as the flowers on the tiles and as big as the central dome of the mausoleum. In the middle of it all, he set his late wife’s tomb, and when he died, he joined his tomb right next to hers, making it the only asymmetrical piece of the architecture of the place.
 

While all of this was beyond mesmerizing, my favorite part was a little further from the main view of the Taj Mahal, but was instead, at the very entrance. The tour guide that explained the history to us, told us that the entrance to the Taj was designed so as to resemble a veil to a woman’s face: it is only when you uncover the veil that you see the beauty. It is only when you enter through the gate that you get to see the true size and beauty of the Taj. With that veil, the marvel of the Taj Mahal hides mostly out of sight.

What the story of the Taj Mahal taught me

I learned a lot when I was in India: I tried so much new food (as noted in Part 1 of this blog!), I got to visit temples and read my friend’s childhood version of the Ramayana, I walked around Old Delhi and rode in so many autos, I learned how to play a game called carom (and kind of won), and another called teen patti (did not win), I celebrated Lohri – a harvest festival symbolizing the start of the new harvest season, and I danced to my favorite Bollywood song, ‘Desi Girl’. Among all of these experiences, though, my favorite was the uncovering of the Obie life abroad.

I came into Oberlin with the expectation and excitement that I was going to make many new friends from different backgrounds, and I was excited to spend the whole four years with them. However, during this trip, I realized that Oberlin is only our start. Our context on campus is classes, work, readings, essays, dinners at Stevie, the dining hall, and many movie nights. With winter term, I could expand that context to meeting my Obie friends’ childhood friends, parents, families, dogs. Now, I am taking the friendships we lived on this trip and using them to enhance the Oberlin bond we already have.

With this visit, I uncovered a whole other world of beauty and wonder. I saw baby photos of the housemate that is now on a path to a summer internship in a big city and I met the mom of the coworker who I have spent at least 20 hours a week with during the last two academic years. In this, I saw how important the Oberlin winter term is.

Once you’ve seen what path led your peers to become your friends at the same college, you become more appreciative of the size and the chance of it all. You admire the gate more after you uncover the beauty of it all, the same way I uncovered the beauty of an Obie connection abroad.