Barry Fellowship Alum Spotlight
Bethany Shady, 2006 Barry Fellow
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Bethany Shady, JE '08, was a religious studies major at Yale involved in the Ballroom Dance Team, the JE Chamber Players and Intramural Sports. She now works at an economic consulting firm in San Francisco. Her summer on the Barry Fellowship: For the first half of the summer, I lived with my boyfriend in an apartment in Dadar, Mumbai. (My boyfriend traveled with me throughout my research trip. Having a male companion made it a lot easier for a young white woman to get around without too much hassle.) Our landlady ended up treating us very badly, and she tried to get us to pay more rent money than we actually owed. We tried to cook in our apartment sometimes, but it was more expensive to buy the ingredients than to eat out. (Our stove also broke for a couple weeks.) Meals in India cost us from 40 cents (roadside dinner) to four dollars (fancy dinner with many courses). I commuted by bus, taxi, and sometimes train to the Jain institute where I studied and to the bookstore of the Jain scholar who helped me organize my trip. My lessons at the Jain institute were terrible and not at all challenging. My interviews with Jain laypeople in Mumbai were fascinating, and my lessons with a privite Sanskrit tutor were excellent. For the second half of the summer, we traveled by bus, train, taxi, and plane to temple sites and monk communities in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. We stayed in cheap hotels (three dollars a night) with hard beds and frequently lots of bugs. Food was delicious everywhere. My night work was fascinating and quite challenging at times. It was physically strenuous to climb the mountains on which the temples were built. |
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It was sometimes difficult to gain access to parts of the holy sites I wanted to see, and even harder to get permission to take pictures. The most rewarding part was staying with a monk community in Tamil Nadu. With them, I was able to debate Jain philosophy and observe sacred eating rituals that most outsiders are not allowed to see.
The only language that was useful to me was English. I used translators to converse with monks who didn't know much English.
Even after nine weeks in India, I only went to five states--a comparatively small portion of the country.
The most rewarding part of the summer was meeting so many interesting and amazingly generous people. I still keep in touch with the Jain scholar in Mumbai who made my trip possible and my Sanskrit tutor.
The hardest adjustment was learning to cope with the oppressive poverty. Seeing limbless beggars and starving children on the streets of Mumbai everyday was exceedingly difficult to cope with.
How she chose her destination:
I took a course on India Philosophy with Prof. Phyllis Granoff, which was when I first learned about Jainism. My coursework and discussions with Prof. Granoff outside of class inspired me to apply for fellowships that would enable me to do my own fieldwork.
How she chose her project:
I chose to research Jainism over other Indian religions/philosophical schools that I had studied for three reasons: 1) medieval Jain temples are stunningly beautiful, 2) the core Jain principle of non-violence, which gained much political attention in the 20th century because of its influence on Mahatma Ghandi, is intellectually and personally intriguing, and 3) Professor Granoff is friends with a wonderful Jain scholar in Mumbai who was able to help me put together a fabulous research trip.
Recommendations for students applying to the Barry Fellowship:
Get the help of a professor who can find contacts in the country where you intend to go. Having contacts ahead of time will enable you to develop a much richer project and make a more convincing case to the Barry Fellowship committee. I would not have been able to organize my project without the help of Professor Granoff.
Travel and explore the world! Use your experience to learn as much as you can and try to figure out what is meaningful to you--in your studies, in your career, and in your life.
How did the summer you spent as a Barry Fellow change your path at Yale or your plans for the future? Or perhaps confirm ideas about the future that you already had?
My Barry Fellowship convinced me to major in Religious Studies with a focus on Indian Religions. Although I am not doing anything directly related to India in my current career, I expect my future career and/or studies to relate to India in some way.
What makes the Barry Fellowship unique?
It is important to understand that the world is not all like America. It is important to know that culture shock can mean more than hearing people speak in a different language or drive on the other side of the road. Developing nations play a huge role in global society, and understanding just a little bit of what it's like to live in such a foreign place will prepare young people to be global citizens.
I do like that the Barry Fellowship is designated for freshmen and sophomores. My research trip helped me shape my studies at Yale, and it would've been too late if I would've waited until after my junior year. Learning about other students' experiences at the Barry dinners was also extremely rewarding.
