I guess it was inevitable, but the controversy over those Danish cartoons was the reason for large riots last Friday in the Old City of Hyderabad, a predominantly Muslim (Sunni and Shi’a) area. I found out when I was told not to go into the city for three days, for fear that the sight of a Westerner would make rioters even angrier. While the police knew that there would be some activity after Friday prayers, they did not anticipate the large size and unruliness of the crowd; in fact, the Old City was hit with a curfew on Friday to try [View Full Entry]

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The commemorations of Muharram and the Karbala battle reach a peak during the 9th and 10th days of Muharram. Spending these days with my Shi’i guide, Maliheh, and her family have been truly extraordinary. On the 9th of Muharram we first went to a ladies’ majlis in the morning, and we spent the afternoon paying a visit to some of Hyderabad’s most important ashurkhanas. These included ashurkhanas that were built hundreds of years ago by the Nizams, the name of the Muslim rulers of Hyderabad when it was the capital of a separate, predominately Muslim kingdom. Some of th [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone, Right now in Hyderabad it is Muharram, and I have been busy going to mourning ceremonies (majalis) and touring the many houses where these ceremonies occur, called ashurkhanas. An ashurkhana can be as simple as a closet in someone’s house, or a large structure similar in size to a mosque. Besides a gathering place, an important function of the ashurkhana is to house the alams, which is a metal crest on a pole that is meant to suggest the battle standards of the Karbala martyrs. Alams are usually passed down from generation to generation, and can be made of [View Full Entry]

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Hello Friends, Well, I think that after a first week of wondering if I could stand it here for six months, I think I may be able too after all. I’ve made an effort to get out and do as much as I can, and thankfully I’m at an institution that has the same philosophy for its students. Yesterday I joined the group of social workers here at HMI for a conference on their ‘City Day’, or activities from 9 am to 10 pm. First, we went to the Old City to browse the used book stalls, a popular Sunday activity. [View Full Entry]

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Today I accompanied a group of German Protestant ministers (here at HMI for a conference) to Hyderabad’s ‘Old City’, where HMI operates a health clinic and elementary school. This was my first chance to see the city, and so I jumped at the chance to be chauffeured as part of a tour instead of trying to navigate the bus system. The school is called the Aman Shanti School, and is purposely placed in an area of the city that has seen a lot of sectarian violence. The Hindu and Muslim communities are separated only by one street, and rarely do the [View Full Entry]

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Hi, Everyone-- Well, I have arrived in Hyderabad and am slowly getting comfortable with life here. I have taken some pictures of my school, my dormitory, and the surrounding areas that I've posted here. So far, the worst thing that has happened is that the mosquitoes are eating me alive. I have to go and get some repellent. Yesterday marked the beginning of regularity here at HMI. My Persian teacher is trained in classical Persian. He last studied English in 1995, and so we have some difficulty understanding each other. Because he communicates better in Persian than in Englis [View Full Entry]

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