The kind of research I'm doing--the kind in which you look for small openings, establish personal connections, and nurture relationships over time--unfolds gradually. You can't force it. And you can't just go sit in a library for eight hours and call it a day. You can put yourself out there with clear intentions, but then you must sit back and let the world respond. Or not. Even if you're raring to go, your research counterparts may not be ready for you. In these instances it can be hard to know how hard to push, and this is particularly true in a foreign country. As a general rule, less is more. Good to remind people you're still alive on a semi-regular basis, but more important to stay relaxed and let them reach out to you when the time is right. The last thing you want to do is read as needy and overbearing, pushing potential teachers, mentors, and collaborators away in your state of heightened exuberance.
Entering my third week in Delhi, the above roughly encapsulates the current state of my Fulbright research. Right out of the gates, USIEF prodded us to move as quickly as possible to lock down long-term accommodations and tackle the mountain of paperwork required for the FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Officers) application--a daunting bureaucratic gauntlet by any measure. That process consumed most of the first week and change here, and I finally submitted my application last Saturday. Now all I can do is wait. Technically, I'm not even supposed to leave Delhi until the finalized registration FRRO comes through. This means any travel to the tabla school in Ahmedabad will also have to wait, though based on the general lack of communication from Gujarat I don't think they're itching for a hasty visit. All in due time.
So far my experience with my sponsoring institution, the ARCE (Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology) in Gurgaon, has been similarly static. I emailed my advisor there on February 17, the day after arriving in India, to schedule an initial meeting and obtain a mandatory "joining letter" per USIEF request. Though we met remotely the following week, and I managed to procure the letter, I'm yet to physically visit the facility. I've probably reiterated my intentions 3-5 times via email, each time leaving space for my advisor to determine when it's safe and desirable for me to head to Gurgaon. Still waiting.
The bright spot--beyond the great time I'm having sightseeing, practicing on new tabla, hanging out with Kyle in Hauz Khas, enjoying the perfect spring weather, and systemically eating my way through much of South Delhi--was a remote tabla workshop I attended last weekend on zoom. The morning I left Syracuse, I had come across a promotion on Instagram for an online workshop in kathak accompaniment for tabla players (more or less my exact Fulbright project). The workshop, taught by Mumbai-based tabla maestro Yogesh Samsi with live demonstrations by kathak dancer Manasi Deshpande, took place over two sessions on Saturday 2/26 and Sunday 2/27. I attended, took furious notes, and made reference recordings of both sessions (with permission from the hosts, of course). Sorting through all those notes and formulating more nuanced research questions provides a rather amorphous task to fill the current lull.
Even with what feels like dead time on the research front right now, important things are happening. The online workshop marks the formal beginning of my Fulbright research and provides plenty of food for thought regarding online pedagogy in the tabla world, proliferation of virtual communities during the pandemic, and the current complications of doing much of anything institutional in person as India slowly reopens. The bottom line is that even though I was permitted to travel here in mid-February, concert and event calendars remain empty. Most archives and schools aren't ready for foreign visitors. Even the world-famous Thursday-night qawwali sessions at Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah (see second video) still end early because of covid.
With extra time on my hands, I'm able to focus on tying up critical loose ends back home, foremost dissertation year fellowship applications, that will dictate the shape of the 2022-2023 academic year. Not exactly frittering away the hours. Tom Petty was right when he said "the waiting is the hardest part," but once things get moving they tend to move fast. Nine months will fly by, and then I'll find myself back in the States trying to make sense of it all.
Best not to wish away this moment of repose.
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