Fall trip to India to include elephant ride

After lack of interest last year Joan and Brijesh Sharma try trip again

By Jaclyne Badal
The Collegian

India is said to be the largest democracy in the world, and this winter Fresno State students will have the chance to sample its arts and culture while earning college credit.

Professor Joan Sharma, from the department of art and design, will teach students about the country’s art while her husband, Brijesh Sharma, will serve as a guide and focus more on Indian history.

Both have visited India several times before and Brijesh Sharma once worked as a guide there.

Graduate student Autumn Lencioni says the Sharmas’ expertise was one of the reasons she decided to sign up for the trip, which will begin on Dec. 26 and run through Jan. 7.

“I’d be scared to go to India without someone who knows their way around,” Lencioni said. “I don’t think I’d have the guts to go by myself.”

This is the second time Lencioni has planned to go to India with the Sharmas. The Sharmas organized a similar trip last year, but it was cancelled because too few people signed up to attend.

Lencioni said she’s been recruiting Fresno State students and colleagues in the art community for this year’s trip, so the same thing won’t happen twice.

Lencioni is earning her master’s degree in art while finishing the credential program and hopes the trip will make her a better art teacher.

“Plus, there’s the elephant ride,” she said with a laugh.

The $2,985 trip includes an elephant ride to the ancient city of Amber, which is located on a hilltop.

The rate also includes roundtrip airfare, luxury hotel rooms, gourmet meals and the entrance fees at museums, monuments and galleries.

“This is a very high class tour,” Brijesh Sharma said. “But it’s well priced because it’s on a non-profit basis.”

The tour, sponsored in part by the Fresno Art Museum, is open to the community as well as to students.

Three units of art and design credit are offered through the Division of Continuing and Global Education, but the Sharmas said it’s a great cultural experience even for people who aren’t interested in college credit.

Travelers will visit the Taj Mahal, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi and several palaces and temples.

Brijesh Sharma said the group will have the chance to see some of the most ornately carved buildings in the world, but they will also see Indian life.

He said a rickshaw ride into an old bazaar would allow people to sample the local culture.

“The old city is a little more interesting,” he said. “One can see how people go about their daily life.”

Lencioni, the art student who wants to be a teacher, said she thinks she’ll benefit greatly from the way the Sharmas are emphasizing both art and culture on this trip.

“There is great potential for my personal growth,” she said.

Joan Sharma said personal growth and enrichment is what the trip is all about.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience and see the influence of philosophy, religion and history upon the architecture and design of cities and communities in the largest democracy of the world,” she said. “It should be a really awesome trip.”

Interested students can sign up through the Division of Continuing and Global Education.

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