Larry Irvin served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda in the later 1960s but it didn't prepare him for India



"I’m experienced internationally: two years in Uganda, East Africa, in the Peace Corps in the late 1960s and a Fulbright year of university teaching in Nigeria, West Africa. But none of this prepared me for India, though I had the good fortune of going with a longtime Indian friend who knew where to go, how to get there, several Indian languages, and all things Indian."

Larry Irvin served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda in the later 1960s but it didn't prepare him for India

Passage to India

By Larry Irvin - Special to the Journal-World

Monday, August 8, 2005

Caption: I took this during a camel ride at sunset in the desert in the northwest corner of India, 30 miles from the Pakistani border. This was the only place I felt somewhat wary — just too close to al-Qaida territory.Photo: Larry Irvin

This man is a saddhu, a wandering spiritual man who lives on alms. This particular saddhu gives nearly all he gets to feed the many destitute people around him.
Enlarge photo

I’m experienced internationally: two years in Uganda, East Africa, in the Peace Corps in the late 1960s and a Fulbright year of university teaching in Nigeria, West Africa. But none of this prepared me for India, though I had the good fortune of going with a longtime Indian friend who knew where to go, how to get there, several Indian languages, and all things Indian.

I’m an amateur at photography. The camera’s the pro. But for six weeks in late 2004, many people and places in northeast and northwest India nourished my latent imagination and allowed my camera to do its magic.

I was surprised at seeing my aesthetic response to traveling in India with a camera. I’m really a left-brain kind of guy, recently retiring as a professor at the University of Oregon, where I taught applied educational and social science measurement, research and program evaluation to doctoral students.

While in India, I constantly felt the living, breathing contrasts — foremost the press of the country’s billion people and its inseparability from the Hindu and Muslim spirituality in individual daily lives. Though I wasn’t conscious of trying to capture this in pictures, it shines through in them.

When this story was posted in August 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:



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Military Option sparks concerns The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their military obligations by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is rising opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" Latest: RPCV Chris Matthews to discuss the issue on Hardball tonight.

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