HIST W3800

3 5-8 page papers (30%) Midterm Exam with multiple choice and a couple of short essays (20%) Final Exam (30%) Section attendance (20%)

If you have the slightest interest in History, South Asian, or Political History, Gandhi's India with Professor Bakhle is the course to take. This is the most invigorating course I've taken at Columbia so far, and Professor Baklhle spurs student interest like a pro. Every lecture is fast paced and packed with material, so it's not an easy challenge, but is still overall worthwhile. Professor Bakhle is relentless in delivering the extremely complicated history of the formation of modern India; there's never a dull moment in class. Be warned, the class is all the way at 120th and Broadway, and you can't afford to come in late, lest you lose important information. Professor Bakhle is strict as well about cell phone and computer use as well, but you wouldn't want those distractions compared the amazing experience you'll have in class.

Heavy reading, though some weeks are better than others. 2 7-10 page papers, discussion section.

I took this course with only slight pause due to old CULPA reviews, and I don't regret it at all. Professor Bakhle is a fantastic lecturer with a thorough insight into her subject. Moreover, she did an excellent job of contextualizing an extremely broad overview of South Asian history. While we covered a lot of material, I found that it was generally manageable to grasp what was going on and understand the narrative as it was presented. Professor Bakhle also made a tremendous effort to expand the course beyond Gandhi. We read numerous different opinions, and were presented with a class that put Gandhi in conversation with his contemporaries-- and allowed us to understand him within that context. Given that we had such a short amount of time in class and a large amount of material to cover, we actually read about a remarkable variety of the movements and disagreements that dotted Indian history from pre-colonial and briefly, post-colonial times. Class had two TA's. I had Divya, who was great at dissecting and making sometimes dense readings understandable.

200 to 300 pages of reading a week, 2 paper assignments, midterm exam, and final exam. Weekly discussion posts on Courseworks. It's a lot of work so only take the class if you know you can handle the workload. It's all worth it in the end.

What a great class this was! There's a lot of information, a ton of reading every week, and the exams aren't easy. But Professor Bakhle is a terrific lecturer. I don't understand why people think she's a "bitch on wheels" as one reviewer said below. She commands the classroom but not in a bitchy way at all. The TA's are very intelligent, approachable, and professional. Mine was Omar Sarwar. He started out somewhat lacking in confidence but a few weeks into the semester he had us engaged and the fifty minutes of discussion section seemed to fly by. He's also hot. Just thought I'd add that! I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in the history of South Asia.

3 5-7pg papers. One midterm/final. Loads of ID's Reading: 200-300/wk

I think the problem with this class is that Prof. Bakhle packs in a lot, and I mean a lot of information into one course. Sometimes, I just wanted her to slow down, perhaps engage with the students more and ask our input. Actually, the course was supposed to run for the full year and I was sorely upset when she changed it last minute and condensed it into one semester. She knows her stuff and that's the best part of the class. She may come off intimidating, but she is really nice. Just don't come to class late or expect to type notes on your laptops. I came in knowing very little about Indian history, and by the end of the class you will for sure have a very different view on Gandhi himself. Oh, there is a lot of reading. I think it would've made sense to stick with just a few books and follow their development throughout the course, as opposed to a whole bunch that at times felt detached from the course. However, you can get away without doing all the reading. I was upset about the timing of the papers. One was due in about a week and the last one was due a couple of days before the final:(( The exams are cumulative which can kill you with ID's. I agree with the previous reviewer about the grades and the TA's. I did fine, but Divya and Merve were not the best in my opinion-trust me on this since I was able to sit in on both discussion sections and ask fellow students their op…

A ton of reading but I managed without doing most of it. It is interesting though. Three fairly easy and interesting papers, an easy midterm and a final that is a more challenging version of the midterm

Prof. Bakhle is one of the best lecturers I have experienced in my time at Columbia. Unlike other history lecturers, her lecture is clear and fast paced. For the sake of clarity,she provides an outline of the lecture in the first five minutes. Her lectures have the perfect balance of fact, context, and synthesis. People seem to call her out for being arrogant but I think the more appropriate word is confident. Bakhle is undeniably knowledgeable on the topic and does not shy away from developing interesting ideas. I went into the class knowing nothing about India and can know have an intelligent conversation about it. Other reviews have shared anecdotes to prove that she is a bitch- but this is not the case. She made an effort to learn the names of at least a quarter of the students, which is nice in a big lecture, and bought starbucks for a student she "yelled at" the day before. I am expecting a grade that is likely going to be less than I would prefer, but thats because of my TA, not Prof. Bakhle. Final verdict- Take this class. Dont think twice. I was skeptical of her, having read scary culpa reviews, and kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never did.