One of the pieces that we read that really stuck out to me was the way the Muslims interpret the Ramayana. Seeing people work so hard to include themselves into this narrative that some leaders are purposely trying to erase their history was fascinating. It was so interesting and it really emphasized the importance of seeing other people's perspectives. These Muslims, despite the strong persecution, still want to be a part of this history and culture. It's shown that there are always more than one side to the story, and we need to be able to at the very minimum be able to listen to that other side. This was also something I saw when we read through the different pieces about gender and castes. For example, I expected Sita in the Ramayana to be a much different character, but then reading the epic made me very disappointed in the "strong" and "fierce" woman. She didn't show those things in the way that I expected. All this to say we all come to certain texts with expectations. This is something I need to be aware of because it can either be really helpful or really harmful in the way I read a text.
Tying this into my own paper, I wrote about the baptism of Jesus. It would be very interesting to look into what other religions have to say about this and what other similar practices they have to baptism. As for my research, you have to go into researching with a certain set of expectations for the direction of your paper, otherwise you will just get lost in it. However, a lot of times I can be very picky about what I read because I don't want to come across something that completely disproves the paper I have been working so hard to prove. This hasn't happened with this paper, but it has come close in others. It would just be good to be aware of those expectations before you get too deep into research.