3/31/2004 03:28:33 PM

It has been a little hectic here in peaceful Mysore with internet cafes moving and upending regular customer service (such as mine). I have things to report: another party, a trip to Hampi, but my time seems to be getting swallowed up!

At the moment it's a bit sad, I'll be leaving here in a few days for the second half of my trip. I go back to Delhi for a few days then on to Varanase for a few days and then back to Delhi to pick up a plane to Bangkok and then to Ko Sumai for a week of fasting (yes really) then back to Bangkok briefly and then to Delhi and then up to the Himalayas for a couple of weeks and then to Delhi to fly out, London for a few days and then home. Whew! By my calculations I have another 6 weeks. Still...

Having been here for 2 months, I have grown quite attatched (despite the yoga), as well as deepening my yoga practice and observation of my own thoughts. I think this exercise use to be refered to as 'navel gazing'. Maybe so, though I believe if more people could get out of their cages and off the hamster wheel, imagine what people could really do (besides work). I'm stepping out on a limb here, but I don't think to adopt an alternate way to perceive life is about going to India. Actually I think you have to start with the perception before it would dawn on you to come here. Anyway, having spent a large part of my existence striving, I think trying other methods is a definite way to at least try.

I have been asked about what news creeps into the yogi existence. Not a lot, unless you read international stuff on the web, which I don't. The news is almost entirely about India, in a day to day way that has most to do with politics and festivals and book reviews of books about religion and politics. The health system is complained of, but I have not seen an overview, but I am a foreigner not a daily "Hindu Times" reader. By 'foreigner' I am one of those that fall under the 'you people' heading. One of the people who pays triple or more for something, tailoring, hotel rates, entrance to a state museum even, many more things. It gets wearisome. They just see you coming. In my country it's called racism, here it is the day to day. Of course we have more money so we pay more. It is still inexpensive comparitively, but knowing we are asked to fuel the economy as tourists, expats or whatever and then to constantly be reamed. It's the same with "What country you from?" I have taken to responding "Mars". Am I hinting at xenophobia? I am not hinting.

So, my fellow yogini, party giver and dear friend, Debra left this morning with her entourage: 2 kids, nanny and recently arriving husband. Back to Nepal they go and then back to their other home in Paris. It seems kind of empty here (physically and emotionally). The bubble life I am leading is bursting now. A few more days and then back into the world of travel; another exercise I signed on for. It has been such a wonderful time for me this trip and especially being in Mysore and doing backbends with Guruji and fresh coconuts and the ayurvedic hospital and thalis and trying not to hit cows or pigs with my scooter. Even being ripped off!!! It's all been grand. I haven't even left yet and I can't wait to get back.

To leave this on the upbeat I am going to upload some party pix. This 'event' was last friday and it was a blockbuster! 70 people!!!! We had live music AND a DJ. The samosas were gone by 10pm! It was big and lotsofun. People danced, ate, listened, chatted, well the pix will show that, take a look...wait I can't...arrggh! *sigh* I'll load them tomorrow.



3/23/2004 12:21:26 PM

Wanted to write a little more follow up after the big day. The following week as I attempted my backbends from the floor, Pattabhi Jois attempted to lift me up from the floor. Attempt is the key word here. He dropped me. It was only on my upper back. To say 'he dropped me' is not the whole story. He (Pattabhi Jois aka Guruji, 88 year old master of Ashtanga yoga, Sanskrit scholar and mentor to thousands) dropped me (I won't go into descriptions, most of you know the subject under discussion). Basically I ran out of gas. I was tired and working on backbends only made me more so. So, when I got dropped, fell (go ahead pick a verb), he said, "why you not breathe up?" I just kind of looked dopey and he started to laugh. Then I started to laugh. "Bad lady," he said with a twinkle. This phrase, "bad lady" or "bad man" is part of his jargon. When we as students fall short of his hopes for us in our practice. It's how he 'busts us'. He can get quite specific with questions and the like, but it is normally punctuated by the 'bad----" phrase. There have even been tour T-shirts printed with this phrase.

BTW-my backbends and 'dropbacks' (yes really that is the word) are getting better, stronger. I am even attempting bindupindasana without being properly 'given' the pose. Yes, I am doing covert work at the shala!

Anyway, to go a bit more macro. The tour T-shirts that I mentioned. If I haven't mentioned this before, but people are here from all over the world. When I first arrived and went to register there were a bunch of people standing outside, almost all white, all western. I hadn't seen so many white people since having arrived in India a week before! And I had been in a major city, Delhi! 'Uh oh', I thought to myself, 'what is this that I've gotten into?' Well now I've become 'one of those people'. Perhaps it's my latest foray into a cult? People coming from all over the world, for example: US, Hawaii, Canada, Spain, France, UK, Germany, Finland, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Nepal and probably a bunch of other places that I am unaware of. All these people, many of them teachers are here to study this kind of yoga practice with the master. You remember, the guy who dropped me, Patthabi Jois. What's up with this?

I can only tell you my own experiences, I've heard others, but there is just something about being here and doing this. Maybe this incident is just another form of shaktipat (a surge of energy from an enlightened being to a seeker, a loose definition), a way to a way in.

I still have a lot to go as far as my trip, but I wonder what it will be like coming back to New York. It's futile to plan or really even consider, but home seems so far away. And that's not necessairily a bad thing. Not that I don't miss all of you, but if you comment (which I wish you all would a little more, puleez), you all seem real close. It's my old routine that seems so far away. I don't miss it. I do miss my really nice, comfy, big bed and my kitties. But I don't miss my late hours, I like to wake up at 5:30am, now. Perhaps we are more creatures of habit and influence than we realize. Or maybe I am being sucked into a cult....one where you learn to do backbends and sweat a lot.



3/17/2004 12:31:17 PM

Last friday I threw a party on my roof deck. It's normally where the laundry gets hung to dry, but it was transformed that evening into a lovely soiree, complete with live music! It was such a success that we (the other Debra & I)
Deb&Deb.jpg are going to have another one the week before we leave. This time we had snacks, of the sort: samosas (fried vegetable dumplings) with mint chutney, lemon rice (a south indian dish), masala papad (spicy lentil wafers), watermelon juice and besoundi (not sure of the spelling on that) fresh from Bombay Tiffany's (the William Greenberg of Mysore). It's a dessert, a pudding of milk and spices cooked down (aka to death) and transmutes into this really yummy concoction.
Party table.jpg
For decor we used candles in the stairway up to the roof (that's Debra's daughter Grace as a blur on the stairs)
Grace in stairway w candle.jpg
The live music we found through the 'caterer' actually Debra's cook, Rajesh. It was his tabla teacher's brother, who was available to play, along with a violinist and mouth harp player (don't know the indian name).
musicians.jpg
They were really good! It was incredible! When things started to go, I had to pinch myself to believe it was really happening.

A good time was had by all and it's so great to be able to throw a party in my newly adopted dwelling. It really warms up the vibe. Next time we are going to audition a vocalist and a sitar player and maybe do a double bill!

Who would have thought it would have been possible to pull something off like this? Well, I didn't think I would be doing drop backs either.

Signing off from the land where, 'anything is possible, madam'.
Cheers!
Party music.jpg



3/17/2004 11:56:52 AM

Here is a hodgepodge of photos that I've been taking in the market. I have access to a laptop with Photoshop so I can make the images a blog friendly size (no need to use the scroll bar).
BTW reading your comments are great! John wins for the most hilarious, besides reading what I write, I read the comments as well. So keep writing everyone, we can all love it (especially me...enjoying my heart being warmed by all your thoughts).






3/13/2004 01:10:48 PM

Reading on the site www.eightlimbyoga.com there is an interview with TIm Miller, who is based in SoCal, in Encinitas. I've become friends with a contingent of his students who are also teachers. Anyway, this was the end part of an interview with him and...no truer words. It sums up quite elegantly what has been my experience of being here.
(DC is the interviewer, TM is TIm Miller)

DC: What do you tell your students who are about to go to Mysore?

TM: If you get caught doing something wrong in class, don't say you learned it from me! No, I say he's great. Be respectful. Do what he says. Have a great time. It's the real deal. It's the chance to practice yoga in a totally foreign environment where you're unplugged from your normal stuff. It's the best place you could go for the practice. It has that added oomph.

DC: Because India is India.

TM: India is India. It's all about treating this state of vulnerability where things happen and change inside, and you come face-to-face with a lot of different stuff within yourself that you never quite looked at in the same way.

BTW-Photos are coming, promise.




3/11/2004 01:17:13 PM

So this morning I soldier on, getting up around 5:50am after hitting the snooze button on my cel phone alarm 3 or 4 times (just like home). Bucket bath, yoga garb under embroidered tie dye Indian style shirt (looks like something from a Grateful Dead concert 10 years ago) and drawstring pants, flip flops...a glass of water, pack up the mat and the rug, out the door. In the pinkish dawn men in lunghis are walking their dogs, husbands and wives are out taking their morning walks and housekeepers are scrubbing the front walk.

Watching all the thought stuff and getting tired of the tape, 'why am I doing this, will someone tell me to stop doing this, it's no use, blah, blah, blablah...' the usual garbage we circulate in the frontal lobe. I decided to just try to enjoy my practice. It's not so crowded now, so there isn't the crowd waiting for someone to finish. Walk in roll out the mat, check out who's here and start with the suryanamaskar. While my practice continues, doing ok, remembering all the poses in the right order,
feeling neutral. I think to myself, 'you know if I could just get the poses that I have more deeply (binding on both sides, etc.) that wouldn't be so bad...I could leave India with my head up.' Then I thought, 'it just doesn't matter, I'm doing what I'm doing and it's all OK, it's great to be here, to have the experience...the journey is the journey,' thinking something like that, I kind of space at that point.

A bit of blow by blow yoga (it could be a little technical here for the uninitiated, just be patient)
So after Marichiasana C and Sharat's (that's Pattabhi Jois' grandson and heir apparent) help in clasping my hands in that one the thoughts I wrote come up. Then Pattabhi Jois (Guruji, the man himself) comes up and says "What you do now?" I respond, "I make my daily attempt to do Marichiansana D."
"OK you do now," he says.
The left side we have better success, no bind, but more twist. Right side, it's tougher going.
"Put toe nail to stomach, to navel," Guruji instructs. I try but it won't go.
"I need a bigger stomach, Guruji!" At this, he just laughed, so did the people to either side of me. Levity really helps.
THEN
"OK, now you do nawasana, do that," says Guruji
Nawasana, what was that, I didn't get it.
"Backbends?" He had been teasing me with that for a week now, I thought he was having a senior moment.
"Backbend after, now nawasana."
Then I got it, oh....Navasana (they pronounce 'v's like 'w'. Oh, wow, a new pose. I had let it go....and here it was.
So I managed Navasana, it's known in english as 'boat pose' you sit in a 'V" shape with your arms extended straight in front of you. It looks easier than it is. That is true of almost all of this stuff.
"OK, now lie down," Guruji says sternly, gesturing to curl my arms back and put my palms flat on the floor by my head.
Sharat and he had a bit of back in forth in Cannada (Karnataka dialect) about this. I understand they do this all the time about giving out poses.
So I push up, do I rather flat backbend, then 2 more. I thought it was over.
"Stand up," Guruji barks.
'Uh oh, now what, he's not going to have me do dropbacks...?'
Dropbacks are being assisted (initially) in doing a backbend from a standing position.
Yep, I did it, with Guruji's help I did the preliminary just arching back 3 times and then I put my hands out and they touched the floor and I did the backbend, all the while telling me to breathe. Then he tugged my hips and up I came. I embraced him. I've seen other woman students do this and I didn't get it, but I did now. He has such a great energy, he's soooo present, right there. If you meet half way, he's there being totally supportive. I am honored to have this experience. It was kind of scary, but WOW!
(Will write more tomorrow, gotta go eat a chappati and do a little photoshop stuff, pictures coming.)



3/10/2004 11:50:50 AM

Ok, I got the camera fixed this morning. It took about a half hour, I watched him while he did it and it cost about 200 rupees (less than $5). All that fretting and worry...all passing show...

So now I know a really good photo repair place in Mysore if you happen to get stuck with a camera gone sour. I chatted with the fellow who owns the shop and his wife who repairs cameras as well. He started repairing cameras because once he had a camera and he took it to be repaired and he got cheated. So he decided he would fix it himself and it grew into this small business that is off Devaraj Urs Road in this litte alley way. If I hadn't been taken there, I never would have found it (I feel that way about many things lately).

The owner and I talked about cameras. The camera he repaired is my Contax T3 (the discontinued Yashica T4 is modeled after it), when I showed it to him he said he dreams of this camera. The shop owner assured me that he could fix it and invited me to watch him whilte he worked. (I would have documented it, but I didn't bring my other camera and he was working on this one, duh...). He cut a small piece from a film cannister and fashioned it into a 'sprocket' (no, not a German product designer a la Saturday Night Live), a bump on a wheel that takes up the sprocket holes and advances the film. That is what was not happening with my camera, the film wouldn't advance. In about 20 minutes he loaded a roll of film and VOILA!!! It worked. I was delighted, tickled pink, felt redeemed from previous mind melt (some of it at least) and now feel I can continue my journey and describe what I see photographically.

So maybe the whole story is about trust. Walking into a situation where you have to trust a stranger and your a stranger in a strange land and being rewarded. It makes me feel all gooey inside. After living here a month and going through a period of disillusionment via rickshaw drivers and tailors, etc., this was to say the least refreshing.

And if you don't believe me, as I was leaving a man walked in and the owner introduced me to him saying this is a world class photographer. This photographer, S.Thippeswamy was given awards by National Geographic, UNESCO and The Royal Photographic Society of England, he thinks this guy is great, so do I. Perhaps I've made it to another layer of this temple, puzzle, poem called India.

Thanks for posting folks, keep it coming, it makes me smile, laugh and warms the cockles of my heart.

PS I LOVE having my cel phone. Though suprisingly I don't have the patience for long conversations, it's just nice to hear people's voices or just get the water delivered. If you want to call (not necessary, but great if you do, let me know and I'll e-mail the #).



3/07/2004 05:46:37 PM

I'm having trouble uploading photos to the site. I will get this figured out ASAP. Meanwhile, my film camera doesn't work. Big, sigh! What is the meaning of this? I dunno. I have to get it fixed or replaced on the physical plane. On the metaphysical, is this another 'attatchment' scenario? I think it's a different kind of attatchment. I wonder if it's more about, how important is this to you anyway? (very) This happened a week ago, I've used my digital a little bit, but it's less satisfying aside from the immediate gratification of seeing it on the little screen. I am interested in the stories that I'm working on and getting my film camera repaired perfectly (which makes me a bit nuts just considering where I am, etc.) and replacing it with a camera that is not is as great, lesser lense quality, manual override options, etc. It is a dilemma.
I have decided to go to Thailand, so I know in Bangkok I can get something easily, but that is not for another 5-6 weeks and there is a lot in-between that time. So...Houston we have a problem. Any suggestions?

Meanwhile, practice continues. It has now been a month since I first started here. It is the microcosm of my life, what I think about, implode about, sweat over, it is a reflection of all my thoughts. I go into levels of spiritual ambition, desire for accomplishment, anger at my bodies inability to comply to my wishes, and that every once in a while feeling of really enjoying what I'm doing at the moment.

Getting out of my life was a good idea. The thoughts that run me are much less hidden in this strong sun. You can be anywhere and be happy, or not. Leaving the patterns we create in our day to day seem to make us prone to our thoughts in a much bigger way. To recap, it's not about what's out there, it's about what's inside. What's out there is a reflection of what's inside. This is a bit abstract and what's really tough about it is that it makes you (or in this case, me) responsible for what's happening. Now don't start giving me the car accident scenario and how could I create that, etc. I'm talking about playing the hand that you are given with the thoughts that you use to navigate your life.

So does anybody have any advice about how to play the camera hand I've been dealt?
There haven't been many comments lately, c'mon folks, tell me your out there (you know my thoughts of you are there). This is not a guilt trip, just a desire for a bit of repartee.

We (me and yoga pals) wonder what makes us 'busy' in our days here. It's not like a 'busy day' in our lives at home. Maybe with the exception of my friend D who has small children that are here with her, her routine has more familiarity (pun intended). That aside, we get up pre-dawn, go to practice, have our cocoasana, (that is we have a freshly hacked open coconut, we consider it the real last pose, after shavasana). Then there is breakfast, a little hand laundry, an errand to check e-mail or post office, or an ayeurvedic treatment or a quiet time resting or reading . A late lunch, maybe a fitting if your trying to get something made (this can be tedious and may be at your own peril) or maybe just hanging out at one of the hotel pools (people do it, I haven't gotten around to that activity). Then maybe a snack for dinner after a class of something like chanting or lecture about yoga sutras. It's yoga camp. It's fun, we wonder how we stay so busy. The really great thing about it besides the yoga and the lessons of being somewhere else, is how you get to know people. You actually have time to do that, hang out, spend time talking about whatever it is you want to talk about with someone. It's great, remember when you use to be able to do that and it wasn't planned around a drink after work?



3/02/2004 12:55:37 PM

After my first month in Mysore I have decided to move from the Green Hotel, which has been lovely, to live in a flat. I have an upstairs flat, the family lives downstairs, with a private entrance, a terrace, kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom and a deck (that is mostly used for hanging laundry). All this for the grand price of 5,000 rupees a month, that's about $111.00 a month US dollars. I'm nearly afraid to confess my rent for fear of a huge surge of (NYers mostly) to emmigrate to Mysore! Tomorrow I move, today I look for some household things and I think a cel phone (tel# TK). I'm excited about this 'next step' of living in India. I am on the top of a hill, I roll down to my left and I get to Tina's (note photo: more to come about Tina, her cooking class and cafe) and I roll to my right and I get to the yoga shala (for practice). Tinabkfst.jpg
Here is a photo of a Thali (what I am about to have for lunch), BEFORE with full containers!fullthali.jpg