Pictures of & with Strangers

One last blog post before I head home!

One of the odd, fun, and unique parts of travelling in India is how often people ask if they can have their picture taken with you. At this point, God only knows how many people have a picture of themselves standing next to me! :) Unless I'm in a big hurry or feeling crummy, I am pretty much always delighted to go along with it. It's a very sweet way to interact with people and share a fun moment together. Plus, I OFTEN find myself wanting to take pictures of perfect strangers here. Generally, I chicken out, but every once in a while I do work up the courage and take a shot or two. Children are the easiest, because they are beautiful and generally love to ham it up for the camera.

It's lovely that just as I find their faces beautiful and unfamiliar and exotic... they are equally interested in our unfamiliar faces and features. At the caves we were each asked over and over again to be in pictures. This must be what it feels like to be a celebrity. In fact, just here in Pune recently we walked by a school bus of preteen girls. One of them leaned out the window and said "Hello!" - when we smiled and said hello back, as we passed by, the entire bus broke out in giggles of delight at this strange and successful interaction! It's SO fun! Hee hee. I pretty much feel the same way when I successfully buy two tickets in Hindi, or say "My name is Amey" in Hindi, so I certainly know how they feel!
I snapped this shot with these two girls at the Ajanta Caves. Their mother and I had exchanged a few smiles, and then she asked if I would be in a photo with her and her kids. Of course! I would love to! These little girls were so adorable, I seized the moment and got a picture for myself as well. The faces and clothes and feature here are all just so beautiful... and one of my favorite things about being in India. I guess you might be catching on that I have many favorite things about India. Ha!

After our trip to the Ajanta Caves we visited the "Little Taj Mahal" in Aurangabad... a mausoleum and mosque that is pretty much modelled after the original, and built not too long afterwards. I'll tell you, I had my picture taken a LOT there! A group of girls came over and asked if I would be in a picture... well it turned out that each and every one of them wanted their picture individually with me! What about a group shot? We were there for quite a while! Later on the same group had me literally cornered up against a building as they were taking pictures, practising their English, shaking my hand, and even giving me a hug! It is a bit odd, because I don't feel that I did anything interesting or worthwhile to deserve all that attention! However, I love it because it is such a clean and peaceful way to interact with people. No commerce or needs, just excitement and interest and an amazing presence of goodwill. I always love meeting people and sharing smiles and whatever small verbal communications we can manage. It's such a thrill. I recall from my last trip to India that one of the most incredible things was when I would see someone who looked so foriegn, so unfamiliar, so different, and then with one shared smile the bond of humanity and connection was immediately forged. To go from seeing someone as "other" to seeing oneself in another in a matter of moments is truly one of the most beautiful things I've experienced.

The sweet young woman in this picture was so friendly and interested and open - I could feel that she shared the same excitement about meeting someone different and new that I feel. I am happy to have a picture of us two together to remember her by.

I'm grateful to all the strangers that took my picture, and to all the strangers that allowed me to take their picture.

On The Road

Our trip to the Ellora & Ajanta Caves was quite a road trip. We hired a driver to take us, and we were lucky that he had a reasonably comfortable truck (which is to say, not a total wreck), and he was a safe driver. We had about a 5 hour drive to our hotel, and then another 2 hours to the Ajanta Caves... I was in the "way back", looking out the back window at all the glorious sights of rural India. A 5-hour drive isn't usually my idea of fun, but here in India it's all just so beautiful and interesting that the time passes rather quickly. I'm not sure my pals in the car would agree, but I was pretty much happy as a clam.

Some of the things we saw from the car: sugar cane fields, brahma bulls with painted horns pulling carts piled high with sugar cane, a little boy stealing a piece of sugar cane off a carrier truck at a stop light, goats crossing the street, countless dogs, cotton fields & cotton processing factories, barren landscape, lush landscape, palm trees, camels, papaya trees, women with giant loads balanced on their heads, little girls learning to balance smaller loads on their smaller heads, white bulls with bright pink coloring on them (why?), markets, a Christian cemetary, a Muslim cemetary, mosques and temples, brightly colored & decorated "Goods Carrier" trucks... and so much more. From the back seat of the car, it's like watching live-action television.

Here are a few pictures that I snapped out the back window to share with you...
This picture shows some of the great variety of what you might find on an Indian highway: two-wheelers (almost always with AT LEAST two people on them), tractors, goods carriers... all just passing each other at will. The fluid dynamics of traffic here are fascinating, and at times frightening. A two-lane road becomes a three-lane road, becomes a one-way road with three lanes - and then quickly a three-lane road in the other direction. We did see a few crashed vehicles on the side of the road unfortunately, but it's no small miracle that we didn't see many more. It often feels a bit like a game of chicken, and generally you are relying on the assumption that the people coming right at you on the wrong side of the road share a will to live and will take any necessary precautions to stay alive. It's quite an experience!

One of my favorite things about India.... the fabulous, glorious, and amazing Goods Carrier trucks. These are the truckers of India, transporting goods across and around the country. For reasons that I do not know, they are almost all beautifully painted and decorated. They have words, pictures, flags, symbols, animals, religious figures... all sorts of things beautifully painted on them, in the brightest of colors. There are all sorts of sparkly metallic things dangling from the side view mirrors and draped across the grill... it's truly delightful. I took a ton of pictures, but none of them really capture the glory. I've got a day-long road trip on my way to the airport tomorrow though, and I remain hopeful that I might still get a good picture!

Another one of my favorite things about India: the cows!! Pune is sadly lacking in cow presence, and I find this to be a major shortcoming. On the road I was practically peeing my pants with delight to see all the BEAUTIFUL cows that we passed. Cows pulling carts on the road, cows resting the in the shade, cows at work in the field... Cows are always beautiful to me, but I must say that India has the most beautiful cows I've ever seen. Someday I will learn Hindi and take a special cow-sight-seeing trip through rural India... taking photos, petting their lovely coats, and gazing into their cow eyes!

These fellas spotted a car full foreign ladies and couldn't contain themselves. They were driving behind us, waving and smiling... it was all good fun. I love this picture! From my vantage point in the way back, I saw so many people driving on their "two-wheelers." Very often you see whole families - the man driving, the women sitting side saddle (often holding an infant), and the small children standing on the foot board up front. No helmets in sight! It's quite terrifying from a safety angle, but very sweet otherwise. I also noticed many handsome, modern western-dressed fellows wearing sunglasses and driving nice motorcycles - who very often had their bindi marking on their brow. A lovely blend of modernity, machismo, tradition, and religion.

See how fun a road trip can be??

Ellora & Ajanta Caves!

So! Now you know the name of our big weekend excursion! We took off on Friday after practice for a big trip to the Ellora & Ajanta Caves - sites recognized as World Heritage sites for their beauty and importance. These two spots are each filled with carved out caves used as monasteries and places for spiritual contemplation. The Ajanta caves are all Buddhist, and were started about 200 BC and abandoned about 600 AD. They possess both carvings and paintings. The Ellora caves have caves carved out from about 600 AD - 1000 AD, by Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains. I took TONS of great photos, but had to pick a few to share here:

Our trip was really wonderful. The caves were totally amazing in every way - beautiful landscape, beautiful artwork, and a breathtaking amount of determination and perserverance behind the very idea of it all. This picture is from the Ellora Caves, where we actually went on our second day. You can't really see from this picture how GIGANTIC this thing is. Those people you can see are seriously in the foreground... that structure is hu-mung-go. In fact, it is the largest structure carved from one piece of stone in the entire world. Called the Kailasa Temple (after Mount Kailash), the whole thing was carved straight out of the mountain side. The artisans started at the top, and in the front, with a giant masterplan, and over 150+ years, they carved this thing out. It's totally gorgeous, beautiful, and awe-inspiring.

Here's a picture from deep inside the Kailasa temple, of some lovely, life-sized elephants who line the bottom of one of the structures. It was amazing because the deeper into the temple that we got, the higher and more imposing the adjacent cliff side became. You develop a very deep appreciation for the work and effort that went into this magical spot. The cliffs were also alive with activity - bee hives and wild parrots...

At the Ellora Caves we were SO fortunate to find the most amazing guide. Vivek found us at the entrance & asked if we wanted a guide. We happily signed up and he was really wonderful. He spoke fantastic English, and had a very evident passion and interest in the caves. He was happy to answer any questions, even those that were a bit off-topic, and had a tremendous amount of knowledge. Because he knew that we were interested in yoga, he was certain to point out stories or dieties that might be of special interest to us. In one Buddhist cave temple, he even chanted for us so that we could hear the (amazing) acoustics of the room, and imagine what it must have sounded like when it was full of devotees. It was interesting actually, when he did that, because there was a sizeable group of rowdy young men in the temple at the time - taking pictures of each other. He told them in Hindi what he was going to do, and they instantly became silent and respectful. When he was done chanting, they gradually got back to their business of laughing and taking snapshots. It struck me as particularly cultural that these young men had such respect for tradition and spirituality. India is a wonderful land of unexpected contradictions and surprises in that way. One last thing about our guide that I loved... When I had fallen back to take a few photos, I was scampering to catch up, when I found him using his few spare moments to get out his OWN camera and taking pictures of some carved detailing in one of the caves. To me, that showed how much he loved this place... even if it was his job, he still loved it enough to be taking pictures. How lucky we were to find him and have him explain the carvings to us!

This is an overview picture of the Ajanta Caves. At Ajanta, there are both carvings and paintings. The caves at Ajanta are located in an exquisite valley, shaped like a horseshoe. Even without the caves, this is clearly a very special place. Amazingly, these caves were abandoned around 600AD, and not rediscovered until 1819 when a British man was tiger hunting here. From his lookout point, he saw a tiger disappear, and ended up seeing the arch of the largest cave temple carved out here. For this reason, the paintings have been relatively well preserved in places - with no exposure to light or human traffic. Flash photos are not allowed, and shoes must be removed before every cave... in the hopes of continuing to preserve the artworks.

This is inside one of the +/- 30 "caves" - which are actually rooms carved out of the steep mountain face rather than natural caves. Some are dormitory style halls, some are gathering halls, some are temples, some were left unfinished. In this photo, you can see the carvings and also some remnants of the paintings.

Here's a little shot of me, beaming away with happiness. I was pretty stoked on this whole weekend. It was all so beautiful... and it's always amazing to me to contemplate the artistic impulse. This was a serious undertaking - clearly done by very skilled, determined, and devoted people. And, as always with massive artistic endeavors, there is the fascinating combination of skill, money, politics, and religion at play.

Of course I must mention that there were MONKEYS at the caves! I LOVE monkeys! I went down to the river to do some monkey watching... they are really fantastic. So thoughtful and mischevious. These guys were really quite big (maybe 50-60 pounds?)... so they're a bit scary too. I enjoyed watching some monkey drama unfold, and taking some pictures. There were big macho males, rambunctious adolescents, and mother monkeys holding on to their babies. Very exciting.

And here's one more shot to share, a detail of some of the tempera paintings. Here too we hired a guide and he did a good job of explaining the myths and tales that were being depicted. The paintings were quite lovely, including very humanistic and naturalistic representations - not nearly so stylized as I would have expected. With countless little details like jewelry, toes, expressions, animals... very lovely. It was really a wonderful, wonderful trip.

Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune

Last week we finally got around to seeing the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum here in Pune. My Lonely Planet book had great things to say about this spot and I didn't want to miss it. I'm so glad we made it. What a great spot. The museum is absolutely delightful, consisting entirely of the collection of one person, Raja Dinkar Kelkar. In fact, only 12.5% of the collection is displayed, which is fairly stunning - because it's quite a lot that they've got to show. The collection consists entirely of Indian art, mostly of the folk variety. Everything is represented - statues, vegetarble cutters, foot scrubbers, puppets, toys, instruments, paintings, furniture, doors, pillars, fabrics, saris, beaded decorations, weapons... it's quite stunning. It was a lot of fun, and also had quite a bit of helpful information in English, which we appreciated. The museum also had very lovely displays of their artifacts; like the entire recreation of an Indian porch - complete with carved pillars, embroidered door hangings, statues by the stairs, resting chairs... very evocative. Here are a few of the cool things we saw.

This was a puppet of some sort, which was displayed in the window so that we could see it... very cool.

Look at this! It's a hanging oil lamp, complete with vrsikasana (scorpion pose). The base would be filled with oil, and each little petal would have a wick in it... Too bad they didn't have replicas for sale in the gift shop!

Of course I had to take this picture for Musty and my dad... look at all these cool stringed instruments! Of all varieties, shapes, sizes and ages. Some traditional, some kooky, some old, some more contemporary. See the one shaped like a peacock in the back case?

If you are ever in Pune, I'd definitely recommend that you stop here. It's a neat place. I only wish they had a better gift shop! :) I sure do love a good museum gift shop, and they've got fantastic working material here...

After our visit, we went inside to ask where we could get a cup of tea nearby (to rest off the museum fatigue!), and we ended up having tea with the museum director in his office! That was a fortuitous turn of events. He is a very friendly and motivated person, and the grandson of the museum's namesake. He has been working hard at bringing the museum up to international standards, which is very cool. It was a nice opportunity to meet him, and apparently the tea was also great! (the tea here always has milk in it, so I don't drink it... but I do appreciate the joy of others!).

Celebrations, India Style!

So, forgive me for being an entire week behind! Last weekend we had our gala weekend of Indian celebrations. It was fantastic and fun! We started off on Saturday morning by skipping class and heading off to a wedding! Yes! Back when we very first arrived at our apartment in Pune, our landlady was there to meet us and make sure that everything was good to go. She very gracoiusly invited us to an upcoming family wedding, so that we could witness a true Indian wedding. What fun. It was her brother-in-law's son's wedding! ha ha! She called up her brother-in-law and he happily agreed to let us come along. How sweet! I've been to a couple of Indian weddings in my time, but it was brand new for Jen and Abbey and wonderfully fun for all of us. We got dressed up in our best Indian outfits, which in the end paled in comparison to the stunning ladies at the wedding. Everyone was decked out in their most beautiful sarees and COPIOUS jewels... it was a true spectacle. We couldn't pick between watching the ceremony or watching the attendees.

It was very nice having Asha, our landlady, there with us because she explained many parts of the ceremony to us. The official Hindu ceremony started around 7:30am, and we arrived around 8:30 am. People continued to randomly filter in for the next 2 or 3 hours. So different from an American wedding... people in the "audience" were openly chatting and conversing, kids running around, people greeting each other - meanwhile the priest and the couple were busy on stage. The ceremony was wonderful and truly packed with ritual. So much longer and more symbolic than the standard western wedding. Many different steps to go through, including certain individual family members on stage, or the groom's whole family onstage, or the bride and the groom tied together with string, or leading each other around the fire... many fascinating elements of the ceremony. This was an arranged marraige - the couple had known each other for about 6 months and were able to meet and make sure they felt good about one another before getting married. A combination of individual desire and family desire. One can see very clearly here how much importance is placed on the family, trusting your parents to make a good choice for you. The obvious assumption is that you love your family and your family loves you... which is very different from the strong trend in the U.S. toward independence and individuality. Seems like at home one is usually just considered very lucky for loving one's family so much... whereas here it is the base assumption!

After the ceremony we partook of a nice lunch at the wedding, and then got geared up for our next big event - the 33rd anniversary of the Iyengar Yoga Institute. How fortuitous to be here in Pune for the anniversary. It was a two-part affair - Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Saturday night's celebration consisted of a two-hour lecture on the "earth element in asana practice." I suppose that you know you are a real yoga nerd when you celebrated with such a lecture, but I can't deny that I found it wonderful, fascinating and informative. One of Mr.Iyengar's closest students, who is also a medical doctor (holding the mike in this picture) presented the lecture, with the help of some other Indian students from the Institute who did the asanas to demonstrate his points. His lecture focused on the role of bones in the postures (as bones represent the earth element in the asanas), and also how to practice the asanas in such a way that the bones are maximized and strengthened. Many wonderful and difficult postures were demonstrated, as well as many intreresting usages of props in more elemental poses. One of the more interesting aspects was when the whole lecture was over, Mr. Iyengar was invited up to critique the presentation and the presenters. Now, that's very different from the States! Relatively harsh words were offered about how the presenters could have done better. One super flexible man had demonstrated dropping back from Standing into a full backbend and after Mr. Iyengar pointed out many things he still had to work on, Mr Iyengar declared "He is still a beginner." :) It sounds harsh and punitive, but it was all done in a spirit of refinement and continued learning. As I see it, it was a way to ensure that all the folks on stage continued to possess an attitude of curiousity and study - rather than becoming blind with pride as we all clapped for them.

The next day was a bit more varied... it began with a lovely traditional women's dance performed by a group of 6 yoga students, a poetry recital, another yoga lecture ( a fascinating lecture on yoga and stress), and then the much-anticipated Children's Program. What fun! The children who attend the children's classes at the Institute did quite an impressive presentation on the concept of dharma (hard to translate its whole meaning, but often translated as "duty"). The presentation including singing, chanting, acting, readings, and dancing - telling tales from Indian mythology and Hinduism. It was a fascinating combination of ethics, discipline, religion, and moralistic stories. The children were adorable, of course. It's amazing to see how seriously they had tackled a rather heavy and heady topic, and made it into an entertaining program. It was also interesting to me how very Hindu the program was - although yoga is very much a philosophy (and not a religion) - India is a very, very deeply religious place and there is no need or interest on their part to distinguish between the two. I wonder if there are any Muslim children in the classes? Or Jain children? India is also very much a place of many different religions who coexist quite peacefully from what I see and read.

Anyhow, the whole affair ended with a lovely lunch of south Indian food - and then our non-stop celebration had come to an end!

Love to everyone!

Join Me For A Rickshaw Ride

Hi Everyone!
Well! I guess time flies! We have just a few days left in India, but I have about 4 more blog entries lined up and waiting to be published... I'd better get to work!

Here's another fun video for you. This is a video of a rickshaw ride... it's not the crazed, death-defying type of rickshaw drive that we often experience, but rather more of a leisurely stroll through the streets of Pune. I'm not sure how the audio quality will be, but in case it's audible, please pardon the exclamations of my friends in the rickshaw. Soon after I turned on the camera, we drove through a red light district. For better or for worse, I was on the wrong side of the rickshaw to document any of the ladies in their short skirts and make up, but my pals in the rickshaw are discussing it all with great shock and amazement.

Hope you enjoy it!

Indian Clothes

One of the lovely things about being in India is that we get to wear the AMAZING Indian clothing. None of us have bothered to buy a sari... mostly because you'll probably never wear it again, and because it is a small science of safety pins and fabric folding just to get it on correctly. We've opted for the lovely cotton "Salwaar Kameez" outfits. These outfits can be of any fabric, but since it's quite warm here, cotton suits us best. The salvaar kameez consists of 3 elements: the pants, the top (kurta), and the stole (scarf). There are a few styles of each element... the pants can be loose and baggy (by which I mean BAGGY), or the other main style is where they are baggy on top, but tighter at the calf - this style is made with very long legs and the fabric is worn bunched up on the ankles. It's very elegant, but sadly for me, those giant calf muscles prohibit said style. I've stuck to the baggy variety.

The tops can be a short kurta (arrives at mid-thigh), a long kurta (arrives below knees), or the more modern kurta top that arrives at the hip. Most of us have opted for the short kurta.
Here's a picture of Jen, Talya (visiting us in Pune!), Abbey, and me in our outfits at the Iyengar Institute.

I LOVE wearing my Indian outfits, and if I wish I could dress like this everyday of my life. Of course, in Santa Cruz I would look like some sort of weirdo hippee poseur if I wore Indian clothes everywhere. I'll have to decide whether or not I care! :) These clothes are so elegant and beautiful and comfortable and colorful. I always feel lovely and comfortable and attractive. Amazing. That can't be said for all the fashions at home. The women here in India really are looking exceptional - with their lovely dark skin, they can wear every color under the sun - and all adorned with brilliant gold jewelry. It's just wonderful to look at all the colorful salvar kameez and saris that pass us by through the day.

It's also interesting to notice that more and more of the younger girls/women in Pune are wearing western clothing - t-shirts, tight jeans, and such. It's funny sometimes when we all walk by in our Indian clothes and they are wearing their western clothes! I guess the "other" is always more interesting. It's not uncommon though, to see a group of girls, some wearing the salvaar kameez and others in western dress. They have many options!

One option they don't seem to really have though is shorts. The only lady knees we've seen in all of India (outside of yoga class of course) was when a rickshaw driver took us through the red light district and we saw the (Young) prositutes in mini skirts. More and more you see a few tank tops on the younger more western girls, but that is also quite rare. Generally, it is a very modest culture, especially when it comes to women's dress. I know there are upsides and downsides the rationale behind that... but I have to say, from my point of view, that it IS quite nice to have clothing that is both modest and elegant. Not a bad combo!

Most of the clothes I'm wearing on this trip are from my last trip to India, but I did buy this great pair of yellow pants! I love them! In fact, I"m wearing them with my blue top today. This picture is right outside our apartment.

Also, a little note on the clothes that we wear in class... because there is quite a dress code. They have specific requests for your wardrobe, which nearly everyone follows. Short shorts ( you must be able to see the knee), t-shirts (long enough to be tucked in to the shorts, no belly exposure), no tank tops, no capri shorts. It's quite a look. There are these funny little shorts that everyone wears in class here called "bloomers" or "pune shorts"... I haven't worked up the courage (elastic on the thighs!), but Holly and Mary each bought a pair. It's funny how we have all adapted, even though none of us dress like this for class at home. I must say, wearing shorts is a good idea, I've learned a lot from being able to see my knees! Try it!

I'm off for the weekend, so it'll be a few days til my next post. I'm keeping our destination secret until I post pictures! Suspense!