Amey's Adventure In India

India: Will Miss/Won't Miss (Non-Food Edition)

2011-01-29T05:23:00.000-08:00

I did a Will Miss/Won't Miss post over on my vegan blog... and it made me want to do a non-food version over here. I'll start with "won't miss," so that we can end on a positive note! So, without further ado...

Won't Miss:

Walking on FC Road - FC Road has so many great restaurants and other good destinations - places to buy a paper, get some coffee, do some eating... but really, the sidewalks are completely in a state of disrepair. We end up here often, and it is not a particularly pleasant place. Plus, the traffic is INSANE and crossing the street requires ample doses of courage, attention, faith, and sheer stupidity!

Breathing in Pune. Seriously, the air quality here is NASTY. I am not a particularly delicate person in this regard, but it can be overwhelming. There are so many cars, so many rickshaws with 2-stroke engines, so many motor bikes, so much burning wood... and worst of all they just burn their trash (plastic and all!), so there can be some really, really toxic and unpleasant breathing experiences here. I am definitely looking forward to the crisp blue skies (or even rainy skies!) of Santa Cruz!

Along those lines... I won't miss the trash all over the streets absolutely everywhere. The streets are covered in plastic wrappers, bags, food scraps, containers, bottle tops and on and on. Plus the system for trash disposal here is as follows: put your bag of trash (or just trash items) out on the street & leave them there. Meanwhile cars will run over them, dogs and crows and cats will pick through them and there will be a big mess everywhere. In the morning someone will come and sweep it up. That person will sort it for recyclables, and burn the rest. Repeat daily. I definitely won't miss seeing and walking over and around piles of trash all the time!

Snoring in pranayama - ha! This week our classes have been focusing on pranayama- the breath aspects of the yoga practice. It's been positively transporting. Except there's always one Indian man in class snoring (or burping!) hee hee. We definitely won't miss that.

Our sad, sad little mattresses. Seriously, our mattresses are HARD. They are probably 1 inch thick, on top of a board. I actually had bruises on my hips that first week, until I figured out how to sleep on that crazy bed. Yes, I am definitely looking forward to getting in my cozy bed with all my furry buddies and konking out. Ahhhhhhh.

In fact, I have to admit, I won't miss our funky little flat. It has treated us well, I love the neighborhood, and I love our landlords... but the floors are super cold, even in the middle of the day it's pretty dark (no direct sunlight) and it's pretty dingy (despite our cleaning efforts) . Plus, in the end there's just no place like home. :)

Seeing sad, mange-y, injured, skittish street dogs. It's very hard for me. Carrying around bags of dog food has helped me feel a bit proactive... I will miss the feeling of compassion that comes from knowing that I've given them a good square meal, but I won't miss the constant heartbreak. I really look forward to hugging all 4 of our little rescue pets and letting them know that I will love them and feed them and care for them and help them feel safe for the rest of their lives.

6 AM Wake Up Hour. I'm not used to getting up at 6 am, and it's taking its toll on me! Ha ha. Call me a wimp... but them's the facts, folks. Plus, with class until 8 pm many nights, followed by dinner, and taking notes... it's actually pretty hard to get 8 hours of sleep many nights. Phew... I can't wait to konk out in my cozy bed with no alarm clock in sight!

Will Miss /Won't Miss:

Neighborhood sounds! There are a few I'll miss, but most I won't... I love the sound of the recycling wallas and veggie wallas who come through with their carts all day long. Each one has a way of calling out his services, and you can go to the window and tell him you are on your way down. But I won't miss their 7 am appearance on Sundays, our one precious day off. Also, I won't miss the sounds of fighting and squealing dogs in the middle of the night at all. It is a big bummer. Sometimes I am able to sleep through it (won't miss sleeping with earplugs every night), sometimes I'm not so lucky. Nor will I miss the crazy electronic ditties that the cars play when they go into reverse. So loud, and so weird. Someone in our neighborhood has an electronic mozart tune, but the best one is the one that goes straight from one stanza of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" into one stanza of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." It is totally trippy. They are pervasive all over town, not just in our neighborhood! And of course I won't miss the noisy little cricket who lives in our kitchen and squeaks incessantly. Or the fellow across the street who's morning religious ritual each morning involves ringing a bell for about 1 hour straight. For better and for worse, it's never quiet in India! Haha! Mostly I find it all charming and amusing and part of the wonderful masala of the Indian experience, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not looking forward to the peace and quiet of home.

Will Miss:

Yoga!: Obviously. It is such a luxurious treat to have no responsibilities other than yoga. 4 hours of instruction and 3 hours to practice almost every day has been just glorious. It's especially awesome to practice here in this room full of dedicated yogis & yoginis and with every possible prop imaginable at your finger tips. Imagination and curiosity are the only limitations to what you can explore. It's been wonderful.

The convenience and thrill of rickshaw rides: You don't ever have to wait more than 1 minute for a friendly rickshaw fella to drive up. It's SO cool. Most intelligent people can find the crazed driving and absolute chaos of traffic completely terrifying... but somehow I find it all quite peaceful and entertaining. I just put my faith in the system and go along for the ride. I especially like the drivers who are fast, but really safe and skilled. It's so fun to zip around and weave through the traffic and dodge potholes and zoom across town. Just like a real-life video game. Fun fun!

I'll miss the friendly faces in our neighborhood, especially the nice guys at "my" internet place. You're supposed to hand in your ID every time, but I don't need to anymore because they all know my name. The other day I left my sunglasses, and started to walk down the block. When I realized, and came running back, the guy said "Amey!" and gave me my glasses. :) It's so nice to feel a sense of home and community building after just a few weeks of living here. I'll miss them for sure!

This awesome weather. It's been nice and toasty the last few weeks and I have been loving it so much. A little chilly in the morning, and probably somewhere around 80-90 during the day. Pretty much great as far as I'm concerned. With nice warm nights. Ahhh. It's like heaven. I will be sad to return home to the land of fog and fleece. Speaking of which, I'll miss wearing all my awesome Indian outfits. They are so comfortable and pretty and fun to wear... and are just perfect for this climate. Back home, I can get away with wearing my kurtas for a few days in the summer, at least before the fog rolls in at 6 pm... but here I can wear them all day and all evening long. I love it!

Tulsi Bhag - my most favorite area in all of Pune. I LOVE IT. Tulsi Bhag is a winding little neighborhood full of shops and vendors and stalls selling just about everything: combs, cheap jewelry, scarves, kitchen wares, devotional statuary, brooms, herbs, clothes, bags, floor mats, toys, and on and on and on and on. Right across the street is the huge market selling all kinds of fresh fruit and veggies, which is also totally huge and amazing. And right there is also Laxmi Road, where you can buy all the finest gold jewelry and silk sarees. However, I am a Tulsi Bhag girl through and through. I love the alleys packed and jammed full with throngs of people, the temples, the shimmers and sparkles of all the merchandise, the street vendors... and the overall feeling of LIFE that fills Tulsi Bhag. Love love love love love.

Obviously, I will miss the food and the fruit (more details here). I'm no dummy. The food here is out of this world. 5 weeks later and I am not one iota sick of Indian food. I could just go on and on. There is still so much to explore. We've got 4-5 days left and we have a lot of food to eat in those few days. Wish me luck with this critical endeavor.

Mama Cookie. My favorite street dog. I love her so much. She is a gentle, friendly, calm little spirit, and I am totally amazed by her. If you can be that quiet, that sweet, and that trusting as a street dog in India, you are a special spirit indeed. There are some nice fellas near where she hangs out who look after her, and this really warms my heart. There's a cute picture of her here.

JANE! My totally awesome buddy, roommate, and travel companion. We met in yoga class years ago and have gradually come to be better and better friends. We both knew we'd have a great time together on this trip - but our compatability has completely surpassed my wildest dreams. I am having so much fun with her. In many ways we are hilariously opposite of each other, the original Yin & Yang. But somehow we totally groove on each other and she has been a most excellent travel buddy. We've got very similar ideas of what's fun and what's not, when to relax and when to go out, when to be quiet & when to be goofy... it's just awesome. I know I'm going to miss spending 24 hours a day with her once I'm home again!

One thing I'll definitely miss is the simple thrill that comes from living in an unfamiliar culture/country. My parents started taking us traveling when I was 12 and my brother was 15. It definitely opened my eyes to the joy of discovering other places. The thing I remember most from that first trip overseas was how positively amazed I was that the people in Denmark had a whole different selection of candy bars than we did!!!!!! What other wonders existed out there that I didn't know about ????!! Ha ha! I think I will never stop wanting to find out the answer to that question. I love how being in a different land makes even the most mundane things interesting and adventurous and educational - different matches, different foods, different faces, different way to make a phone call, different way to get across town, (and of course) different candies!! :) Some things never change!

More Thoughts on Yoga

2011-01-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

The yoga experience here has been so incredible this month. Nourishing for my body, mind, breath, and consciousness. It will be interesting to see how it all settles in and gradually seeps in... what sticks and what fades away.

You pretty much can't go wrong with 6-7 hours of yoga a day. By the end of the month you just start to feel so light and clear. It's very lovely. My injured hamstring is happily healing, and I am (gradually & cautiously) inching my way back toward some forward bending poses. I was saved by backbending week - which ended up being 8-9 days long. I'll tell you what - 4 hours of crazy intense non-stop full-throttle backbends is really good for me. Many people reported having trouble sleeping (backbends are notorious for that, especially when done in the evening), or feeling cranky... but I was sleeping like a rock and my smile was getting bigger every day. I think it's my kaphic nature, but the backbends feel just wonderful. And the skillful instruction helped me find new qualities of freedom and ease and lift and sensitivity and awareness in many of the poses which used to give me so much trouble. What an incredible honor and joy it is to have this chance to learn so much!

As I mentioned in my previous post, the classes we have can be quite different, depending on who is teaching. The classes with Mr Iyengar, and with the staff at the Institute are very detail-oriented. These teachers are very talented with their sequencing of postures... building you up by gradually introducing actions in straightforward postures, and then putting the various puzzle pieces together in more challenging poses. We are instructed with very specific language and subtle areas of the body: back four corners of the waist, tail of the tail bone vs. head of the tailbone, head of the shin bone, outer buttocks flesh, etc etc It's really exciting to build consciousness and awareness with more and more precision.

I have been reflecting on how & why these tiny "nit-picking" physical instructions can bring such depth and joy to my experience in my practice. I think it has something to do with realizing that there is still so much to discover in this body that I have lived in for 37 years, and in these poses that I have been doing for about 16 years now. Also, I think these discoveries make me feel closer to myself somehow... more aware of life's subtle distinctions... more discerning. Somehow, I think this practice helps me feel more awareness to discern what's really me and what's not really me... what aspects of my life experiences I want to keep and which I want to discard... I'm so grateful for the teachings and the practice!

In Prashant's classes, he is constantly challenging us to be more curious, more investigative, more insightful, more integrated. He cares more about the interplay and interdynamics of the body & mind & breath than about the poses themselves. It is a wonderful compliment to our other classes. He reminds us that the practice of yoga extends well beyond the physical, and encourages us to pursue those other aspects of yoga with the same details, precision and zeal with which we explore our poses. I LOVE IT.

And somehow, with these wonderful teachers here, this experience positively fills my heart with love for my teacher Kofi. How well he has prepared me, and my pal Jane, for this experience. The physical aspects - how he helped me transform myself from a tight, weak person with a lot of lower back pain into someone who can do 4 hours of backbends in one day and feel just fine. Not that there isn't still plenty of work to be done on Project Amey, but I am filled with gratitude to him for what he has already taught me and helped me to learn for myself. Then mentally, spiritually... how he has fostered in us these qualities of self-determination, patience, inquiry, discipline... Kofi has brought such a tidal surge of love and faith and understanding and awareness of everything I still don't understand into my life. I'm so grateful for him - the love & the tough love he gives us!

Founders Day at the Institute!

2011-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend was the annual celebration of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute - year number 36! The whole center is completely spiffed up, and every statue inside and outside is adorned with fresh garlands of flowers. And just for the record, it's not really possible to use one's imagination to believe just how many statues there are... this is no small job! The main Patanjali statue in the practice room is decked out from head to toe and well beyond!

The Annual Day celebration is put on by the students. Saturday night there was a very nice little talk by a student on reflections from practicing at the Institute over the last year, followed by a really enthralling slide show & lecture on the history and symbolism in Hindu Temples. It was great! In the morning, we resumed with some wonderful performances: classical dance, and beautiful, beautiful music. This group, which includes a very regular student at the Institute was truly amazing. Smiles, tears, clapping and listening. It was incredible how much emotion they could evoke from the audience.

The morning was followed by the much anticipated afternoon... the children's program! Kids from the children's class put on the 2nd half of the show with all sorts of performances: yoga performances, classical dance, singing, Karnatic singing, sanskrit recitation, talks... and last - but NOT least, these three daredevil girls brought the house down with some amazing gymnastics done while hanging from the ceiling and wrapping this giant rope around their ankle or big toe or something perilous like that ... all while doing incredible yoga poses or acts of strength hanging in the air. It was positively amazing.

After all the performances, everyone lines up and is served a totally delicious South Indian meal. It was so good this year - fritters, puri breads, wonderful sambar, deliciously spiced cauliflower and veggies, sweets... Such fun! Plus, it's really nice to have a chance to visit and meet people and share a meal together as a community.

This celebration is a fun part of coming to the Institute in January - a chance to experience some Indian culture, and to see the broader community of people who are a part of the Iyengar Institute.

Faces of Pune

2011-01-26T02:48:00.000-08:00

A little while back, Barry left a comment on my blog encouraging me to ask people if I could take their picture, and not to be too shy. Thanks Barry! I've taken his advice to heart, and have started asking more folks if I can snap a picture. So far, I have a 100% success rate! :) So, here are a few recent friendly faces I've met...

First up is Mr Iyengar himself, who is affectionately and respectfully called "Guruji." I took this picture at the annual celebration last weekend.

This friendly kiddo helped me buy a bag from his family's bag stand. He spoke a little English, unlike his grandma, and helped me get just the one I wanted. I love his bright eyes and the warm incandescent lighting of night-time-in-India.

Walking down a street near our house, we saw all sorts of craftspeople and merchants at work - repairing bikes, selling baked treats, and this guy was making big metal storage bins for grains. He would turn the bar to the right, causing the wheel to stamp down and crimp a sheet of steel, and then turn the sheet, crimp the next side, and so on. I loved the blue room with the shiny sheets of steel, and the mustardy yellow cast iron machines... plus, his sweet smile.

His buddy wanted a picture of us with his cell phone, so I returned the favor. He was so smiley, but wanted to be serious for his photo moment. I find that happens a lot... We Americans are always so smiley in pictures, but actually, his more pensive look makes for quite an interesting little moment. In the background you can see the lid-less storage bins they are making.

Further down the street, Jane spotted a big loom out in the street, with a partially finished rag rug. We hung out and were admiring it, when this guy emerged. He let us take a picture of him weaving, and then we noticed a big beautiful rug hanging nearby. After an amazing gathering of every person on the entire street, the rug was purchased and Jane was glowing with happiness. Nonetheless, she tried to repress her joy and pose Indian-style with a straight face for this picture. You can see she was only partially successful! :)

Still further down the street, we passed this amazing dark blue wall and I couldn't resist a photo op. Now Jane could let her rag-rug-smile shine!

And here's me in my bright Indian colors!

Last but not least... Last time I gave you a picture of Miss Mama Cookie, she was foraging through trash in an empty lot. Since then, I snapped this most adorable picture of her, and you can see why I love her so much. She is very petite, smaller that you would think from looking at this picture, and so gentle. Last night I found her in this same spot with her one remaining puppy, who is getting pretty big, and is very very very cute. The two of them are really a heart-melting duo. I had dreams about them all night long. Long Live Mama Cookie!

Making Friends

2011-01-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

The atmosphere here at the institute has been so friendly and congenial. It's really been wonderful. There are probably about 150+ people in most classes, though they are getting smaller and smaller as the month winds down and people need to leave. It's so exciting to be in a room full of people who are so passionate about and dedicated to the study of yoga. Not only that, but there are people from all over the world: France, Italy, England, Ireland, Argentina, Spain, Japan, Russia, South Africa and beyond. Not to mention plenty of Americans and Indians, of course!

We've met so many wonderful and friendly and kind and interesting and inspiring people on this trip... it's been such a joy. Here's a small sampling...

First up... Manjish!!! Our most special Airplane Family! We met Manjish on the flight here... which was adventurous and complicated enough that we bonded with each other. He's a Pune local, studying for a masters degree in the US. He is such a wonderful, wonderful person. We got to hang out together a few times here in Pune, and it was such a super treat to have such a fun and friendly local to show us around. One night he and his cousin Naranjan took us out to a really fun spot to play pool and arcade games and such... followed by a dinner at a really cool spot called "Up and Above," with a view of the city.

Another night we all got together for a trip to the movies and dinner. We saw a hot new movie called "Dhobi Ghat," which Jane and our friend Mimi and I all enjoyed very much. Manjish and Naranjan and their buddies Sarvesh & CD didn't like it quite as much. Maybe it's more a 30+ lady movie than a 20+ guy movie! ha ha. Anyhow, as always, it was so fun to spend the evening with Manjish and his buddies. Now we will be awaiting his visit to Santa Cruz so that we can return the favor!

Back at the Yoga Institute... Sometimes there's time for a little chatting with people next to you before class, and maybe a little exchange of ideas during practice time, but there's no real area or zone at the Institute to chat and socialize after class... so the coconut man across the street has become the place to be. You can grab a fresh coconut, rehydrate, and chat with folks... all while standing in the street with motorbikes and rickshaws whizzing past!

Speaking of rickshaws, here's Mimi, Jane, and me ... grooving in a bright yellow rickshaw together! I love how our hair is flying all over the place! Mimi is a super fun New York gal and she is just great. She has been one of our number one pals on this trip - she's kind and fun and smart and all-around wonderful. I'm so glad I've gotten to know her! We've shared all sorts of various dinner dates and walks and expeditions and talks, and it's always a pleasure to be with her. Tomorrow will be our last day to hang out together before she takes off, so we'll have a nice little until-we-meet-again dinner tomorrow night. :)

I love this "Sex & The City"-style picture of Jane, Mimi, and our sweet Aussie pal Claire. On this particular day - we were heading home from a lunch date together at Vaishali - a local favorite for South Indian food. You can also see the semi-completed state of the sidewalk on FC Road.... some areas have these nice tiles, but many tiles have become loose, and there are plenty of pitfalls along the way... it's a bonafide obstacle course! Under the hanging wire, down the big step, around the large tree blocking the sidewalk, watch out for that dog poop!, into the street to avoid the people working on the sidewalk, back onto the sidewalk to avoid the cars and motorbikes zooming right at you, step down into the open pit carefully, step up out of the open pit... and so on! Walking down FC requires one's full attention, despite the carefree moment I miraculously captured in this picture!

Carlos and me at the annual anniversary celebration for the Institute last weekend. Friendly, friendly Carlos is a Columbian-who-lives-in-Barcelona. Such a sweet guy with two really great roommates too. They live in our neighborhood, and we often see each other on the way to class or home from class.

Here's Jane & Khaled... Khaled is Algerian, but has lived in London for many years now. He is a really great guy, fun and interesting to be with. On this particular occasion, he took us off on a rickshaw ride to a really great restaurant across town. SO GOOD. Jane and I are the original freaky food freaks - oooohing and ahhhing our way through every meal. Hee hee.

Jane, the luminescent Pat Deacon, and me... again, from last weekend's anniversary celebration. Pat is a long-time student of Mr. Iyengar's from South Africa. She is a beaming source of joy and friendliness and good spirits. Even with a fairly recent hip replacement, she's joined in our classes with an inspiring combination of realism, caution, and gusto. She is also an old friend of our beloved teacher Kofi's, and Jane & I first met her when she taught at the Yogacharya Yoga Festival that Kofi organized a couple of years ago. We were so thrilled to see her registering alongside us at the beginning of the month. It has been such a treat to get to know her better... and I look forward to future Pat-sightings, for sure!

This is just a small sample of wonderful folks from all over the world who we've been spending time with this month: practicing together, mat neighbors in class, lunch dates, dinner dates, and so on. What fun it is to meet so many great people in such a short time!

Pictures from India!

2011-01-19T00:56:00.000-08:00

Here we are! My travel buddy, yoga buddy and roommate Jane & me, cozying up in a rickshaw. Lookin' stylie with our shades on too.

Here we are in front of our apartment! Our flat is on the 2nd floor (which they call the 1st floor here... just to keep us on our toes!). You can imagine how stoked we were when we first came around the corner and saw this rainbow painted gate with a doggie on it! a good omen!

Here's Jane cooking up a delicious dinner in our little Indian kitchen. Please observe the various snacks on the table. We are snack monsters. At this point in our trip we are attempting to practice some discipline and not purchase every tempting snack food we encounter.

Out & About!

We spotted this doohicky on our walk to FC road (a common destination for restaurants, and our near daily trip to the cell phone place to see if we can get our phone to work properly) These little arrangements are fairly commonplace around Pune - a few chili peppers and a lime, with a rock on the bottom, all wired together and dangling down. These are hung up in front of businesses, from rickshaw tailpipes, and - apparently - from a random pole on the sidewalk. I noticed them last time I was here, and surmised that they are designed to keep away bad luck... which has since been confirmed. This time around, I've noticed the creepy addition of the black voodoo doll hanging upside down, and now I am just as intrigued by him as I ever was with the chili-lime concoction. I love picking up little found objects on the street, and recently I passed a voodoo man in the street... but somehow superstition got the better of me and I figured it would be better not to mess with someone else's bad juju voodoo man. so I left it there.

Whoever created this particular installation seems especially concerned about keeping away bad luck, with no fewer than THREE chili-limes and a voodoo man. I hope it works for him, or her!

The pooja offerings vendors at Tulsi Bhag... my most favorite part of Pune, hands down. A whole row of vendors selling various items for religious offerings. Sparkly, shiny, beautiful, colorful, and largely mysterious to Jane & I who have no idea what is going on. I love it all nonetheless!

A sweet young gal helping her dad sell earrings at Tulsi Bhag.

Here is our regular internet place. It cost $.25 for every 30 minutes, which is a great deal. This particular day, we had walked over there (about a 5 minute walk), and found the entire place filled to the brim with a friendly little gang of school boys. They had all rented out the place for a whole hour and were playing some sort of interactive video game against one another. Even though it meant we didn't get to check out internet, the whole thing was so darned cute that it was hard to be grumpy about it. Ha!

(today I'm over at my friend Mimi's room, using her brand new mac, so that I can upload pictures to share with all of you! Thanks Mimi!)

Street Dogs of Pune!

You didn't really think I would upload pictures and not include the street dogs, did you???

Cookie! Cookie is the original cutie pie. She hangs out right near the RIMYI yoga center where we take classes (this picture is directly across the street from the center) and she is just adorable. She's very shy, and she doesn't want any snugs, but she looks pretty healthy and seems to have a good scene going on. So many street dogs look really, really worse for the wear, so it's good for my dog-loving soul to see one doing so well. Cookie really likes the sun, and she seems to have a special knack for seeking out warm and cozy spots.

Mama Cookie! This is a pretty sad picture, but there you have it. Mama Cookie is our name for this really really sweet street dog. She is so friendly. The other day I ran into her on my way to the ATM and we had a long snuggle. I ended up just sitting on the sidewalk with her and scritching her ears and neck. She was so happy. She kept closing her little eyes and dozing off. She is really friendly and such a sweet, delicate little size. We call her Mama Cookie, because when we first arrived her teats were huge and swollen, but since then they have receded. She is such a sweet creature. Some of the street dogs have someone who looks out for them. There are two old dogs near the newspaper vendor, and every day there is an elderly lady who comes and brings them chapattis (bread) and sits with them while they eat. It's quite sweet. I hope that someone will "adopt" Mama Cookie and look after her, because so far she seems to be living off the trash and various roadside scraps and her friendly little spirit deserves more from life.

I met this street dog today. He is my favorite street dog yet. He is SO sweet, and not in great shape. Not the worst (by far), but skinny and meek and with a torn up ear. Nonetheless, he was so happy to get some gentle pets that he lay down on the sidewalk and started trembling and whimpering with happiness. Quite a heartbreaker. Then he followed me almost all the way to class, which of course made me totally heartbroken. I was sad, but so relieved when he finally stopped.

I went out this afternoon and bought a bag of dog food, and poured a bunch into a ziplock bag in my purse. So now, whenever I see this guy or Mama Cookie I will be able to give them something yummy and nutritious to eat.

Last but not least, I love this little shrine on the wall at my favorite newspaper vendor. Notice the deity on the right (Shiva?) is surrounded by dogs and cats and a cow!!

That's all for now! I hope you've enjoyed these snapshots!

If you are also interested in some food-related shots, I've put some pictures up over at my vegan blog too: Vegan Eats & Treats

So, What About The Yoga??!

2011-01-18T02:34:00.000-08:00

I figure it's time I did a little writing about our yoga experience. Part of why I wanted to return to the Iyengar Institute for a 2nd time, was to have more focus on the yoga aspect of the trip. I love India so much, and it's easy to be swept up in the joys of going out and about the city to explore - which we did a lot of last time around. This time I was, and remain, determined to really focus on yoga. I've only had 2 outing adventures since being here... and otherwise it's been mostly yoga yoga yoga.

We have a LOT of yoga going on in our lives:
Mondays: class 7-9 am, practice 9-12, class 6-8pm
Tuesdays: class 7-9 am, practice 9-12, class 6-8pm
Wednesdays: class 9:30-11:30 am, practice 4-6 pm, observe medical class 6-8pm
Thursdays: class 7-9 am, practice 9-12, class 6-8pm
Fridays: practice 9 am-12 noon, class 6-8 pm (optional observe medical class 4-6pm)
Saturdays: class 9:30-11:30 am, practice 4-6 pm
Sundays, day off!!

So, between our constant need to eat (and leave time to digest before our next class), and our constant effort to sleep enough... the schedule feels quite full! It's hard to get done with class at 8pm, eat dinner, and take notes on class, and then fall asleep and then wake up at 6 again the next morning. I am DEFINITELY looking forward to not getting up at 6 am after this month is over. I am okay with 7 am, but it turns out that 6 am and I are really not friends.

We have 3 different types of classes: those taught my Mr Iyengar and his granddaughter Abhi, those taught by Mr Iyengar's son Prashant, and those taught by various senior teachers at the Institute. They are all quite different.

Two days a week (Wed & Sat morning) we have "ladies class" with Mr. Iyengar & his granddaughter. These classes have been amazing. Mr. Iyengar observes from the corner... and provides the sequencing, corrections, details and observations... which are then reiterated, demonstrated and elaborated upon by Abhi. His sequencing is really superb, which is no surprise! He is very demanding, and will make us repeat a pose or action until he feels that we have understood the point he is trying to illuminate in us. His classes are precise and generally work around 1 or 2 themes, which he starts off with in poses where these actions or feelings are relatively easy to find, and then gradually builds the complexity.

The classes with the senior teachers are really fun. Generally, they seem to build on the themes Mr. Iyengar teaches during the Ladies Classes... and are useful for reinforcing the things we learned earlier - which is quite helpful. These classes have the same quality of very precise instructions and sequencing, though the atmosphere generally is quite a bit lighter without the gravitas of Mr. Iyengar in the room! Last night we had a totally awesome backbend class taught by one of these teachers, which completely blew my mind.

We worked on backbends similar to this pose, except we got to keep on hands on the floor. We were smooshing our faces on the floor, and it was great fun! Ha ha. That is when you know you enjoy your yoga practice, I guess.

Finally, we have the classes with Prashant, which are a totally different ball game. It's sort of wild how different they are. Prashant is most decidedly NOT interested in the subtleties of alignment in the asanas. His sequencing is loose... so some of us will be doing one thing, while another group does a different pose, and a 3rd group does something else. As long as you do all 3, he is not usually concerned with the order in which you do them. He is constantly encouraging us to experiment and do our own research in the poses. Come out and come back into the pose again if needed. And a LOT of emphasis on bringing equal awareness to the breath experience and mental experience as we typically bring to the physical elements of the experience. It's quite interesting, and some of his classes have been really wonderful and thought provoking.

The first week we focused on standing poses, week 2 was focused on forward bends, and now we are starting week 3 - week of backbends. If I recall correctly from last time, our final week should be the week of pranayama (breathing), which I am looking forward to. I am definitely learning lots and lots of new actions and approaches ... but there is also just the general joy of being able to practice so deeply and regularly over so many consecutive days. That alone is really amazing.

Unfortunately around the 10th or so, I pulled a muscle (left internal hamstring). Not the worst injury in the world, but I had trouble walking for a few days, and was definitely NOT up for asana. I had a good attitude some of the time, but I also spent plenty of time moping and feeling disappointed and sorry for myself. I did end up getting some a little help, and a couple of tips from some of the senior teachers during practice time. I skipped out on a few days of class, and just went and observed and took notes instead of practicing.

I'm glad I went and took notes, but it was really hard to sit there and watch everyone having so much fun and working so hard without me! My spirit is so willing... but I guess my hamstring not so much. The injury is getting better... and I can walk around just fine (thank goodness!). Backbends are no problem for this injury, so I"m feeling very grateful for the arrival of forward bend week. The injury is most definitely still there and limits what I can work on during practice time quite a bit. But somehow I still manage to fill up 2 1/2 hours! I learned a few things that I can do to help it, and then beyond that it's mostly just trying to figure out what else I can do without further agitating it. I'm not quite the glowing image of health and adventure that I hoped to be, but what are you going to do? Get really good at backbends, I guess! :) ha ha.

Here is a picture of the yoga room (I'm using other people's pictures off the internet, since I can't upload pics today... I"ll keep trying!). We have our classes and our practice in this room... though it is decidedly more stuffed full of various props and benches than it is in this picture. You can see how the whole room is lined with pictures of Mr. Iyengar from his book "Light on Yoga," as well as many more recent pictures of his in various poses. It's so inspiring to practice with all those images around!

This picture gives you a little more of an idea about all the various props that line the periphery of the room.

Anyhow, I hope that gives you some sense of what Jane and I are up to over here... lots and lots of yoga! In our few hours of free time each day, I usually pick one of the following three options: go to internet, do some drawing, or take a nap. No time for all three! :)

The Lure of the Exotic

2011-01-15T06:05:00.000-08:00

The first time I came to India, our friend Geraldine's mother went and got me the nicest little salwar kameez outfit and sent it to me so I could have it on arrival. I still have it, and I still enjoy wearing it when I'm here in India. That first trip, I wore Indian clothes every day and so did all the Indian gals we saw on the street. Men, however, mostly seemed to have switched over to Western style clothing.

Not too many years later, here in Pune (which is a big city and a university town), the ladies and especially the younger ladies are wearing Western clothing like crazy. Fancy dress is still 100% Indian, and these Indian ladies seriously know how to dress up. But casual wear on the street seems almost 50-50 between western wear and Indian wear. So, I'm as likely to leave the house in my t-shirt and jeans as in my salwar kameez... Some combo of the two seems to be my favorite outfit - an Indian kurta (sort of like a lightweight tunic top) with a pair of jeans or long pants. Luckily, my favorite flip flops blend in perfectly!

I was thinking how funny though, that us foreigners like to come and buy Indian outfits, while the Indian gals are buying Western outfits. Meanwhile, at the grocery store, we were buying khakras (world's best cracker-like-product!!!), and parathas, and spices and mango pickle... while the Indian family in front of us was buying Kellogg's Corn Flakes. Ha ha!

It's so nice that we all seem to have the same impulse - to learn about other experiences and cultures and options out there in the world. So I'll put on my tunic and order a lime soda with my parathas, while the gal in the tee shirt and skinny jeans goes to the mall and eats at Pizza Hut. Ha!

Back to Pune, 3 years later!

2011-01-09T05:57:00.000-08:00

There is a special thing about returning to a place. I love to travel to new places and see new countries and new faces and such... but it has been wonderful to return to Pune and feel like I am landing in familiar territory. So much has changed since I was here 3 years ago, and also much has stayed the same.

It's nice to know the neighborhood, and to see that my favorite newspaper stand is still in action... and my favorite fruit vendor too. Also, I've found that this sense of familiarity makes me feel a little more adventurous to explore beyond the areas I explored last time. What fun!

What's the same? What's changed?

1. Yoga: Well, the yoga is the same, and different. Last time we came, Mr. Iyengar's daughter Geeta taught most of our classes. She was a brilliant teacher - totally refined sequencing of postures and the most exquisite little details in every moment. On the other hand, she was sort of a tyrant. She ran a seriously Tight Ship - lots of yelling and everyone was constantly frenzied about not trying to set her off. This time around, she has retired. Mr. Iyengar's son teaches more of our classes (last time i think we only had 2 per week with him, now we have 6!). Also, 2 days a week we have classes taught by Mr. Iyengar's granddaughter, and by Mr. Iyengar himself!! What a joy! These classes are so interesting - Mr. Iyengar stays in the corner and sequences the class - observing and commenting, while Abhi teaches and demonstrates and tells us what he has to say. It's really an honor to learn from him and in his presence.

Also, last time we were here, we had 1 class per day (2 hours) + practice time (2-3 hours), 6 days a week. This time we have 3 days a week with two classes - plus the practice time. Somehow this ends up making our schedule feel a lot more full and we are doing a LOT of yoga! It's wonderful though, because that's why we're here - more time to study and learn and explore!

2. Dogs: You know I love dogs. What hasn't changed is tons of street dogs in the streets of Pune - beautiful and cute and many looking pretty much worse for the world. I try to pet them and give them a scritch whenever they'll let me (followed by a thorough round of hand sanitizer!). It drives me nuts that so many people in India (and around the world) buy purebred dogs when there are so many sweet and lonely souls right outside their doors.

3. Times of india: At home I get two newspapers and I love reading the paper. Last time I was here I developed a Times of India habit - and I was so happy to see that my newspaper guy from last time is still in business. Even though I don't understand all of the news being reported - and all the many Hindi words that end up in the "english edition" - I still love being a bit informed about what's going on in the place where I am.

4. Traffic & Air Quality. Last time we were here, I read an article in the Times of India that Pune was adding 400 new cars EACH DAY. Well, I believe it. Here's the thing: I have some sort of perverse love and joy for Indian traffic. I love the crazy mayhem of cars and motorbikes and rickshaws and pedestrians and animals - all on the "wrong side" of the road, going as fast as they want and dodging around each other like crazy. I love love love it. But, less lovable is the air quality. I didn't really think it could get worse, but it has. Many people tie scarves or bandanas around their faces - especially when they're out walking or on their motorbikes. The air is thick and smoky and smelly. I'm definitely looking forward to coming home and revelling the glorious clean air and sparkly blue skies of Santa Cruz!

5. Vendors & Wallas: I love the fruit vendors and veggie vendors on the streets here in India. Just today we bought fruits from a fruit cart, veggies from a veggie guy, more veggies from the veggie guy who comes through our neighborhood, a newspaper from the newspaper guy, and fresh chickpeas from a lady sitting on the corner selling chickpeas and flower garlands. Our apartment is in a great little neighborhood that we love. All day long there are vendors walking through the streets calling out (in Marathi) what they have to offer. We have to look out the window every time, since we don't understand Marathi. There's the guy with potted plants, a kid selling snack foods, fresh fruit guy, fresh veggies guys, and - joy of joys - the recycling guy! The other day we spotted him and ran down with our newspapers and plastic bottles and got 7 rupees back for our stuff! Most of all, we were so thrilled to not have to throw away something recyclable. Joy in our little hippy hearts.

6. The Park: Happily, the park is unchanged. Sadly, the mysterious hours of the park are also unchanged. Sorta kidding on that last one, but really - why close a PARK in the middle of the day!? It's open in the morning and again in the evening. It's right there near the studio, and has lots of trees, SO MANY birds, lots of friendly folks, a playground for kiddos, and a little path to do laps on. It's so nice to go for a walk together and chat and see the greenery and such. This morning we were out for a quiet Sunday morning walk in the park when we spotted Mr. Iyengar himself - having a photoshoot with some Chinese journalists! He was glowing in his white robes amidst the greenery. Of course, this was the first time on the whole trip that I had left home without my camera! Ha, isn't that how life works? But as we passed him on the path (after the photos had been taken), we saluted him and bowed and said "Good Morning, Guruji!" and he gave us the most luminous smile and said "Good Morning!" It was quite a delight to have such a sweet and simple little exchange with him.

7. Security: Since the Mumbai bombings, and in particular since the German Bakery was bombed here in Pune (maybe a year, year & a half ago?) - there is a lot of tight security. As you enter the yoga center, you have to sign in, and there is now a security guard. Malls and higher-end shops have metal detectors and look in your purse before you can go in. It's different, but as always, these matters of security always seem to be handled with grace and courtesy.

8.. The Winds of Progress! It really is AMAZING how rapidly certain aspects of India have changed since I first came here just 6-7 years ago. Girls in skinny jeans & tee-shirts, holding hands with their boyfriends, mega shopping malls - soy milk at the grocery store... it's downright amazing. The difference between the Delhi airport I saw the first time : a cavernous concrete building with stray cats and mosquitos - and the Delhi airport I saw this time: a glorious spectacle with duty free shops and a food court and beautiful public art and looking altogether 1000% nicer than JFK was totally mind-blowing. Mind. Blowing.

So those are my thoughts for now - I'm sorry for the lack of pictures. Another thing that's changed is that both my favorite internet places from last time are now closed. So we were forced to go a bit further afield to a different spot - which I have become quite fond of. FULL of boys and men, mostly playing video games with each other... nary a lady in sight! They're very friendly here. The computers here are much newer than at the places I went last time, but still not able to accept my card reader... so my posts will have to be picture-free for now. Speaking of security, I need to give them my ID every time I come. But they're so fun and friendly, I don't mind! :)

Pictures of & with Strangers

2008-01-29T04:53:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-29T04:52:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-01-26T05:35:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-26T05:19:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-01-21T01:55:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-21T01:43:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-21T01:36:00.001-08:00

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!

Nightlife!

2008-01-21T01:09:00.000-08:00

What do we do at night in Pune? Well! I'm glad you asked. Two nights a week we have class until 8 pm, and all we do on those nights is eat dinner & go to bed. In fact, that's what we do most nights... but we have had a few fun and special outings worthy of mention.

Of course you MUST go to a Bollywood movie! Last night we were here in India, Musty and I tried to go to a movie, but it had just opened and was totally sold out! wow. So, this time around I was determined not to miss out. Abbey, Jen, Anne, and I went out and saw this movie "WELCOME" - it was hilariously perfect. Very dorky, very slapstick, and totally fun. Of course, I am always thinking of my blog readers! so I whipped out my camera and started taking sneaky pictures during the movie! The movie was all in Hindi, with a few little english words dropped in here and there, but we were still happily able to get the general concept. Also of note, we saw this movie at a VERY modern multiplex called "E-Square" near our place... it's a big huge modern building with many movie screens, a nice food court, a cafe, shops, a bookstore... AND even a bulletin board with pictures of street dogs that need to be adopted (how COOL!). I made a poster for our little kitty and put some up around our neighborhood, including one there. Cross your fingers for her - she needs a nice home!

One of my most favorite things in the whole entire world (or at least, my experience of the world to date) is India's little shops at night. I've mentioned it before on this blog, and I think this picture really captures the excitement of it. See all the colors, the people, the sparkle, the activity?? What fun! So, a few times we have ended up out shopping for little gifts and goodies in the evening hours, which fills me with delight. Really, it could be as good, but nothing could be better.

We were very fortunate that the Times of India (one of India's most widely read newspapers) held its Times Pune Festival while we were here. All the events were free... all you had to do was swing by the Times office and pick up a ticket. So we went to a few different events. We went to two lovely Sunday night concerts held outdoors at the Poona Club. How wonderful! The evening air is cool, and both nights, the musicians were of top notch caliber. The first concert was with a woman who sang traditional Hindustani songs for the first half, and then popular "pop" songs for the second half. You should have heard the crowd go WILD for those popular favorites! It was so fun! Also, one night when I was too sick to go, Jen and Abbey went and saw The Vagina Monologues, being performed for the first time in India. What an unexpected thing to see here in India, but they said they were the only foreigners (but the play was in English), and there were many men in the audience. Right on! And all for free! So, we are feeling grateful to have been here for the Festival season, and to the Times of India for some great free cultural experiences.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Jen and I had our picture featured on Page 2 of the Times the morning after the concert! That's me in the middle and Jen to my left in the bottom picture. We had our eyes closed so that we could more attentively listen to the music. I never even knew anyone took my picture! Then the next morning, I was in the bathroom during class, and someone said "Nice Picture" - I had no idea what she was talking about! But our friend Jennifer brought us a clipping. It's interesting how many people noticed and commented, even my buddy from the Internet cafe!

Hope you are all doing well. I am slowly recovering... for the first time in 4-5 nights I actually got some sleep last night without being awake and coughing all night - what a difference! Love Amey

Home, Sick

2008-01-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

Oh UGH!

I got super sick. What a drag. There is this cold going around... and many people have it. For me it started with many nights of asthmatic wheezing (which I thought was just from the smoke and pollution in the air)... and then the cold caught up with me! I spent one entire day in the house, and quite a few days on a very limited energy-expenditure program, and even had to miss a couple of classes. Loads (and loads) of coughing. My poor roommates!

And let me tell you, there is nothing like being sick to make you home sick. Being stuck inside the apartment all day last Thursday, I did have the opportunity to fully acquaint myself with the television options - lots of Bollywood music videos, religious Hindu programming, an entire English-language Muslim channel dedicated to peace, Disney after-school shows with blond children speaking dubbed-over Hindi... and even I watched some of the Australian Open coverage (in English no less!) and - wonder of wonders! - an entire 2 hours of American Idol. Boy, I was stoked on that. I still cought all night long, but I am over the hump (I made it to the Internet Cafe!!)... thanks be to god.

But, I must say, I can't have too much self pity, because I'm hardly alone. Of the 5 of us who travelled here together, only Holly has remained truly healthy. The rest of us have all had various levels of interaction with the Indian medical system, and it's quite noteworthy indeed. Abbey had a super bad cold (maybe the same one i have now?), Jen got vertigo from the flight (?!) (incidentally, I know that Jen would like me to point out that she got vertigo from the FLIGHT, and not from India itself, so *technically* she too, has remained unscathed by India), Mary just hasnt' been healthy the whole time - with coughing and sinus stuff and stomach problems, and now me with the wheezing and the cold. WHOA!

So, this is a picture of me at the pharmacy. I am purchasing more cough drops. The day before, I dropped by and picked up some antihistamines and an inhaler (no prescription!?). The pharmacist speaks English and is quite helpful. Here's what's interesting: the pharmacist sells both ayurvedic and allopathic treatments. Traditional and modern, from the same person. There are also many pharmacies around town that do only ayurvedic medicine. All of it is incredibly affordable and accessible as well. Jen went to the doctor, who practices medicine out of her home - just down the street from us - and paid 100 rupees (about $2.50). The doctor was educated, friendly, available, and inexpensive. Comparing all this with the nightmare of medical care in America is certainly thought provoking.

I hope you are all well... hopefully I'll be better one of these days - it would be nice to be breathing again when we start our week of pranayama classes (that's the practice of breathing) in just a couple more days. Wish me luck!

ps. good stuff coming up on the blog! I uploaded pictures for some more cool entries

Leave Comments Here!

2008-01-14T03:11:00.001-08:00

Thanks for the comments everyone! Check out the new post below this one... :) love Amey

Kitty playing in the mosquito net

2008-01-12T01:32:00.000-08:00

Yippee!

Another fun video post for you. Okay, okay... this doesn't really have THAT much to do with India per se, but it is a big part of our time here. I promise not to turn this into a kitty blog, but you've just gotta see how cute little kitten is when she plays in the mosquito net on my bed. I'm sure that when Dr. Dover (the travel doctor) told me to bring along this mosquito net, this isn't exactly what he had in mind...

Pretty cute, huh?? Just TRY and say that's not cute.

We've had quite a few more adventures that I'm looking forward to sharing with you, but I'll have to find my way over to my photo-uploading spot first. Anyhow... just a teaser to let you know that there is lots more good stuff on the horizon. Also, after this, all the posts will be normal and you'll be able to leave comments again! Hoorah!

Odds n Ends

2008-01-12T01:24:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comments everyone! I have this post, and then one more that will have no comment option, and then after that it'll be a thing of the past!

Here are few nice pictures from the last week or so... to capture some of what we've been up to (beside all that yoga!) This is a sweet picture of Jen snuggling with our little kitty. This little kitten is SO insanely sweet and snuggly.She just loves nothing more than to curl up on someone's lap and fall asleep. Really, it's pretty freaking cute. I've got a bit of a cold (cough cough!), so I stayed home the other night, watched some Indian TV (and an episode of Seinfeld, I must admit), and snuggled the kitty. You can see how sweet she is. Jen is pretty sweet too! That piece of furniture, by the way, is about the coziest thing in our living room, unfortunately... So we usually each end up retreating to our bedrooms so that we can lay down on something cozy.

Now I'm trying to find a home for kitty here in Pune... someone who will really love her and snuggle her. Unlikely, but worth the effort. I'm getting the word out to everyone who is staying with a family...

Here's a picture of Laxmi Road... my super favoritist shopping zone in Pune. It's a crazy zone of busy streets and narrow alley ways selling just about EVERYTHING - kitchen supplies, car mats, fabric, clothing, shoes, trinkets, toys... oh man, it is so fun. We have done a few shopping expeditions, but I'll warn you right now - Jen and Abbey's friends are getting better gifts than my loved ones! When push comes to shove, I'm just not much of a shopper. And somehow, I'm never tempted by the nice high-end stuff. They spend time looking at nice shirts and fabrics and such, while I"m off poking around in the plastic sticker stall. Ha! So lowbrow. I guess this blog will have to be my gift to you!

I also really love this picture! Recently a few of us went for a little walk down by the river in Pune and met a few very sweet little kiddos. They were really into having their picture taken. They have all learned about digital cameras, and so they love to have their picture taken, so that they can see it on the screen right after. Well, here's what I figured out: they would stand there, straight faced for the picture, and then squeal with delight (and glorious smiles) when they saw their picture. They're cuter when they look at their own picture than when they have their picture taken! So, a few days later, when Jen was taking pictures of these cuties, I whipped out my camera to capture the magical moment of glee. I must say, these kids were especially smiley and wonderful. The kids in India are so special - big open smiles and faces, and easy to befriend even across the language barrier.

Love to you all!

Abbey Tries to Cross the Street in Pune

2008-01-12T01:19:00.000-08:00

Check this out!

My first video blog entry!

First things first, I think that I have fixed the comment problem. Thanks to my friend Carey for pointing out that the last few blog entries didn't have a place to leave comments. Comments are so fun, so hopefully you'll be able to leave some now.

Now! On to the video! Pune is a seriously bustling and growing metropolis. We read in the newspaper that each day there are 600 new vehicles entering the city. WHOA. Aside from leading to truly heinous air quality, this situation also makes it quite difficult to cross the street at times!

When it comes to crossing the street in India, here are some things that must be considered. First of all, they drive on the opposite sides of the road than we do - so you have to learn to look opposite directions than you are used to. Secondly, people drive like maniacs, so you must constantly look back and forth to make sure that someone hasn't whipped around the corner going 40 miles per hour since you last looked 1 second ago. Big busy streets are especially crazy.

Personally, I have become a huge fan of the middle of the street. If I can get halfway across, that's a good place to start. These Indian drivers are crazy, but generally quite skillful at avoiding street dogs, beggars, rickshaws, fruit carts, busses, and me standing in the middle of the street.

Amongst my roommates and I, Jen and I are probably the most daring. We've both been to India before and we are a bit more willing to step out into the melee. Abbey errs on the side of caution, which probably makes her the smartest of us all. So, all that is a lead up to this hilarious video I took of Abbey and our friend Anne trying to cross the street. In the background is the Pune Central mall where we do some of our grocery shopping. We were on our way to see a Bollywood movie! (more on that coming up in a future post...)...

In this video, it should be noted that Jen and I are already on the other side of the street. I didn't get my camera out until the craziest traffic had died down a little, but you'll still get the idea. Anne is wearing the bright pink and Abbey is in blue. They have already made it to the meridian...

Ha ha! You'll see that Abbey eventually settles for the technique of shadowing one of the locals to make it across. I think the best part of this little movie is Abbey's look of delight and thrill upon reaching the other side of the road! :)

Hope you are all well, and that the comments link shows up this time!

Photos from The Iyengar Institute

2008-01-12T01:09:00.000-08:00

Okay! I'll try again with some pictures of the Institute where we are spending so much of our time! This was a special request from my mom... (xo!)

Here is a view of the studio, from across the street. This is a nighttime picture (obviously!), but if you look, you can see the giant "Aum" on the gate. The first floor is the larger room, where Geeta & Prashant are teaching, and the top room is the studio where the public classes are taught. In the window, you can see that people are doing Hasta Padangustasana, with their feet up on the bars of the windows... stretching their hamstrings. That's our friend Robin in the yellow t-shirt!

This is a picture of the big practice room. It is quite spacious, but believe me when I tell you that it gets seriously packed. I got this picture when we showed up right on time for a saturday practice session. I'm not sure how well you can see, but the entire back wall of the room is piled to the brim with props props and more props. You have never seen a more crazy & complete selection of things in your life - countless variations of wooden benches, blocks, stools, and platforms; wooden blocks of all sizes, poles, planks, & bars; weights; mountains of blankets, straps, & sticky mats; many variants of pillows and bolsters; and much more. It's fascinating to see how every inch of the room, and every tiny architectural feature gets utilized as a prop. "Wall space" is a hot commodity - and even the columns are a rich source of flat surface (as well as useful corner angles. The edge of the platform is frequently put to use, people are hanging upside down all over the place... it's a crazy and wonderful display of ingenuity.

This is a picture of Abbey on the platform... This is usually the spot that we all face during class. You can see the rope wall on the right, and some of the pictures of Mr. Iyengar above. The whole room is decorated with amazing and inspirational pictures of Mr. Iyengar practicing. It's wonderful to look up and see photos of him - at all ages and in all postures.... amazing!! The room also has some statues, photos of Mr. Iyengar's teacher Krishnamacharya, Mr. Iyengar's wife, and various other lovely objects of contemplation. It's a busy but inspirational collection.

The classes have definitely been building in intensity - and I am most deeply grateful to my teacher Kofi for preparing me so well. The atmosphere in class is intimidating, inspiring, confusing, chaotic, and fantastic. The quality of instruction is truly superb... providing so much information for learning and observing. The depth of understanding, and the awe-inspiring amount of practice and analysis behind that understanding is quite breathtaking. And still, at times it's hard not to practice with the sole aim of not being yelled at! ha ha. Gradually each of us has been yelled at once or twice, and we're still alive... so the rather intense fear of the first couple weeks is definitely subsiding. Thank goodness!

In our classes with Geeta there are usually 3-4 assistants in the room, helping her to make sure that we are doing the postures correctly, as Geeta has instructed. They are the ones to watch out for! :)

We are all just amazed by Geeta's classes. Her skill at sequencing postures is totally astronomical. Something to be studied and reviewed, over and over... for sure.

Here's a picture that I snapped during practice one day.. you can see that it really does get full. And this is nothing compared to class time! At times during class, we are packed in so tightly that it's all mat-to-mat with no space around. And still we have a great experience. In classes, it can get totally chaotic - running to and fro from one part of the room to another, only to find you mat occupied by someone else and all your props gone. You'd better grab someone else's mat quickly though - before Geeta catches you standing around with a stupified look on your face! :)

The practice sessions are a wonderful opportunity to practice what we are learning in class, or to provide some balance to whatever the class was working on. It's also neat to watch what others are doing and learn from how they use the props and such. Lastly, it's wonderful because Mr. Iyengar and Geeta are also almost always there practicing with us. We have been especially lucky because Mr. Iyengar is teaching his granddaughter (in her early 30s?) about yoga, and on a few occasions he has been very willing to let us gather around and observe and listen. My goodness!!! What a phenomena. It's beautiful and inspiring and just plain amazing to witness what he can see and perceive and communicate. Very very special.

I hope everyone is well,
please leave some comments for me! we are all feeling a little homesick... even though we're loving our time here!
xo Amey

Karla & Bhaja Caves

2008-01-08T01:07:00.000-08:00

I know I promised pictures from the Iyengar Institute, but after spending a whole hour uploading pictures and writing all about them - the whole thing just got deleted. What a bummer!!!

So anyhow, you'll have to be content with these pictures from some 2300 year old caves we visited called the Karla caves and the Bhaja Caves, about 1 hour from Pune.

Here's a picture of me with some beautiful old elephant carvings. The elephants were so naturalistic and wonderfully done... complete with gentle eyes. There were 3 others on the opposite wall.

This was the second cave, the Bhaja caves. Both of these caves were carved by buddhists, and have large halls with stupas inside. This one was neat because there was pretty much no one else here, and we could happily wander all around in the old rooms and check things out.
Here's a picture of Abbey and Jen. It was quite warm in the sun, but downright cool inside the rooms. These appear to have been monasteries of sorts - many small bedrooms and living areas with corridors and stairs... Even a whole system for catching and storing rain water during monsoon season.

It was nice to get out of the city for an afternoon and see some ancient sights. It's always just wild to me that someone carved something so many years ago, and we can still appreciate it today.

I'll try again in the next few days with the pictures from the institute. Bum luck!

Everyday Scenes

2008-01-08T00:37:00.001-08:00

My dad specially requested some everyday scenes from our daily activities here... (Hi Daddy!), so of course I had to oblige. My roommate says "Your family is so spoiled"! :) hee hee this is a cute picture of some little boys hanging out at the construction site across the street from the Yoga Institute. One of the things that I absolutely love about India, is that everywhere you look there's something going on - kids, animals, traffic, birds, men hanging out, women bustling about... it's such a swirl of activity! These little fellows were just watching all the traffic go by, and the general roar of activity.

Here's another view from our apartment, this was taken from the living room window. The community behind us is truly bustling at ALL hours of day and night. The funniest thing is the loud, rockin' prayer song that they blast over a loudspeaker each morning at 6 am. Thank god for ear plugs! I usually manage to sleep through it. This afternoon, Jen (one of my roommates) and I were chatting in my bedroom and we could hardly hear each other through the constant din of squealing wild pigs and the bleating herd of goats that live right across from my room. Ha ha! We started laughing that it was like living at the farm!

One thing my dad was wondering about was the food we eat and where we buy it. Most of you know that I'm blogging separately about the food we're eating over on my vegan blog: http://veganeatsandtreats.blogspot.com . But I thought I would include this picture. This is the sort of place where we buy most of our fruit and produce... These carts, or sidewalk displays, are out in the morning and at night, when the weather is cooler. Most things are closed, or quite subdued anyway, from about 12 - 4. Here's the rule for safe eating in India, called "The 4 P's": Peelable, Packaged, Processed, or Piping hot. I must say, we see some great looking fruit that is very tempting, but so far, we've mostly stuck to bananas and some sort of oranges. The baby bananas are everywhere and are especially fun since they're a bit different from home.

This is the street we live on, which is also the same street that the Iyengar Institute is located on. We are about a 5-minute walk to class, if that. As you can see, it's actually very green, very clean, and very calm. Compared to most parts of the city, this street is quite an oasis. At first we worried a bit about being removed from the action... but we've certainly come around! A quick rickshaw ride will get you all sorts of good places.

Next up, my mom's request of pictures of the Yoga Institute!

Yoga News!

2008-01-06T06:04:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd share a little information about the classes here, as my impressions become more informed. we have class on Monday and Tuesday with Prashant (Mr. Iyengar's son) and then wed,thurs, fri, & sat we have class with his daughter, Geeta. sunday is our day off. we've still only had one class with Prashant, so I'll have to talk about that more later. the wednesday and saturday morning classes are for women only, which is interesting. there is a special area of the room for women who are menstruating or feeling unwell, and they have a different sequence. Our first class with Geeta was a terrifying experience - she is sharp and exceedingly demanding, and we were all shaking in our boots. actually, we were all literally shaking by the end of class - from a combination of a fear of being yelled at and the incredible exertion that she can extract from us. the other two classes with her, she was in a more cheery mood, but the intensity of the class did not lessen. I absolutely love it. she is so intensely demanding, and she requires from us that we be demanding of ourselves. Her skill and instruction are so profound. so far, she has only taught us very straightforward postures, but as I mentioned, she can turn them into incredibly new and demanding experiences. even for a simple pose like tadasana, she has details and awareness about every pore of the body - the breath, the mind, the gaze, the flesh of the outer calf, the inner heel, the pinky toe, the "armpit chest", the back ribs, the elbows, the "four corners of the knees", the front thigh-inner thigh-back thigh, the outer hip, and SO ON! It's wonderful. after class, my friends and I talk and try to remember the new and helpful things that we learned - but there are always so many! It's impossible to retain it all!

Not only that, but we all have a little trouble understanding the very strong Indian accent. Some sizeable portion of the instruction goes in one ear and out the other - with zero comprehension. there are also quite a few local ladies in the class, which is nice. and Geeta has a funny habit of just slipping into Marathi (the local language) - sometimes it's hard to know when she's speaking english and when she's speaking marathi!

The practice times are a wonderful opportunity to do our my practice and see which instructions come back to me... which elements from the classes I am retaining and incorporating. after just 4 days of classes, I can see that this is going to be a wonderful experience - with an absolutely incredible quality and quantity of learning.

Beauty Shots!

2008-01-03T01:45:00.000-08:00

these pictures aren't necessarily very evocative of my trip, but they are some of the more beautiful pictures I've taken. I have a lot more pictures to share, but uploading is turning out to be quite a difficult procedure. the internet cafes are very funky here (not that I'm complaining!) - for instance the right shift key of this computer is busted, and I've decided just to ignore it. Ha ha! Tomorrow we have a very full day - class, practice, and a trip to see some 2000 year old buddhist cave temples in the afternoon. I also took some nice pictures of the practice space where we have classes, which I would like to share. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pics up soon.

Here is a beautiful lotus blossom...

can you tell what these are? it's a scene from a bangle stall - selling the ubiquitous bangle bracelets that all the Indian girls and women wear. Pretty much from infancy! I loved all the colors...

this is a large bowl of water with flowers arranged on the surface. such a beautiful way of presenting flowers, which we also saw often last time we were in india.
this is from the ayurvedic retreat. -it's a picture of Nandi, shiva's bull. I love how it looks with the lake in the background.

Temples and Shrines

2008-01-03T01:32:00.000-08:00

There are temples and altars and shrines everywhere in India, on every hilltop, on street corners, tucked between two shops, small ones & big ones... They are always interesting and often beautiful.
Here's a little detail from a temple here in Pune that we visited a couple of days ago. This picture captures a few specific things - the beautiful colors, the fresh flowers given as offerings, and the swastikas drawn on the wall with pigment. The swastika is a sacred symbol here in India and once you get used to seeing it everywhere, it's actually very nice to see this perfectly innocent symbol with a clean and untarnished usage.

At the same temple as the previous picture, I took this shot of the stairway up to the temple. Pilgrims have carefully touched and marked each stair on the climb to the temple in an act of special humility and devotion... each leaving their own unique mark.

This Ganesh shrine is a rather large and elaborate one, located in back of the park which is across the street from our apartment. It's very lovingly maintained with flowers and lights and music and is well-swept. There are chairs for contemplating or resting. There are even little candies that you can eat (Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, also happens to be a sweet-lover).

This shrine to Hanuman was at the Ayurvedic Retreat center... That's Hanuman, the monkey god (and symbol of devotion) in the middle, wearing a couple of garlands. There are all sorts of other goodies in there with him too... a melting pot!

This is the same temple from the first two pictures. This is Jen, me, and Abbey up at the top. Sorry for that big railing in the picture, but we were using the auto-taker feature. Can you see the smog? Pune is one seriously polluted place! This temple was very beautiful and still very much in use. Compared to what I saw on my last trip to India, Pune seems very modern and relatively well-off. There are countless young ladies wearing tight jeans and tight tee shirts (and of course, an equal number wearing more traditional clothes). We've even seen many couples holding hands or snuggling in public, which I don't think we saw even once last time. So, it was interesting for us to see that many of these western-dressed girls and their boyfriends (?) were at the temple, very humbly and sincerely doing their pooja rituals.

My Travelling Companions

2008-01-03T01:27:00.000-08:00

A few little pictures of my roomies and me!
This was the first time in an autorickshaw for both Abbey and Jen! So of course we had to document it. Jen has been to India once before, but was trekking (and not taking autorickshaws). Abbey is a brave first-time-to-India traveller and is doing a great job of keeping up with two people who have been here before!

The autorickshaws are so insanely fun. It is like being instantly catapaulted into a live-action video game - darting, speeding, weaving, maneuvering, honking, stopping & starting. I love it! It's also a nice chance to meet different characters, as each driver is a different experience - from the silent speedy one to the sweet older fellow with a beautiful smile, to the crazy one with loud music and a strong desire to practice his english. What fun.

In the kitchen of our apartment... this picture captures Abbey and Jen as they prepare for their first cup of real coffee in many days! The Ayurvedic retreat had all sorts of great food, but no caffeine. Not a problem for me, but these two coffee lovers were feeling it! So there was great merriment when we figured out how to light up our little gas stovetop and Abbey got out her special coffee from home.

Hope you are all well!

Pictures from the Kare Ayurvedic Retreat

2008-01-03T01:26:00.000-08:00

Well, these are pictures from our first week ... but I wanted to get them up because we stayed at a very special place. We spent our first night in Mumbai/Bombay near the hotel and then went out and spent two nights/three days at an Ayurvedic Retreat about 1 hour outside of Pune. Pune is a giant city, full of smog and traffic, but this retreat was like an oasis of calm. Gardens, trees, birds chirping, a glorious view of the lake... We had two "treatments" per day - different types of massage, herbal facials, and the wonderful oil treatment where a steady stream of oil is poured on your forehead from a vessel suspended above you. I know it might not sound so great, but believe me when I tell you that it was amazingly relaxing. It sent tingles of relaxation all through my body. So nice after all the fuss of travelling (20 hours in the air + 4 hour layover + travel time!).
This is our group! From the left: Jen, Holly, Me, Abbey, and Mary. Holly and Mary have both recently moved away from Santa Cruz, but we are all Kofi students. Holly and Mary are staying closer to town, in a nice hotel... and Jen and Abbey and I are at an apartment near the Institute. In this picture, however, we are all blissed out and relaxing on one of the many shaded patios at the Ayurvedic Retreat.
This was the view from the front door to my room. We each had our own private room & shower, which was quite nice. I took this picture at about 6:45 am, as I was headed up for my morning yoga practice. We had 2 hours in the morning and again 2 in the evening for practice. It feels so decadent and glorious to have so much time set aside for yoga. Ah....
I had fun doing some drawings while there, and I took this picture with the auto-timer on the camera... just so you can see that I am still alive and well!

Animals!

2008-01-03T01:14:00.001-08:00

Animals are absolutely everywhere in India. For me, it is simealtaneously one the best things and one of the hardest things about being here. Today my roommate Jen and I went over to the Parvati Temple to check it out. On that one outing we saw cows, dogs & puppies, a cat, chipmunks, beautiful black falcons, wild pigs, goats & baby goats, many types of birds, butterflies, and donkeys. And more dogs. Imagine that. Of course I am taking pictures of all the animals like crazy.

Here are a few pictures that I uploaded yesterday of some of the animals I have had the pleasure of meeting so far: Look at these beautiful cows. Cows are one of my favorite animals in the world... and I think the cows in the India are the most beautiful cows of all. Those long elegant faces, the gentlest eyes... and the painting horns are a special touch. I was photographing these sweet cows when their owner came walking back to his cart. He kindly suggested that I take his picture with his cows - so of course, I did! This was taken right across the street from the Iyengar Yoga Institute.

Look at this cutie! Our apartment came with its own special friend, and a major guilt trip. The ladies who were renting it before us were feeding this young cat... and he (or she) has become totally dependent. He is constantly outside our door, crying and crying and crying. It's especially sad, because he is very sweet and trusting, but cats have a difficult life in India. Unlike the dogs, you don't see many cats, and people here almost never have cats for pets. We have made the tough decision not to feed the cat, but we do let it in and play with it and cuddle it. Luckily - for him and for us - he is a clean and healthy little guy so far... and an absolute purr monster. He especially loves playing in the mosquito net on my bed. ADORABLE!

Here is one of the countless dogs of India. I befriended this sweet pup at a temple yesterday. I was taking his picture when he jumped up to come in for some scritches and snuggles. I am so grateful to my friend Geraldine, and I think of her constantly. Last time Musty and I came to India, we came to visit Geraldine and her family. Geraldine is a fellow dog & animal lover, and she taught me that it was okay to pet the street animals. Last time it took some time for me to get used to the idea, but this time around I'm all about the loving snugs! You all know how much I love dogs... on the one hand it is a joy to see so many sweet faces and wagging tails. On the other hand, unfortunately, you also see many dogs in a various painful states - hairless with mange, broken legs, limping, starving, bony, bony & nursing... it can be quite difficult to see. It helps to think of our own little brigade of rescued furries at home, who have been spared from this suffering. And it also helps to give a nice little pat! And then, of course, I get out the hand sanitizer, or wash my hands. Don't worry!

This is the view outside my bedroom window. I guess you can't see well here, but there are chickens and goats in this picture. Across the wall from our apartment complex is a pretty well-off shanty town. There's a lot of nice activity going on over there, day and night. I made a list the other day of all the sounds I was hearing. I don't have it with me now, but it went something like this: chickens, goats bleating, dogs barking, children playing, people calling to each other, metal dishes clanking together, pigs squealing, crows squaking, mopeds and auto rickshaws... It's such an amazing orchestration. In India, the phenomena of *life* is inescapable. I love that.

A Few Notes

2008-01-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends!
Two days in a row! Still no pictures, but I do have a plan. Hopefully I can get some for you soon.

Something funny we've all noticed in class is the total free-for-all atmosphere. If you get up to pee, you might well come back and find "your" spot taken - someone else will be happily doing yoga on "your" mat with "your" props. It's funny how surprised we all were by this. We tend to have such a proprietary relationship with our props during class - "my blanket" "my block." In a way, this communal, take-what-you-need approach is quite refreshing, once we get used to it!

The studio is totally stocked to the rim with props. The room is shaped like a half moon, the walls are covered in photos of Mr. Iyengar doing glorious postures, statues of Patanjali & Shiva, photos of Krishnamacharya (Mr. Iyengar's teacher)... it's a busy but wonderful selection. The corners and the whole border are piled with countless benches, wooden constructs, bars, poles, blocks, cut of wood, blankets, mats, weights, straps, many different pillows... It's fantastic to see all the different ways that people put these props to use during their practice.

Each day (except Sundays) we have one class (2 hours) and one practice session (2-3 hours). The practice sessions are quite interesting. Everyone is quiet and focused and there is a lovely feeling of shared intention and intensity. There are props everywhere and it's very inspiring to see every one else practice. There are people from all over the world, and of many sizes and ages. From skinny to positively rotund, from youthful to quite ancient. All yoging away!

--

Tonight, after practice, we took a stroll through the park across from our house. How lovely! I look forward to many more walks there. It's not huge, but it's big enough, and it's well used by the neighborhood folks. There's a playground for the kiddos, and all ages walking around the pathways. There is a meandering path with benches, and also a quicker pace path for those who want to work up a sweat. The trees are FILLED with super noisy birds. Just on the other side of the park is a lovely little set of roadside stands and a sweetly maintained Ganesh temple. My roommate Jen and I wandered in right in the early evening and were literally entranced by the temple. The caretaker was sweeping, turning on the lights, and the music was playing... We just stood there for about 5 minutes before we realized any time had passed. Nightfall is a beautiful time in India, as all the little booths and stalls and temples light up and begin to sparkle.

love to you all

At Last!

2008-01-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

Well! I had no idea it would take so long to get up and running with some internet action, but here I am at last.

What an incredible journey. I am just amazed by how much I love India. I can't stop smiling. It feels so peaceful and natural to be here - even with all the chaos, smog, honking, trash and noise!

We spent our first few days out in the countryside at an Ayurvedic Retreat. There, we received two treatments per day (massage mostly), two hours of yoga in the morning and again in the evening, and enjoyed amazing Ayurvedic food - specifically prepared for each guest's constitution/dosha. Wow. It was so beautiful and serene there. We were situated in the hilltop, looking out over a big lake. The trees were full of birds i'd never seen before - singing and chirping from sunrise to sundown. Such an incredibly peaceful place.

The countryside of India is just amazing - kids playing, cattle with their horns painted in brilliant colors, women with giant bags of rice or jars balanced on their heads, animals everywhere, red dust, plants growing everywhere.... i just keep thinking "I love India!'

Now we've come into the city of Pune, where things are much noisier and more chaotic, but just as fun. There's so much activity! Mopeds with 3 or 4 people crammed on, autorickshaws buzzing and honking everywhere, skinny dogs sleeping in the sun, beautiful faces, women in saris with hard hats helping with construction sites, and a dingy little Cyber Cafe packed full of indian folks!

As I type, the room is full of men, kids, girls, all using their computers. The storefront is an open facade, facing out into a dusty street full of non-stop honking, cars, autorickshaws, pedestrians, bikes, dogs and more. it's a wonderful display of everything-at-once.

Today we had our first class at the Iyengar Institute. We woke up at 6 am, in the dark, and walked a short distance to the institute. Our class today was with Prashant, Mr Iyengar's son. It was an amazing class, and quite gentle compared to our worst fears. Apparently those fears will be realized tomorrow when Geeta, Mr. Iyengar's daughter will teach us. It is truly an amazing feeling to be in the practice room... a room filled with the vibrations of years and years of the inspiration, aspiration, and effort of countless yogis before us. It's awe-inspiring, and silencing. Of course we are all very much thinking of our dear teacher Kofi and all the time that he has passed here in pune.

Immediately following class is our practice time, another 3 hours for us to practice whatever we please. This is a very special time, because Mr. Iyengar also comes in and practices. We were truly speechless when we first saw him walk in yesterday. We had gone to the institute to register an receive our class schedules... When we went up to see the practice room, in walked Mr. Iyengar himself. What a presence. Watching him practice, at age 90, is truly amazing. Yesterday he walked in, took off his robes, and popped right up into a long headstand. !! What an inspiration.

The temperature here is delightfully hot. Not oppressive, but hot indeed. Just that sort of temperature that permeates completely. Wonderful for yoging.

We have the rest of our afternoon off today, so we'll move into our apartment and take some time to get settled. It does get old, living out of a suitcase night after night. Then I suppose we'll hunt down a nice spot for some dinner...

Our landlady has already invited my 2 roommates and I to her brother-in-law's son's wedding on the 19th. What fun!

I am hoping that from here on out, internet access will be easier and more often, and that I will be able to share thoughts and reflections more readily. And hopefully we'll find a place where i can also upload some pictures!

Welcome to my travel blog!

2007-11-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!
I'll be taking off on December 26th, early in the morning. I'm flying alone and then meeting up with some friends once we are all arrived in Bombay (aka Mumbai). We'll spend our first week in India adjusting. A few days at an ayurvedic spa (sounds nice!), and then we'll head over to our final destination - a city called Pune. We'll get the lay of the land, figure out where the Iyengar Yoga Institute is, and such. We start classes (and move into our apartment) on January 1st. So, be sure to check back and read about all my yoga adventures. Here's to five weeks of gastrointestinal harmony!

:) Amey