One week, 5 days of practice.

The Pink House

India:

I've been in India about a week now and adjusting to my life here has been a process.  I was in Banaglore about a day prior to meeting  Natalie, and heading to Mysore.  I tried to go out and explore the area- hoping to get to a park that looked like a 15 minute walk from my hotel.  Turns out "exploring" is  not really a concept that is applicable to me in India.  I am unsure if it was the jet lag or the heat but I was immediately overwhelmed by roads.  Walking around requires a level of dexterity and attention that I have previously not applied to my strolls in the States.  I never found the park but I did find an open market- which is like the Laney swap meet on steroids.

Whoever wrote "it is not the destination but the journey" must have been living in India.  I had been forewarned about the roads here but I was not quite ready for them.  It feels like an experiment in implementing democracy; it is equal opportunity access for everyone; packs of wild dogs, goats, pigs, cows, pedestrians, cars, rickshaws, scooters, all struggle for a space on the lane-less road.  Cars and rickshaws speak a language of horns my non-native ears cannot understand, but when i'm riding around in a rickshaw i trust the drivers are fully fluent.  Rickshaws are awesome. Although we are constantly paying our tourist tax to ride in them' the amount we pay is still nominal at best.

Rickshaw view

There is trash everywhere. On our morning walk to the shala there are  often small fires burning trash.  At first I just thought  we were in a poor neighborhood and then I realized that I have been equating lack of waste management with poverty, but I've since corrected this notion.  Mysore seems to be actually a fairly wealthy city.  There are modest houses, mixed with huge mansions, and shanty towns  all on the same street.  When I commented on this Natalie said they are just "mixed income neighborhoods" - a practice that is unfortunately foreign to my city.

A Friendly Reminder

Me at the Mysore Palace

Other things: The last week has felt as though our surroundings have been dictating our trip.  Perhaps I am overly attached to my western ways but I feel like everything we do is the event for the day; getting wifi, finding a bathroom with a toilet and toilet paper, finding a place where we can eat a salad.

Signs are always slightly hilarious here.  I'm trying to only take pictures of the ones I find especially charming.  Language: for the most part communicating with people is fairly easy.  I usually get a different answer to my question but I have that problem even when speaking to someone in English.

We were inspired to create a yoga pose from this sign

 Everything moves at a different pace here. I've been feeling slow and sleepy- but i think energy  will come when I settle into a  routine.  Today, Natalie and I moved into a room in an apartment called the pink house rented to us by a nice man named Guru.  So far it is great.  It is much closer to the shala, so maybe we can get up at 5:30 instead of 5:00 am.  

Cute Guard Dog

Fancy floor in our new apartment

More to come about the yoga portion of the trip soon.