Blog?! What blog?

Blessing to you all,

Rebecca and I are settled in safe and sound…very happy to be back in Mysore. It was great to arrive to a house all set up. It takes a lot of energy to get to India and then just arranging for the basic things like drinking water delivery and gas for cooking can be complicated. The last sub-renter left the place spotless with flowers on the door and fresh food in the fridge. We were able to start right out practicing with Guruji and trying to get our body clocks turned around. Guruji seemed glad to see us…and our two pound-bags of Seattle Caffe Vita coffee.

In order to have a broadband connection to the internet, we had to put in a phone line into our flat which added a few days to the process. Not many use land lines here, everyone uses a cell. So, home internet connectivity it is kind of the last hurrah of the land line. I mean folks in a mud hut, no kidding, can go buy a phone and phone card and call their family in another part of India or the world for that matter. The cell phone is changing the world. You don’t need electricity (Coffee Day has phone charging stations in all its cafes) or phone wires. We read that Mysore was all wireless for the computer, but we are not sure what the hell they were talking about there. Anyway, we are sorry we have been so bad about getting the blog going, but getting the line in and doing actual work (yeah, we are working this year!) has taken up all our blog writing time. We can’t practice in front of Guruji and have enough fuel left in the tank to do much more.

We are having a wonderful time trying to learn everything again. I had to be reminded not to pay with my left hand yesterday. I had the product I was trying to purchase in my right hand and money in my left. Do over. We moved up to 5 am slot at the shala as a number of folks have gone. Not nearly the crowd of rock stars as last year. We think maybe a lot of people came for Guruji's birthday in July and are not here now. Our friends, Joey from LA, Rob and Jean from Australia left, so we moved into their spots, up by the men's changing room in the front row.

We know that there will be a break around Christmas and I have had some hilarious talks with Guruji trying to figure out which days the shala will be closed. We are going by train to Hampi for Christmas with friends Julie, Eva, and Robyn so we need to know when to book our tickets. Everyone has been trying to find out the shala schedule, and the rumors change daily or more. I took Robyn to the shala in the afternoon to buy a mat and Guruji was in his office so I went in and we were laughing so hard. He was telling me the schedule for the next week which for some reason just makes him laugh. Three days off for Guruji’s personal puja and then one class for everyone, then moon day, then day off and then he is going to visit his birth village and then we start all over next year. He has really been in a good mood. Manju is here and Sharath comes back on Saturday, so for whatever reason he has been super happy. And he looks so good; I think he is really feeling good. He has such a wonderful twinkle in his eyes.

Last week Guruji adjusted me for the first time, ever. He was doing drop backs with Rebecca and I was doing my back bends and then I heard some yelling far, far away. It was like a jet engine started up in my head and I went completely brain dead. He wanted to me to stand up from my backbend. We gave it two tries with a lot of yelling to get me to stand up and then more yelling about legs straight (wanted me to go to paschimottanasana) and a big squish. I was really worried about pulling him over or hurting him, but when it got too much he just let go. “Thud”, I was pathetic. Really.

If he comes by again I will try to use my legs more. I can't really remember doing anything but worrying that I was going to bring Guruji down or hurt his back. It was pretty funny for everyone else, or so I heard at the coconut stand afterwards. We are really working hard both on our practice and with work. Rebecca’s practice is going really well and she is dropping back well and is so close to standing up on her own. It is now just a matter of her doing it, it is all there. We are getting up at 3:45am then in bed by 7 or 8pm. After yoga we eat fruit salad and yogurt (curd) and then try to rest and get enough chia and coffee in us to get some work done before we eat again around 2 and that is our big evening meal. I over-heard a saying I like about drinking coffee and tea when you are tired after yoga, or anything, it went something like “Uh-oh, my fake wake is wearing off!”

I am styling on our friend Guy Waites' Honda Hero motorcycle, while he slaves away in London, I am working on riding wheelies. Rebecca has a brand new Honda Activa four stoke scooter that is so sweet. Big leg shield, smooth as silk and fast! A very nice ride. So we both have great bikes this year, and that makes everything better as well.It is so different this time. Not having to run all around getting things is such a blessing. It has given us so much more time to enjoy being here, not setting up house. There are two green trees by the house that have some sort of delicious “pods” that attract four big green parrots every evening…they talk and eat the pods. Our new parrot friends are about 14 inches long, bright green with light blue tails, red/orange beaks and a tiny white collar around the neck. I just love watching them and they really make a lot of noise. Just seeing a bright green parrot fly by thrills me. I can’t explain it.

Sadly both our dogs are gone. Tonguey and Piddles, perhaps they have found new homes and moved somewhere else. Or perhaps not. This is a tough place to be on the street, person or animal. I am trying not to get so attached to dogs this year. That made last year hard for me. I have one kind of wild friend, “Skipper” who is super spooked of me. He is kind of an old rough neck, and though I can’t pet him, he will eat the food I leave for him.

One of our best friends here, Krishna, passed away from a heart attack. He died just after we left last year but we didn’t hear the news until recently. Krishna was one of the first tailors to kind of hook up with the shala and make clothes for the yogis that came to see Guruji. He was a wonderful soul and only 42 years old. So, we finally got up the nerve to go back to Krishna’s shop and meet his brother Lokesh. Lokesh is running the shop now and has the same wonderful smile. He is helping take care of Krishna's wife and two kids, as well as his own wife and two kids. I had tea brought up and he got out a nice picture of Krishna, and we had a little cry. He is a sweet man as well. I will have some shirts made to support the cause, and Rebecca bought some handbags.. Lokesh promised that he does not smoke and is taking care of himself. He is 40. The work looks just as nice, I guess he was a tailor at a shop in the city before he came to Gokulam to take over Krishna’s shop. But we miss our sweet friend.

Here is a little mental imagery for you:

Imagine, if you will, a turn of the century train station filled with louts of every kind, 500 people, lots of yelling, weird old trains, horse drawn carts, rickshaws and an impossible to find room…just down there…filled with benches. Each seat numbered from 1 to 50. In the front of the room, is a counter with four clerks behind glass. The glass, of course is completely filled with all sorts of instructions and warnings and posting of all types and ages. Everyone waiting has a form in their hand. But forms don’t seem to be available anywhere. No, that is a different office. And a different office would also tell you what to put on the form because first you have to find out if the train is available before you sit on the benches. Once with form, you would sit on the last available seat number and each time a clerk became available everyone would move up one seat number. Musical chairs! When you turn does come, of course you are at the wrong counter and have to go to the back of the line at a different bench. Each second, someone will burst into the room and seeing these single person counters, (not the norm) run to the counter and thrust their hand and form and money in at the clerk while the bench people hiss and yell and the astonished person then turns to looks at amazement at all the people waiting, sitting in line, without the typical rugby scrum of most Indian queues. When I finally found myself at the correct counter with the correct forms an old man tried the scrum squeeze on me, and not being my first time here I gently, but firmly widened myself out until his little scrawny arm pulled out of the hole in the glass and he was hissed back into a seat. I got off lucky, only took an hour or so. Our friend Eva spent all day buying some train tickets. Really changes the old internal busy busy clock to go to the bank or the train station. Good fun, as long as you know it is coming, it is really amazing. I try to have my day pack with water and my book, or I just try to relax watch the show and remember where I am and how fabulous it all is. And it really is wonderful and amazing. It is hard to express the levels and layers of old and new, filth and beauty, rich and impossible poverty that are all swirling together.

Guruji has given us his blessings and seems pleased about our trip to Hampi since it is one of the most important holy sites in Southern India. We wanted to go last year but it just got too hot by March. We leave the evening of the 24th and arrive Christmas morning. It is said to be amazing and has been a holy or magic spot forever. Here is a link or two:

http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/

And here are some great pictures:

http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/hampi/

The train ride is going to be wild, everything else will just be gravy. We will post more soon, with pictures of our trip. Wishing you and yours happy holidays, Frank and Rebecca