2.2.08

In Mysore

Who would have thought that I would be in Mysore, one place I always wanted to visit to pay my respects to Guruji.

The journey itself was funny, as everything in India can be! After saying goodbye to my lovely Robin at Peacocks in Kovalam Ayalet, Sassiya, Paul and I got into our taxi with at least 10 items of luggage and started to head up the steep hill of Peacock Hotel. The driver was mumbling something to Paul which he didn't understand and I just told him to ignore it, but it turned out that as the beginning of the hill was in sight he said "you walking 2 minutes". Well, it was better than having to push the car I guess, so we all got out of the taxi and walked up the steep hill at 6.30am, morning exercise some would say! By the time we reached the top we were all huffing and puffing…

Airport was just another experience as Air Deccan only allowed 15kg luggage per person and the 4 of us had 70kn in total so we paid some excess (thank god it was only 700rupees which is approx £9)…After drinking some disgusting coffee at the terminal and stuffing our faces with goods full of sugar and additives we actually saw the propeller engine aircraft, which made Ayalet a little nervous perhaps. But the flight was pretty jolly; it was good for me to catch up with Paul as we hadn't spent much time after Goa.

Then of course there was the long 4 hour drive in a taxi from Bangalore to Mysore, with all the cities given a special names like "sugar state", "heritage state" and so on…We did of course stopped at a coffee day for a quickly boost of caffeine and spicy samosas. It was also a bit of an eye opener to travel with Michael and Dalia. I wondered what the celebrities of yoga world would be like, there was definitely tension when they checked in as they were also 10kg over their luggage allowance, then Dalia making a deal of not wanting to squat in dirty airport toilet and in general being a princess. When will I learn to be a bit more feminine and want to be taken care of??

Anyway, after having some lunch finally in Laxmipuram everyone but me left for Gokulam. Dalia was ever so sweet saying "Oz you are so brave, you really don't have to do this, why don't you come with us and stay in Gokulum and just take a daily rickshaw to Ajay's shala for yoga". I must admit that for once in my life I agreed with that as I felt pretty volunareble at a neighbourhood that looked grotty. However putting the brave face on and the couragious attitude I decided not to judge the place so harsh but actually see what its like.

They safely handed me over to Ajay to settle and left. Boy I felt so lonely, amazing the emotions some things can bring up. It was the sense of being left at the nursery for the first time as a child and watching your mum walking away. But Ajay was very nice, and so was his friend Promote who kindly showed me some real s***holes with no natural light, bear minimum concrete floors and absolutely no character. So I took a room at a local Indian lady's house for 100rupees as I couldn't see much point to looking at more grottiness. Plan is to go to Gokulum tomorrow to look for a nice place, or at least start a real search as it may take a few days anyhow. On the other hand I met a lovely NY'er Elena studying art and religion and came to India for 6 months to explore. She's done some cool philosophy courses, lived with monks, did vipassana and Zen meditations. Pretty cool girl. We explored the local area together, ate at a local restaurant for 15rupees, and when we returned home met a Canadian girl called Daniela who is also doing yoga with Ajay. So after all I made friends at the nursery.

However I have developed the skill to observe my emotions well I think. I mean it was so uncomfortable to feel such abundance when saying goodbye to Lino and the group, then disappointment every time we saw yet another s***hole, and the urge to escape because of how difficult change is for me. Perhaps that is the character of my Taurean finally shining, I like cleanliness and comfort, I like socialising, I like steadiness and settlement. Yet there is a part of me who loves throwing myself in the deep end, venturing out, pushing barriers…But the bottom line is I cant live here, I have no desire to unpack my bag and I intend to find a nice home where I don't have to climb down some stairs outside to get to the toilet and the shower, where I have a little more furniture than just a bed and a chair, where I have glass windows rather than just bars…And with no electricity right now either at 9pm I am curled under my mosquito net, loving the fact I brought my laptop!

Let's see what tomorrow holds…I love India…

Oh one last comment, I don't know why but something kept creeping into my mind today during our long drive, what mother Theresa said "we're not here to do great things in life but do small things with great love"…No idea why that comes up so often these days.