I’m sorry it taken so long to write this blog. I have this strong feeling that nobody really cares to read whatever I write. I hope that’s not the case. Let me know. Check out my pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/rrandor
Food for thoughtlessness
This morning I was invited to visit a friend’s workplace. She had arranged it with her supervisor. We met nearby and walked in past security at the gate and got about half a kilometer away when we were called back by the guard. He talked to his supervisor for a while and finally we were directed to the main gate. While we were walking to the main gate she told me that her director was from Tamil Nadu and had been hiring many Tamils. As a result the Karnataka people were upset and had staged an attack dumping ink (harmlessly but embarrassingly) on him, thus the extra security. During the stroll to the main gate I saw what a beautiful setting she worked in. It was an old palace with a large grounds much of it left wild, right in the middle of Mysore. It was gorgeous. She had been recently told the she was to be let go after working there for two years because of a lack of funding for her research and wouldn’t be able to finish her PhD. At the main gate it was finally decided that I was not to be let in to breach security! This was a food research lab! Were they worried I was going to steal the secret recipe for her egg sausage research? cya bureaucracy. When the director returns from a trip she’s going to ask again if I can visit.
smart phone
When I arrived in Mysore I bought an android smart phone both for safety reasons and because I thought that Google maps might come in handy. I’m extremely glad I did. The mapping app made a huge difference in my experience in India. I have no fear of going off in any direction any time day or night. I know I’ll be able to find my way and get back. In the past my way of navigating was at every intersection to ask a couple people which way to go. If they agreed I’d follow their advice otherwise I’d ask a third person as a tiebreaker. This assumes that they could understand my accent which was not always the case.
Now I can even negotiate with the rickshaw drivers because I know exactly how far the destination is. I can ride my bicycle and take back streets without any concern. I get to see a whole new side of India that I didn’t see much of in previous visits.
The phone is “unlocked” and has multiple frequencies which will allow me to use it in India, Australia and the US because they are all using GSM cellular encoding. It’s a dual Sim phone that allows me to take advantage of the coverage of two different providers.
Cell phone usage is so cheap in India. I paid four dollars for a Sim card and in a month and a half I’ve only used half of my minutes. We are getting so ripped off in the US by our cell and cable providers who give lousy service besides. The cable providers have monopoly power with no effective regulation by the FCC. The current FCC head appointed by Obama was a lobbyist employed by the cellular industry.
I also bought a great app called Sky Walk which interactively guides stargazing as you move the phone overhead. It’s something I know nothing about and really a kick. You can click on objects in the sky and get pictures and information about them.
Couchsurfing
I signed up for couchsurfing.com before I left for India. It’s been great. I land in a new city of 20 million people like Bangalore and immediately I’m with someone who can help me get oriented. It may not be as comfortable as a hotel but it’s much more sympatico. I did the same thing in Mysore and connected up with Dr. Annand and his wife. They have a room that is like a hotel room, clean and new where I stayed as a guest for a week. Then I decided to rent at a very decent monthly rate compared to other rooms that I saw. We’ve developed a friendship and I even play tennis with Dr. Annand on the weekends. And they’ve helped me get oriented in Mysore. They have two dogs Cleo and Dan that I have become friends with as well
My neighbor,Thamarai renting another room, is a techie programmer transferred here by his company. His hobby is developing an Arduino robot car.
The house is somewhat out-of-the-way in a very beautiful quiet part of town called Vijayngar so I bought a bicycle to get around. For Rs.1000 I bought a used bike, the only one I could find. You have to be confident of your masculinity to ride a pink women’s bike called Hero Queen. I put another Rs.500 into it to fix it up. I was charged all of Rs.50 (less than a dollar) to have someone weld a rusted spot!
I ride it at all different times of day and night on all different road conditions. I have a bright yellow backpack and flashing light so least I won’t be run down from behind.It blows me away to see Indian pedestrians walking 2,3 or even 4 abreast on very busy roads even at night. no visibility whatsoever.
The source of safety on the roads is that the road conditions are so bad that no one can go very fast. But the young kids on motorbikes dont seem to know that.
suburban unplanning
You can see pictures of where I’m staying on Picasa. It’s a nice area but across the street somebody put up an illegal four-story office block building! How the they got away with it in this upscale suburban area I don’t know. Dr. Annand gave a non-explanation explanation They must’ve paid the appropriate bribes. The only saving grace is that it’s never used; it’s been unoccupied since I got here in late January. The only person I see is the nightwatchman. At the other end of the street is the beginning of a small home where they apparently didn’t do right and the government came in and destroyed it. There are weeds growing up among the remains of the few brick walls. Another one of so many unfinished buildings you see in India; what a waste of resources where so many are homeless. In one of the upscale shopping districts that I frequent there is a large unfinished apartment building that I was told had been sitting that way for 17 years.
By the way you can see pictures of the mosquito net tent that I brought with me. I highly recommend it; very light weight and portable.
locksmith
when I moved in I had to make a copy of a key so I went to a local locksmith. Not like in the US where everybody has to have the blank for whatever unique key that you need made. Many of the keys in India are similar so he just grabbed a generic blank. He even had to make the grooves down the side of the key and then cut the the pins to match.
yoga teachers and yoga traditions
my first week in Mysore I did yoga at the Mystic school. It didn’t work out. It seems as though the teacher didn’t want to teach beginning students and me in particular although I was able to do everything he asked of me. I got a referral to Jamshid at mylifeyoga.in. I was very happy to make the switch. I didn’t like the attitude of the Mystic school Ashtanga teacher, either.
In the West the Patabi Jois school of Ashtanga yoga has become standard and it’s only an accident of history resulting from all the Western students who went to see him. At the same time that Patabi Jois was teaching there were many other yoga teachers doing the same style of energetic flow yoga, all also students of Krishnamacharia (sp?). like Patabi Jois.
Jamshid studied with some of those other teachers. He’s a young kid who doesn’t have any Western students beside myself. Mostly he works with Indian housewives and the like. But he’s very friendly and patient and works us pretty hard. He’s also amazingly fit and flexible himself. Says he’s been teaching for 12 years. Must’ve started when he was 12 years old! I’m just guessing. In the morning I work one on one with Jamshid doing the same routine each day. In the afternoon I do a group class which is different each day. Each class is an energetic “flow” yoga routine.
I think too much is made of the “ancient” tradition of yoga. Krishnamacharia had 20 some asanas that he started with. The rest he got from various sources including wrestling and even the British military. Iyengar, his student, lists some 200 asanas in Light on Yoga. It’s more what the individual teachers made of it. And more importantly what the individual student makes of what they are taught. Breath, equanimity, and awareness.
Shiva Rests
a couple of weeks ago there was a holiday. I was told it was supposedly the day when Shiva rests. Dr. and Mrs. Aannand got all dressed up and invited me and Thamari to go along and celebrate. First we went to a pavilion where we listened to a long spiel about the benefits of Raja yoga which is apparently quite big in India. I took pictures of some of the posters. I declined the offer at the end to be taught Raja yoga meditation.
Then we went to another site that seemed like a cross between a country fair and a traveling roadshow. When we arrived there was a magic show being performed on the main stage. The doctor and his wife immediately plunged into a tent where little Shiva lingam presentations were lined up and the crowd milled past. Each diorama complete with monetary donations seemed to represent a major Shiva temple elsewhere in India.
Afterwards we went to a roadside dosa stand where I got some pictures.
yoga stops traffic
Last Saturday I attended an event sponsored by Odanadi orphanage held outside in front of the Mysore Palace to raise money to stop human trafficking. The motto was yoga stops traffic. In the hot sun from 8 to 930 about 100 people of all ages including many of the orphans did the Ashtanga sun salutation 27 times. The number 27 is supposed to have some significance. I sat in the shade during the blah blah blah by all the speakers and then took pictures on behalf of a friend of mine who was an organizer for the event. I did my yoga work all week long and donated Rs.500 for the T-shirt so I figured I did my bit for the project.
I visited the Odanadi orphanage in Mysore with my friend a couple weeks ago and I was pleasantly surprised. There’s something like 80 girls and 80 boys living there. The kids I met seemed happy and healthy. The surroundings were quite nice with a lot of activities. Some of the girls were quite impressive yoga practitioners
goddess lecture
Last Thursday I went to a lecture on godesses in Hindu mythology by scholar and yoga teacher, James Boag. Its not a subject that I find intrinically interesting but he made it juicy. He talked about how all the godesses were various aspects of the “mother” which we all embody, and which if embraced can absorb our negativities. I dont buy it but interesting nonetheless! Always my thought is that if it worked we all would have been enlightened ages ago.
socializing
Saturday night I attended a party at the house of a Brit who is a resident of Mysore. She has these parties regularly on the weekends when Ashtanga practitioners take a hiatus due to a full or new moon (one of Patabi Jois’ strictures). It was nice; dancing and hanging out, meeting fellow yoga folks from all over the world. The folks I do yoga with mostly just say hello and leave it at that.
Ramesh Devu has arrived in Mysore and is practicing Ashtanga to get in shape for longer Vipassana courses. We have been hanging out some.
raptor in the city
I took some pictures of a variety of hawk/eagle that seems relatively common in Mysore. It was eagerly watching a couple of fish mongers descaling their prey. It was also chasing off the crows that were trying to horn in on the action. This all occurred at one of the parks of Mysore that I like very much near my yoga studio. Mysore is a relatively smaller city of parks and trees which makes it much more pleasant than many of the Indian cities I’ve spent time in the past like Mumbai.
crazy man
India treats their mentally challenged poor folks the same way we do in the USA. They wander the streets. I took a few pictures of a very interesting looking fellow who was harmlessly gesticulating and talking to himself. I dont know how he provides for himself but I assume he has some donors.
urban hazards and herbivores
As we all know the cows wander the streets of India as well. I photographed the timeless juxtaposition of cows and egrets (? ) amidst the modern clutter of plastic bags, baby diapers, cups, etc. Or the cows wander in the middle of the streets oblivious to massive traffic. I have the vain hope I am not eating paneer (cheese) from these cows. I limit my consumption of paneer.
In India everyone keeps their homes spotless and beautiful but the obligations seem to end once they walk out the front door. I don’t know if they don’t see or don’t care about the garbage clutter outside. The same applies to companies who have beautiful office buildings but between the building and the street or in the adjacent vacant lots it looks like a construction site/garbage dump and equally dangerous. You have to walk with your head down looking for cowpie and open sewage ditches that can break your legs. You read in the newspapers about people succumbing to these hazards.
sugarcane juice, coconuts and tropical fruit
One of the treats of India is fresh pressed sugarcane juice, coconuts and tropical fruit. I have sugarcane juice almost every day after my yoga workouts. I posted pictures of my dealer who works quite strenously turning the wheel of his manual press. On the opposite corner is my favorite fresh coconut stand. Nothing better than fresh coconut juice and young coconut meat. My breakfast is usually bananas and papaya. And I never have to eat the boring bananas we get in the US. They are available here but there are other much better varieties.
banking mistake
I had some anxiety for several weeks after I transfered a hundred times what I intended using my bank’s online billing system. The transfer was to a credit card provided by B of A which took its sweet time about transferring the money back. I couldnt use my checking account debit card in the mean time which charges no interest. The problem was due to a misplaced decimal point which ocurred cuz I was working in poor visibility conditions on my laptop. I couldnt believe my bank allowed me to transfer out 20 times what I had in the account. I was thinking that I should have transferred 20 million dollars and retired to South America but no….
Persian friend
I had dinner at the house of a Persian friend who is a fellow yoga student. She has a couple of daughters who are studying in India. Her husband died in a traffic accident and education is cheaper in India than elsewhere. They spent 30 years in Dubai where she ran a restaurant. They said Americans are well paid in Dubai and they will pass my resume along to family back there who can assess my opportunities. It’s an option I would consider but not a high priority.
the hobby place
I have been learning pottery making at thehobbyplace.in . Had eight two hour lessons. My mom would have been very proud of the results…if I had given them to her in the third grade. The instructor’s english was limited to “faster” “slower” so I didnt pick up the finer points. But I got the basics and some appreciation of the difficulties.
moving potentially
it’s getting hotter and the rains are coming so I might be moving to an apartment that I could rent that is closer to where my yoga is.
swimming pool hangout
Sunday I spent the day hanging out at the swimming pool at one of the local multi-star hotels. It’s a spot where Westerners typically go on the weekend. I can see why. There were a few Indians there that I played ping-pong with.