22 November, Saturday
Greetings, y’all. Between studies and socializing, the week behind was very much full. Guru and I went to Puducherry for a day so he can discuss our school’s participation in the International Yoga Festival in January. He has about 100 participating students for the yogasana competition. I will be part of the workshop. We took the bus at night, arrived early morning, worked, then took the bus that same night, arrived in Bangalore early the following morning.
Pondicherry (also called Puducherry) shows much signs of French influence. The town is only four square kilometers with a canal separating the Indian side and the French. The latter occupies the water side (Bay of Bengal). It has four catholic churches. The bus station is one of the least appealing scenery with the most lung busting, relentless waft of myriad fowl odor. When we arrived, I saw an old man with no bottoms, barely standing, walking, motioning on the other end. I have not been able to shake it off my visuals. Two days I did not eat! It was raining there and within five minutes of our arrival, the tiny portion of exposed flesh on my arm was swarmed by mosquitoes. I had nine bites. That was the signal and the end of their invasion towards me. I was determined that I will not be their source of carbohydrates or protein anymore. Deet juice, here we go again.
The following day, we traveled to Danvagere for another function where Guru N was a special guest of Swamiji. Danvagere is about 6 hours train ride from Bangalore on the east side of the state. We missed the express train by 30 seconds as it was leaving, we tried to grab on the bars but we were shooed away. So we took the local train. It was so packed with locals with no seat to spare. I shared my seat with a couple of kids taking turns putting them on my lap and they all shared laughter with my clowning around. Guru N took some pics. Every time the train stops, vendors of all kinds hopped and dropped offering fruits, coffee, trinquets and Indian gourmet that I can not even pronounce (therefore I will not attempt to spell). Pendicants who are blind or with deformities that are so hard to visualize. It was so exhausting as we just went through a ride similar to it from the prior day and my mind was still grinding. Sadly, I left my yoga mat in the train. It was 20 minutes after we left the station when I realized I forgot my mat. I had to breathe through my loss for a few minutes, closed my eyes and applied the principles of detachment, a yogini’s niyama. It is not the mat that I could not part with because there are many to buy in Bangalore. It was my lack of satori that caused me my mat.
The ride to this town was early morning until noon. It was a chance to view the countryside away from Bangalore’s polluted air for awhile. Poverty, filth and litter are a given but other scenes were hectares of farmed lands with different crops including sunflower, laundry spread out on trees to dry, harvested rice for milling piled up in cones or loaf shaped stacks, women in their sarees and bangle bracelets balancing water jugs on their heads, cows in plows moving the earth, herds of goat and flock of sheep, coconut leaves served as roofs for nipa huts, abode habitats that resembles the Chaco Canyon ruins, dried up twigs and branches stacked up as reserves for fuel and every now and then, towers of electrical wires stretched throughout kilometers of open space.
Guru N is one of the most recognized Guru in the state of Karnataka and his country. His title Vishwayogi stands for universe. It is awarded only by the government of India and only the Yogi who has achieved all the knowledge of yoga is awarded the title. I do not know how many Vishwayogis there are in India but he said there were about 50,000 aspirants during the time of his appointment and he was the one who received the title.
Swamiji was welcomed and honored with what we call “a loud bang” with drummers, performers, marchers, spectators and women with the most elegant sarees and flashy jewelries. They all carried coconut and mala. It takes two weeks to tailor a saree so mine was not ready on time for the event. I wore my suit instead. I could not sit on the stage next to Guru N (LOL) but I was at the front taking pictures of the dances and observing the entire ceremony. Due to internet idiosyncrasies, I can not promise if the pictures I took will be uploaded but check anyways. Of course there is a yoga demonstration. Look for the clip as I will upload it as well.
Next week is Thanksgiving in US. Thursday, I will pray for all the turkeys (the live ones and the not so lucky ones). I wanted to do something meaningful here for my Thanksgiving. Guru N suggested that I sponsor meals for the orphans. I chose three meals for 80 orphans (one day). It costs probably less than one entire Thanksgiving meal there.
It is raining here today but other than that, not much to report so off I go.
Adhigama sukha.
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