Construction Zone

Careful across the street; no hazard pay

I'm trying not to read too much into it, but I am fascinated by the remodel happening within view of the apartment. Almost transfixed, actually. I gave up trying to find the perfect metaphor or simile for what I am experiencing with my global daily life and how I see it mirrored on the small plot of land across the street. I wanted to get more pictures of it under it's stages of growth, but it seems to be a never-ending flow of tasks completed. The building began only one story tall until the hand cut and hand shaped re-bar supported new cement beams 8' up and the roof and stairs were propped by planks and poles. Hollow blocks replaced boards, more gridwork held more cement and then bricks, and then another layer of cement. Scaffolding steadied the project from the ground up in the signature hemp-and-stick style and also hung across chasms- above still running shops and cars and walkways and off of nearby second-story railings. Barred windows were set in fresh walls just as the bricklayers arrive to finish the facade; each skilled crew required and received. The water tank sits atop a new still drying platform, it's tubing cut to size and set alongside the new wall. More work is to be done, for sure, but it goes at a calm pace, through the heat and dust to it's accomplishment.

And that's how it is sometimes, I remind myself.
Sometimes it takes a while to see that you're getting somewhere, sometimes something is happening when it feels otherwise. Progress is seen by the footprints left down the path of the past. There is so much happening here and yet it seems unreportable, hard to wrap up and express what we do all day without mentioning the lunch and nap, and not feel like slackers for it. But things are happening. Rumors are spinning around town that we can't talk about, we've had trips switched and canceled, our practice has changed and plateaued, electrical power remains an elusive element. Our meter here ticks on just the same and we savor the world around us with every moment. It seems that there is still so much we want to do and yet the heat conspires against us. Even getting household supplies can become an arduous 95-degree hour long walk. Our studies have been solo lately; reading at home is cooler and cheaper than a class across town. Last night's brief rain spell was a welcome diversion to what will likely be a hot and dry five weeks, and a reminder of the weather of home, and seeing a baby goat today reminded me that spring will be waiting for me in April!
There is so much beauty here, so many goats and houses and flowers and people- it's hard to carry the camera everywhere and be in that mindset, to actively be a tourist and not live the experience, but I will try to capture more of the sights, like that baby goat.

Any requests? 

What intriguing things or scenes would you like to see?

aeryk

Coconuts, continued

A four-branch pile-up

Two days ago, a wicked western wind kicked up and the frail fronds were falling fast.

The local coconut street service came to assist our neighbors again. This time, there was no trunk scaling, no party truck, just a good old fashioned sickling. In their version, a sharpened steel crescent is tied to a 20' strip of bamboo. The ground man poked and speared then tugged and shred until the limb gave way only to snag on one of five power lines below. Including ours. The pro was able to clear two, but got hung up on the rest. With permission from the homeowner manging the whole situation from his doorway, he bagged three from the rooftop.

 

Go, go, Gadget Poleaxe!

The official moved down the road, but the work around the hood was far from over. There was still a huge pile of downed coconuts from the last visit, plus this fresh 'windfall' of fuel. The family sent grandma out front to split coconut shells for, like, five hours. they gave her a dull machete and a rock. After that, junior grabbed an axe and joined her for a couple more. This went on for two days. If you look close in the picture at the house on the left, you can see how full the eave already is, in front and along the side above the girl in the doorway. Today the family was stacking the hundreds of split husks and freshly cut 'firewood' in what little space remaining. They did this, of course, with a bamboo ladder poised precariously on the fence.

aeryk

The Hot Season Has Arrived

 

Shiva's Shade

The lovely lady that gives me ayurvedic massage put it like this: 

"Sivaratri (Feb15th) comes, cold is closed.  Now hot is here.  Hot is coming still March, April, May.   Then June, Mysore is crying (monsoon).  Mysore cries June, July, August."  

I almost wish I could be here to see it cry, because it is really really hot right now.  I know it could be hotter.  Today it is floating around 34 degrees (93.2f), tomorrow forecast for 35, but I would swear it feels like more.  My shirt is stuck to my back and every night this week I have tossed and turned praying for the coolness of dreams to overtake me.  We have ceiling fans to move the stillness but due to the on-again off-again power it's mostly not really happening.  I fall asleep when the power turns on my fan, awakening half an hour later when the heat is pressing down on me again.  Fortunately Sharath told us a few weeks ago at conference that sleep is overrated.  According to Sharath we all tend to oversleep and with more yoga we will find we need less.  He himself sleeps only from 9pm until 1am when he rises for practice.  He takes a nap for one hour in the afternoon, which he also recommends.   Count it up....he sleeps only five hours of every 24.  Why should I complain?  I must be a lazy spoiled American - I go to bed at 8 and rise at a luxuriant 2am.

I have never been so appreciative of the pre-dawn practice!  

(And of that cooling coconut oil massage!)

Vivian with Sunanda and Ana, Rooftop Massage Specialists

Vivian 

Seen Around Town

When we are not busy with yoga, chanting, reading, eating, meditating, or riding in a car out of town, we are walking to yoga or to James' place to chant or back to the Ashram for books or over the hill to Green Leaf for lunch or making our way back home from whence we came. My point being we get around a lot on foot. Here are a few images from some of these seemingly random outings.

 

You can click on any picture at anytime to enlarge. Here are a few examples of the 'houseplants' we see: 7' poinsettias blooming in February and this soon-to-explode flowering cactus, also well over 8'. 

The building under construction was smaller, and will become a three story monstrosity before they are done. As people's wealth increases they move to a bigger house, or build up by adding floors above. It is also common to see one story shacks right next to these private high- rises.

Below is an example of the lack of division of church and state: this beautiful gazebo-like altar surrounds a sacred tree adorned with serpent carvings, sacred imagery of Shaivite beliefs. This is in front of the local fire station.

Once the camera comes out in a public space though, everyone wants to get in the shot.

We were nearly mobbed by this class of boys after the first photo. Everyone wanted to be in the front row. 

Of course, no outing would be complete without properly disposing of our snack trash. The Happy Hungry Garbage Beast is all too eager to help!

 As always, more photos and moments are always on the way. 

Thanks for staying tuned!

aeryk

Adventures in Coorg

 

Imagine you are driving through the South Indian jungle at night.  Darkness has fallen sooner than you planned  in the depth of Nagarhole National Park. You were unable to resist stopping, again and again to view and

photograph the profusion of wildlife that seemed eager to pose right by the side of the road.  Looming in the beam of your headlights there is no confusing the sudden appearance of a wild elephant.  Nothing else could blot out the road, your only way home tonight.  As your car slows to stop, an intake of breath....there are massive forms looming on both sides of the road as well as in front.  You have driven right into the midst of a herd!  This was our situation last night, the culmination of a full and exciting day as only India can deliver.

The beauty of it all was that we awoke that morning innocent of the adventures before us.  February 12th this year, Sivaratri, is a special festival day throughout India.  We had originally had plans for a small trip to a neighboring state by train, but as often happens around here, our plans fell apart two days before.  Aeryk, not to be daunted, created a new itinerary for us to visit a special Siva temple in a nearby town, and we invited our friend Phillip to join us as we shared a post practice coconut at 6 am. Plan B turned into Plan C by 9 o'clock when my lovely landlady Shobha knocked on my door to announce she was taking us to her homeland, Coorg in her private car. 

The five of us spent our morning riding in the stately old Ambassador the bumpy roads to the coffee country, high up in the hills at the Karnataka-Kerala border, India's deep south.  Shobha and her driver, also a native Coorgi, wanted to take us on a "shortcut" through the wildlife preserve on our way to Irpu falls.  The falls we were told were special, sacred, and healing if we wanted to get in them.  In the near hundred degree weather, the idea sounded better and better as we traveled.  Nagarhole was amazingly beautiful - sunlit teak and bamboo forest riddled with animals.  Dhole (jungle dogs), a plethora of spotted deer, langurs, and massive gwar (jungle bison), were the first to greet us.  Shobha assured us we would stop longer on the way home, so we passed directly into the hills.  Lush "farms" of coffee trees intermingled with pepper trees and exotic flowers and shrubs as the understory of stately forest.  I ate my first coffee cherries, sweet and red, and collected some pepper to dry at home.

By the time we were able to climb to the falls, it was well into the afternoon and scorchingly hot.  It was sweet relief to climb into the lush landscape!  We passed a variety of happy looking damp pilgrims making their way down.  The falls themselves were a very welcome view, and the men quickly stripped down to jump in.  This being India, ladies get in fully dressed, so I prepared for my blessing in tank top and pants.  The falls themselves were deliciously pounding and cool, but nothing like the ice-baths of Washington state!  The locals were very friendly with us, but also did not swarm us for photos or to gawk (too much) at the crazy foreigners as is often the case.

Aeryk chills out for Sivaratri


At the base of the hill we visited an ancient temple for puja.  I think we all felt very pure by this point, or at least significantly refreshed!
Returning as we came, we almost overstayed our welcome at Nagarhole.  Evening being a very active buffet hour for wildlife there was almost too much to take in.  While we did not get to see any of the preserve's famed tigers, leopards, or any other cats, we almost saw too much of the wild elephant.  I read after our safe return that it is common for elephants to blockade the road at night and even to tip cars they come across, so  visitors are advised to leave before six.

 

Don't mess with the Gwar!

  Back in Mysore, extremely tired but happy, we were greeted by the joyous lights and sounds of Sivaratri festivities that ran late into the night.  Another perfect, long day in India.

vivian

A Word On Coconuts

 

When the pile gets big enough, it goes on the roof. 

Coconuts.

They are everywhere- lining the streets, in rows in the fields, even growing through buildings. From my apartment I can hear the occasional cartoon bonk of one hitting the street from twenty feet above. It's cute at first, but everything comes down. There are crews who maintain and harvest the street trees. They send a skilled climber up the tree, sometimes with a piece of cloth between his feet if he's new. He will use his machete to fell the fruit and dead or dying leaves. His partner will do his best from the ground to keep the population safe from shrapnel falling from above. When these coconuts land, it's either over a house, garden, car, or street. And when they bounce they are like a punted football- violent and random. Because of this and because a single man on the street will be ignored sometimes people or scooters are still hit. I've seen an officer file a coconut-related complaint. Later, a truck may come by for some of the husks. I have a set of pictures at the studio of such a vehicle. In between these visits fruit and leaves still fall. I sometimes hear a violent scraping/rumbling followed by a loud tha-whack! Down on the path most followed lie a ten foot section of solid coco-wood and even the leaflets are hard and dangerous. This week a lady was grazed by one that fell from our home's tree. Yikes! 

Now I always heed the advice of the PBS Star Hustler, Jack Horkheimer: 'And remember to keep looking up!' Some short time after a fall I will hear what sounds like water sprayed on aluminum siding in an echo chamber, that is to say the sound of one of these limbs drug off scraping down the road to be parted out like a Camaro. Everything gets used here, and in a country that doesn't have a Thriftway to get kindling at 3am everything freshly fallen is up for grabs. Our neighbors across the street have stacked this pile pictured for only a short while, they have however filled a whole rafter section designed for this purpose that wraps around the top of their house. Even our own landlady salvages and has deftly taken to a pile of coconuts with a machete. After having seen that I step warily out into the street, and pay my rent on time.

aeryk

Walk softly, and don't touch the Monkey...

 

Jai Hanuman!

Last tour, we were encountering Shiva at every corner. This time, our paths have been crossed again and again with the furry footfalls of Hanuman. The forshadow must have been in the form of the Hanuman picture David brought us from the old shala. Locally this started with an opportunity to sing with our musical friends the Hanuman Chalisa-- praises of the exploits of Hanuman, Kirtan style, but before that event even happened we found out about another set of opportunities across town. A youngish scholar from the UK and a student of M.A. Jayashree led us in a rousing chanting session featuring Hanuman. This was at a wonderful house just beyond the lake, and now gives us further excuse to go there, or at least through it. This was the call-and-response we have come to expect, but the leader was as welcoming as the group and it was easy to fit in socially and musically. He also offers Bhagavad Gita chanting and dialogue, which is a thrice weekly thing for the next week that he is in town. The group already covered the first two chapters leaving chapter three for our time together. It is nice to be studying a bit, more than just reading at home. There is some stuff offered through the shala, but it is not my learning style right now. In between sessions, we had a chance to hear Swamiji; a visiting swami Sharath's family is putting up while some ceremonies happen. He was one of Guruji's first students and is still close to the family. He spoke of devotion to practice, to self, to discovering what is the body and what is beyond. Basically the same stuff that the Gita and Upanishads have been telling me all week. But it was wonderful to get his blessings, and his take on our practices and how important it is for the whole world today. 

aeryk

Apologies

It has been brought to my attention that something I posted on the blog could be misconstrued to reflect negatively on my teacher David Garrigues and fellow student Katie Gehn.  I want to share my deepest remorse for my thoughtless comments.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I have the greatest love and respect for David.  He holds more of the spirit of Ashtanga yoga in his baby toe than I have in my whole body and I owe almost everything that is strong and good in my practice to him.  I don't know Katie so well, but I have practiced next to her and she is a very powerful lady with a beautiful practice.  She obviously has great devotion to this yoga as she managed to uproot her life and leave her three children at home while she spent time studying here.
My intention, obviously not well thought out, was in response to some requests from back home for form corrections - are there any differences here from what we are practicing in Olympia?  It's a little similar to how once was asked, "how are they wearing it in Paris this season?" now we ask "what is the current asana fashion in Mysore?"  It pains me extremely that I may have offended anyone, teachers, students, or friends.  Please accept my apology.  I will give more careful consideration in future to what I put out in such a public space.

Vivian

First-Rate Service in a Third-World Country

 

The Dell Vostro 1520; the most expensive thing we own and our link to the outside world.

This is more or less what you should have seen a week ago- a blog entry. That is for those just joining us what we refer to as Plan-A, which I should have seen coming with my own paislied third eye. Yes, the correct answer is somewhere between plan-D and none of the above. Right now we have internet access right into the laptop strung in through the bug-screened window, routed through a cable that is still downstairs yet originating on the roof, passing my window on it's way down the first time. On the roof, it bounces from foot-tripping height to laundry strangulation as it swings simian over two more roofs and a coconut tree before rising out of sight. It's no surprise then that it wouldn't take much for the system to go down and would take a while to sort out the problem. Despite territory issues, power issues, time-share issues, it came down to the bill not being paid. Yeah. It's paid now, and the modem is in our apartment. That should make things easier, until the power goes out, or the line gets snapped, or...

aeryk