I made the mistake of not sleeping on my first flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur; which was an 8 hour flight. Instead I gorged on 3 movies; Suicide Squad, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and Morgan, sat in priority seating with all the leg room a short little lady like myself could want but not really need, and ate the packaged cookies that came my way during our scheduled snack breaks. I flew Malaysian Airlines and have to say, I was very disappointed with the friendliness of the airline staff. They were not very pleasant and had attitude the entire time. It was also the first flight where water wasn't constantly circulating around. Anyways, I landed in Kuala Lumpur and had a 2 hour layover, where I desperately searched for bottled water - Starbucks came through to the rescue.
I boarded the next leg of my flight at 10 PM and attempted my best to sleep during the 4 hours in route to Bengaluru. I slept OK - but was starting to become a bit delirious given my body was operating on Sydney time for the past month. I arrived at 11:30 PM into Bengaluru and proceeded to make my way through immigration, visa, customs, and a Zika screening. I must admit that the staff at the airport was the furthest from 'friendly' I had encountered in a while. In comparison to the abundance of hellos and genuinely happy people in NZ and Oz, this was a shock. Nobody wanted to point me in the right direction, add the language barrier into the mix, and couple that with a jet lagged American, and the result isn't always pleasant. I did my best to remain calm, probably helped that I was in a zombie like state, so I was mildly subdued. After a million and one questions later, I had my passport stamped, Zika check complete and I was on my way to find my driver to bring me to Mysore. For some reason I was under the impression that the drive from Bengaluru to Mysore wasn't very long, well it took 3 and a half hours. I can't even begin to tell you the state of delirium that I was in upon arrival to the school. I must've looked haggard and white faced, and who knows what other attractive traits one could use to describe a lady who had been traveling for well over 20 hours and had been awake for close to 30. The two gentlemen that checked me into my room were so sweet and accommodating, I am forever grateful for their assistance with my baggage and for getting me to the school safely. I've got to tell ya, when I first got into the cab and we left the airport what catches you off guard is the constant, nonstop honking of horns. Honk, HONK, Hooooonk, Beep beep, Hook ... seriously, I was like WTF is going on, why is everyone so angry and honking while driving. It dawned on me after about 10 minutes that when you pass another person or come to a yielding intersection you honk as a courtesy to let other drivers know you're there. So now it made sense, but I still had another 3 hours of horn honking before getting to Mysore. I also was shocked by the amount of traffic on the roads between the hours of 12:30 AM and 3:30 AM. Everyone was out and about!
We stopped just outside of Mysore so that my driver could get a quick Chai. While waiting he was chatting it up with 20 other men all doing the same thing! Mind you, this was all happening at 3 AM, no big deal just gonna stop and meet my mate for a quick chai was all I was thinking. The best part of the drive was the Indian radio stations, the sounds were beautiful and quickly put my mind at ease. Just imagine your favorite chant, prayer, or savasana song and let the sweet sounds woo you into slumber. That was the one part that felt familiar and soothing after the long day.
I got settled into my room, boiled some water for drinking, and hit the pillow hard. I don't remember dreaming, but I woke up around 8 AM. I forced myself to get up and start moving so that I could adjust to my new time zone. I made French press, ate some peanut butter, and unpacked my luggage.
Home for the next two weeks - Mystic School
Meet India aka Indie!
Mid morning I got into contact with a fellow yogi Peg and her daughter Meghan who are also here in Mysore studying with Sharath this month and headed to their home. They recently adopted two stray puppies - they are adorable! They found a litter of 5 puppies in a heap of rubbage on the side of the road. How sad to think that people just discard puppies like trash. Peg proceeded to tell me the stories of how the children here kick and throw stones at the dogs. If I weren't heading to Goa in two weeks and was flying directly home from here, I'd be brining back a little pup with me too! We strolled down to Santosha Cafe for a lovely breakfast and sat community style with a handful of other Ashtangis also practicing at KPJAYI this month. I enjoyed a lovely espresso, scrabbled eggs and millet toast with ghee and jam! Afterwards Peg and Megan showed me around the hood a bit, we went and hungout at their place and gave suggestions on where to buy goods and where was safe to eat. I headed back to Mystic school mid afternoon to relax for a bit. Some of the sights along the walk below.
Ganesha Temple
Street Vendor shops along the walk
My jet lag and lack of sleep started to kick in, so I decided to get some fresh bananas and oranges from the lady on the corner. Did you know that here in India it is offensive to pay with your left hand? This is because it's commonly considered the hand that wipes your ass ... therefore making it offensive. FYI folks, be sure to pay with your right hand to keep the peace. I walked to Depth N Green after the fruit stand to get a coconut milk chai tea. It was delicious and the perfect little spot to people watch and relax in the shade from the hot afternoon.
Chai from Depth N Green in the afternoon sunlight
Depth N Green
I'm now back and relaxing and heading to bed soon, I've been listening to the neighborhood and can hear a variety of sounds, ranging from the cow that's my neighbor, a group of children playing, the sounds of a man chanting, and tunes playing from the local rooms within the school. Ah India, thamks for welcoming me. It's about 5 PM here and I cannot wait to get up for an Ashtanga practice in the morning, my body has been craving it. Needless to say that's all for today.
Neighborhood cow