My India

I’m now half way through my one month yoga course and I am seeing a lot of improvement although it doesn't get any easier; my legs are still shaking like the first time I did yoga. But they say the postures do get tougher when you start to get all the corrections right and all the muscles activated, so I blame it on that.

Summer is coming for full and the days are getting very hot, it is reaching 40 degrees. Never have I wanted an ice cold can of coke and a swimming pool more.

Because of the heat I can’t really do much during the day and Pune is inlands so there’s no beach (poor me) and for some reason all the nice hotels don’t let non-guests use their swimming pools. So daytime is mostly spent inside next to my dear friend the fan!

I’m not normally a morning person but as I’ve been getting up at 5.50 for yoga class I’ve come to like it; first of all it is so nice and cool, and second it is the only time you will have a chance to find some peace and quiet in India before all the honking starts; at least as quiet as it can get in a country with more than a billion people.

There’s a tiny little park next to where I live and every morning it is full of people doing their daily exercises; some is meditating or doing yoga, others doing their daily sit-ups and push-ups and others walking round and round in the little park. I love how the women are wearing the most beautiful saris together with massive chunky trainers for their morning walk. Maybe I will bring my camera one morning.

I’ve decided to get out of my comfort zones. I find it too easy to always take the simple solution, such as getting into a rickshaw to take me straight where I want to go or just order whatever I know is safe on the menu. So now I have decided to always ask people for advice! It really makes a difference to the whole travel experience; I get to talk to more people as well as I learn more about the culture. And maybe most important, if I want to take someone’s photograph I simply ask! There are so many times I’ve regretted not getting a picture of someone so now I ask every time I have the opportunity. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no or the photo turns out crap but at least I have tried.

One thing I’ve realized is that my sense of direction is even worse than I thought, or that would say I’ve got none. I keep thinking that this is the right street but I always end up coming out from exactly the opposite direction of what I thought I would. Or I am 100% sure I’m walking in a straight line for only to end up at the same place as I started and realize I have walked in a circle. Although my mission is to ask people for help, asking for directions are not always the simplest thing to do over here; in most cases I find myself being directed up and down the street a few times before I finally meet someone who knows where I’m talking about (and speaks English). It is funny because most people seem to want to help so instead of telling you they don’t know they will just point in one direction, but I have plenty of time anyway and no need to rush. In a way it makes it all a bit fun because I never know where I end up.

It seem to me that a lot of people have a love-hate relationship with India; some come here once and say they’re happy to have seen it but they would never go back, while others just keep coming back and back. I’m not sure what it really is about India, but I like to say you never know what to expect around the next corner; it always seem to be some kind of religious ceremony or festival on, a random wedding invitation, and of course there’s the odd cow with two extra legs (we asked and it was a gift from the gods, obviously).

Someone I once met said there’s no place she is happier than in India. To put it on the extreme she felt like she always had to be 100% present just to be able to survive; no time to think of anything else than just being. You always need your head with you and simple things such as crossing the road can be quite an art. No matter what you do don’t panic! My instinct tells me to run but after looking at locals I’ve found out the best way to do it is to walk slowly so the cars know what you’re doing and then crisscross in-between the cars and the scooters. Easy!

For some reason things do seem to be a little more complicated in India than other places. One example is the mall close to where I live; the grocery shop is on the top floor at the mall and before entering you have to get your bag checked and then put inside a see-through bag that will be sealed until you leave. There is two people at the cash counter; one who scans your items and the other asking if you would like a carry bag. After paying you have to see one security guard who will stamp your receipt and seal your carry bag, and when you get downstairs your receipt will again be stamped with an EXIT stamp by another security guard. I don’t understand why they do this as they do not check what is on the receipt or what is in your bag, I think it might be just to create workplaces. The first time I went there it got me on the wrong day; I was pretty moody about all the hassle and just wanted to get out of there, but I got myself together and they always smile when I go there and welcome me with a namaste so I can’t have been too bad.

Another one of my favourites is when I tell a rickshaw driver where I want to go and he says ”Baner road?”, I say yes. He says ”OK, Baner road” and I get into his rickshaw. Then he will say ”Baner road?!”, I say yes Baner road. “Baner road, Baner road, Baner road. Baneeeer road???” And I say yes (still) Baner road. And this goes on for a while before he says ”Ok, Baner road” and off we go.

I have seen a lot of misery and poverty travelling in countries such as India and Nepal and it is not always easy; it can be quite disturbing and depressing at times. There is constantly a lot of old and young beggars asking for your money, especially around the big cities and tourist places and it can be difficult not to give when you clearly see they are in need of it. But it isn’t encouraged to give to the beggars, especially not to children. You never know who actually ends up with the money and some of the beggars could actually go to school or work and being given money is encouraging them to keep on with the begging. The best thing to do if anyone wants to help is to give to a school, orphanage or a NGO for example; someone you know will use the money in a proper way to help as there is plenty of organisations that are working with for example getting street children into schools.

Because of the begging it is easy to start thinking that everybody wants money from you when you travel in India. But this is really a trap; if you start thinking like that you easily miss out on so many conversations and beautiful moments. The other day someone bought me an ice-cream and a bracelet just after talking to me for a couple of minutes; I keep reminding myself of this all the time because the majority of the people really just want a couple of minutes or even just say hello. I’m doing my best to meet everyone with a belief that they just want some of my time, which they can have plenty of, and I soon enough realize who’s only after money. I’m not saying I always manage this, but at least I do my best. There’s been many times I’ve caught myself in thinking “I need to get away from this person because he/she will ask me for money” and all he or she wanted was just to say ”Hello! What is your name?” or shake my hand.

 

But even though there is a lot of poverty in India there seem to be even more happiness and life; even inside of the Dharavi slum in Mumbai (where Slumdog Millionaire was filmed) there was so much laughter! They really do seem to appreciate what they have more than what we ”westerners” do. And I have never been to a country as colourful, charismatic and fascinating as India. I would say you get a long way with a big dose of patience and some humour. I love little things such as being greeted with a big smile and a ”Good morning, sir!!” at 5pm. 

(all these photos are taken on my last year's trip to India)

Sorry Dog, but I'm not scared of you...

Yoga

I have to admit I got a little nervous on arrival in Pune when the driver didn’t turn up and I didn’t have a contact number or knew the address of where I was going - standard me! But somehow everything seems to work out and it turned out the driver was just 10 minutes late so I arrived safe in Pune and I’m now on my 8th day of the yoga course.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to write anything about yoga as I’m still fairly new to it, but I thought it is a part of what I’m doing here and I’m learning so I might as well share some of it.

People keep saying to me that I must be really flexible since I’m doing yoga, but believe me I’m not. After playing soccer for 10 years, horse riding for a few years and tried everything from basketball to karate and never stretched properly, I probably don’t have to tell you how stiff I am. But now, after just over a year with regular practice I’m finally seeing improvements in myself; I’ve gone from not being able to touch the floor while standing with straight legs to suddenly put my whole hand on the floor! Of course it doesn’t have to take that long time as we’re all different. But even so it doesn’t really matter because it takes exactly how long it has to take.

The yoga they are teaching here is called Iyengar yoga, and after trying a few different styles I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the way to go (for me anyway). B.K.S Iyengar developed this form of yoga from the classical yoga described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. The special thing about Iyengar yoga is that they are very focused on the technical parts to prevent injuries and to correct body alignment. They use props such as bolsters, blocks, belts, ropes and blankets for you to go in to the positions in the safest possible way; it is designed so anyone can practice, regardless of age, physical strength and flexibility, as every position can be adjusted to your own body. And that’s the whole thing; you really don’t have to be flexible to practice yoga! In fact I remember one of the instructors at the studio at home said that balance, strength and stability are all a lot more important than being flexible, which suits me very well.

I’ve been to classes in India where they pretty much sit on you to get your hip-bones opened, but it seems like in Iyengar yoga you get flexible through building strength and from there you can push your knees down etc. For us who hasn’t grown up sitting cross-legged it will probably not come natural to put our legs in lotus position straight away; it takes time and patience. But then again it feels so much better when you finally can.

My teacher here, Gulnaaz, teaches daily at the Iyengar institute as well as running her own studio (the studio in the pictures above, this is also where I’m having classes with her). Most days it is one-on-one classes but I’ve also been joining the general class and it is so cool because there are people from the age of 12 to around 70. Age really doesn’t matter in yoga!

The great thing about having one-on-one classes is that I really get to work on the things that are specific for my body. Gulnaaz has been practicing yoga for about 20 years and having been trained by B.K.S Iyengar, Geeta Iyengar and Prashant Iyengar she is an absolute perfectionist (in a good way)!  She knows exactly what to look for and she is a fantastic teacher; I have learnt so much in the week I've been here. After my first class I was told I have ‘de-formed’ calf muscles (ha-ha) and uneven shoulders; the way I’ve used my muscles when playing soccer and everything else is apparently the reason for this. Especially my left leg will not do what I want and Gulnaaz is pretty much punching my calf muscles to help me use the muscles in a controlled and correct way. And she notices every single thing I do; if I loose focus on something she is there straight away; “Tighten your calf muscles, roll your thighs in, tailbone down, shoulders down, head in the centre, lengthen your spine!!” Who said yoga is all about stretching and incense?

The Iyengar institute is only 5 min down the road from where I’m staying, and yes I have been walking up and down the road quite a few times in hope of getting a glimpse of the man himself. Not looking creepy at all walking around with my camera….

B.K.S Iyengar will be 94 years old at the end of this year and he’s still doing headstands, shoulder stands and backbends. And he is of course still teaching! The best of all is that he is supposed to be a great person.

This is the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute. This guy told me I couldn't take photos, but it was ok as long as he got to be in it. I ended up leaving with his address and a promise of sending him the photo.

It is funny how things sometime turn out; I used to be anti-yoga (and anti-sushi) and thought it was boring and only for wannabes, but after two of my very good friends convinced me to join them for a class it has become one of the things I love the most. I could go on and on about how good yoga is for you, but as many of the yoga teachers I have met say; yoga will come to you when you’re ready for it. 

I've been playing around with some pictures I took earlier this year in Sri Lanka:

My apartment in Pune

Here's some pictures of where I live at the moment. Pretty cool, huh?

Being original

Last week my favourite author Paulo Coelho posted this beautiful quote on his facebook page:

The best way to be original is to be yourself.

It made me think of this photo I took last year in Jaisalmer, India.

The Golden Temple

   The Golden Temple was amazing! It is also know as the Harmandir Sahih, which I think mean the temple of God, and it is the holiest temple for the Sikhs. The temple itself lies in the middle of a holy pool with a walkway around it surrounded by big white marble buildings. A local told me that the temple is covered in 300kgs gold; it really stands out in the middle of the white buildings. Before entering one of the four gates you need to leave your shoes, wash your feet and cover your head as a way of showing respect.

    I spent hours just walking around looking at people and taking everything in before I actually went into the temple. I am fascinated over how engaged they are in their religion; everyone is doing something, either it is to take a bath in the holy lake, take a sip from it and put water over their heads while they pray, or just simply sweeping the floor to help keeping the temple grounds clean. I love watching little kids kneeling down together with their parents to put their heads on the ground in prayer.

    I remember once in Nepal I was walking behind a woman and her two children; suddenly the little boy let go of her hand and stopped in front of a small temple next to the road and said a prayer before he ran after his mother to grab her hand again. I don’t think he could have been more than 5-6 years old. You don’t see things like that often in the “western” world.

    To enter the temple you have to line up, or that will say, the second time on my way in a foreigner told me that foreigners can enter through the exit and skip the que, but it just didn’t feel right walking to walk past everyone else.

    Walking around inside the temple someone grabbed me by my shoulder and introduced me to an old man sweeping the floor dressed in white. I was told I had to bow down and touch his feet. I couldn’t really understand who he was, all I understood was “good man, good man”. And I guess that is all that matters so I bowed down to touch his feet. It was probably to the amusement of the 40 or so Indians watching.

 

  The temple is covered in beautiful golden patterns on the inside walls and carpeted floors, and in the middle of the first floor is where they keep their holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, which contains writings and hymns about how to best live your life and how to follow God. I’m not sure what the Sikhs call their priests, but I guess they are some sorts of holy men; and the first floor is where the holy men sit reading and singing from the book; this is played continuously all day over the speakers around the walkway outside. It is almost like a magical experience being inside the temple; there’s people sitting around on the floor; some with their eyes shut, smiling and listening to the prayers by the holy men, and others holding their own little example of the book and following the readings.

   Every evening the Guru Granth Sahib is brought from the temple to put inside one of the white buildings and it is brought out again in the morning. I went to see the evening ceremony when they carry it out from the temple. When I got inside the temple everyone had to sit down to listen to a reading before they started wrapping the book up in what I assume was silk covers. It was even carried out on a stool like a queen would have been carried!

    The stool was decorated with flowers, which I think was offerings from the same day, before they carried the holy book out. When Guru Granth Sahib was placed safe inside the building for the night, they passed around the pillows it had been lying on so everyone could touch it.

    Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get up for the morning ceremony (it is at 4.30am!!), but I guess that leaves me with an excuse to go back… 

I had them all posing for me!

    Even though the evening ceremony and everything else was beautiful I would have to say my favourite part was the Free Kitchen! This is a community kitchen were you can eat as much as you want, whenever you want, by a small donation (or for nothing if you don’t want to leave a donation).

   Last year in India I had a lot of stomach problems so it totally put my off Indian food for a loooong time, but I’ve decided to get over it and start eating Indian food again. I manned up and went to the free kitchen to eat like a local and I loved it. The difficult thing was to sit on the concrete floor cross-legged and eat with my hands without spilling! And at the same time trying to do this I had a bunch of people watching me while I ate. At the end someone told me I could put my plate on my lap instead of putting it on the floor like everyone else, but it was sort of too late then; I had already spilt a third of the green curry stuff over my pants. But who cares? The food was wicked and I did go back a second time. 

    The Sikh people have to be some of the most welcoming and accepting people there are; both the temple and the kitchen is open to everyone, it doesn’t matter what religion you believe in or not believe in. I read somewhere that the four gates surrounding the temple also symbolize this; people from all walks of life are welcome. And I did find them as very friendly and helpful people!

Nice street vendor outside the temple

Me at the Golden Temple!

    Last night I arrived in Pune, which is going to be my home for the next month while I have daily classes with an amazing Iyengar yoga teacher. I will post some photos of my apartment later this week; it is wicked! I have to get up at 6am tomorrow for my first yoga class so it will be an early night for me...