"you must watch the people!"

well i'm currently on my 3 day journey back home.

alway/kochi
i took a general non A/C train to alway which is the airport outside of kochi. it took 6 hours and was splendid. i gazed out the open window the entire trip, nothing but rice paddys, palms, backwaters and pilgrims clad in black for sabrimala. i kept ordering coffee and chai from the constant stream of vendors. totally wonderful. probably the best train journey in the history of my travels here. who knew? rps67-that's about US1.30. 2 hungarian back packers asked me to share a cab, which was just fine. they were going to the domestic airport same as me and on their way to delhi/hungary. the girl-rita-was fed up with india and had a panic disorder. "i want to do yoga some day. will it help with my panic?" um, yes. crammed in a 3 week journey trips to delhi, agra, jaipur, jodphur, udaipur, varkala, and kochi. no wonder she is sick of it. all with a huge back pack. i prefer to snack on india and with a suitcase. anyhow, i thought she would have a heart attack on deccan airlines-the size of a large helicopter and with propellers. oh well.
i hung at the airport 4 hours busying myself with the internet cafe and bookstores.

bangalore
bangalore, as usual, is totally nice and comfortable. it's very east meets west fusion and hip. if i had to live in india, i might choose this city. i opted for a nicer hotel with a/c, tv, hot water, room service action. i take advantage in india cause it's so cheap. i chow down on the confused order (they always get it wrong even if they repeat it back perfectly) and watch jack nicholson in "wolf" and indulge in the most addictive mtv india. in the morning, i ventured on the streets to search for internet. "we do not have internet here, madam" "in the silicone valley of india???" well, i could not find anything and bribed the staff at the hotel to let me use theirs for free. i indulged in my free breakfast, which was the best in india ever. 4 idlys stuffed with nuts, tomato oothapam, peanut chutney, coconut chutney, and the best sambhar i have ever tasted.

my driver back to the airport was mohammad nassir khan-nassir for short. he dropped the khan part. he was very charming and spent the entire half hour begging me for work in america or any country for that matter. "i cook, clean, drive, fix cars, garden, and counsel (?)" he was very proud of his passport and worked in malaysia for 2 weeks. i asked him, "what about visa?" cause that's the hard one, i know from talking to many indians that it is almost impossible. lots of red tape, waiting years and a huge amount of money. the poor never make it to my country. "i get visa, you just tell me when to come! i do not cheat. i am not a cheater. i am born 1962! i do not take much money. i only need eat, sleep-i work hard! please you help me get a job!!" than he busts into a muslim prayer song and chant to allah, praying for lisa lisa lisa to help him. i just did not have the heart to tell him that his chances were slim to none, so i tipped him generously.

the airport guards would not let me through security. "you must take food, you must watch the people!" "but i only want to buy magazines, not eat" "oh...she is fasting! well you sit and watch the people." ok. i go to the airport coffee day and purchase a pile of bollywood rag. such a funny place.

mumbai
an uneventful flight back to mumbai. when i arrived, i went to the hotel reservation booth and got snagged away and got talked into staying with a gaggle of sari clad lady seniors at the sai baba ashram. "you stay with us at ashram and we meditate till we go back to airport." which would be 8 hours. "ok". so i sit and i wait and i wait and i start thinking, do i really want to do this? i notice many of the ladies won't sit by me, looking at me with distrust. (?) i wonder what i'm getting into cause all that was on my mind after 2 days travel and another ahead of me, was a hot bath, internet, mtv, food and beer-none of which would be found with sai baba. "ummm...i am not a sai baba devotee" "why?" she says. i have no answer. she understands, i get my swank modern hotel in the middle of some horrifying slums with everything i need.

this will be the last entry to my blog this trip. thanks for staying with me on my journey!

with love-
bindifry

birth & death party

"the important elements constituting a nation are being disease free, wealth & productivity, harmonious living & strong defense," abdul kalam; president of india.
he is quoting from a 2000 year old text thirukkural(the south's ramayana)

"there is no difference between a poor man and a dead man"-the ramayana.

some interesting takes on the wealth subject in "being indian"

i finished my last day with lino. "one side very good, other not so good. they must be same" he tells me about vasisthasana. which is true and just fine. i have a lot of work in front of me and yoga was a joke today. almost killed myself in titibasana. no explanation. couldn't balance in pinca mayurasana. these have not been problems before. i get sappy. tears coming. snap out of it and finish the damn practice. let it go.

i'm in my room after the post yoga shower and "knock knock knock" those soft siva knocks. he appears with a perfectly wrapped package of sweets-prasad. i know before opening cause you can squeeze them-like snowballs. very "sweet" gesture. the last day on the island.

daren had a party friday for me leaving and nicola and lauren arriving. i called it "birth and death" party. a wonderful gesture. a supurb spread of real kerala thali served on the banana leaf. such a treat. a nice party consisting of tamil people, a girl from mozambique (of course i HAD to know how astanga reached HER!), wild adam and his purple hair and his mates, some sassy english lassies, gopan the flirt, todd, daren and the new girlies.

i took the new girlies on their first rickshaw ride (it's endearing to witness this)to the kripa theatre to deflower them of the bollywood. my old rickshaw "pal" is MIA, so i negotiated a new one and we were fine on our way. the movie opened this weekend, "zindu", and was directed and produced by sanjay gupta, starring the legendary sanjay dutt, model turned actor john abraham and lara dutta, miss world. set in bankok, this excellent movie is in the new hip mtv style. no big musical numbers, but lots of graphic violence and good story and acting. a revenge movie about an educated psychotic (abraham) holding a childhood grudge and taking revenge on the kids that teased his sister and caused her to burn herself to death. he kidnapps sanjay and throws him in the thai jail and knocks him out with injections and poison smoke, making him pay for his childhood antics. lara dutta is his taxi driver (?) there is real kissing in this movie-lip on lip action, but no open mouth. i'm always totally shocked if that happens. almost turns it into porn. it's weird.

well on to my long journey home. i leave at 5am tomorrow and won't be home for 4 days. train, to taxi, to plane, to taxi, to plane, to taxi to plane to taxi.

see you soon!

eye of the tiger

well i'm nearing the last couple days here in india. 10 months of my life spent here over 3 years and am already negosiating next year's hotel. this place definitely has it's ups and downs, but there's no better place to study. and learn about yourself. and learn patience. and learn cinema! i'm very happy to have stayed in a budget hotel this year cause it forced me to read again. it's been a long time. and appreciate the simple life, which has slowed me down quite a bit. it's hard to have nothing to do for a month or 2, but it's very good for the mind and body to just be still. most yogis who come here are obsessed with ayurvedic cleansing and massage to the point of it being more of a focal point than the yoga itself. and many women are obsessed with losing weight. i've seen the most skinny white girls here and in mysore than anywhere else in the world. this morning during led class, this toothpick massage obsessed girl fainted on my mat and had a seizure. me thinks she should add a little food to her "program." everytime i ask people to go to the movies, they tell me they have massage at 2, cleansing at 4, oil drip at 6...a movie is too long to accomodate that kind of schedule. lino tells his students that massage on top of the very hardcore astanga is a bad idea. and i listen to him. i find so many people have a hard time with doing nothing. but isn't yoga supposed to bring us to that nothing place and learn to embrace it?

what was important materialistically this year for me?
-lots of long books
-playing cards
-transistor radio-batteries only
-lots of earplugs
-lots of panties
-3 shirts, 3 skirts
-pens and notebook
-little bottles of good liquid soap (thanks julie & adam)
-scented japanese fan (thanks sue!)
-2 extra towels from home
-1st aid kit
-oil of olay moist towelettes

the ipod is nice, but not necessary.

THE EYE OF THE TIGER is playing on the radio
now it's INXS
the theme music on the radio is miami sound machine's CONGA

THE 4 PURUSHARTHAS IN HINDUISM (goals in life)
1.ARTHA-acquisition of wealth
2.DHARMA-rules of life, what your purpose is
3.KAMA-pursuit of desire (you must be an accomplished lover according to kama sutra)
4.MOKSHA-salvation

from "being indian"

PRASAD

one new pose has totally altered my body. just when the hips were opening, SLAM! shut again, thanks to this asana. this practice plays this game constantly-your back is open, new pose comes, SLAM! closed. every part of your body. non-attachment is the sane way to go, believe me. this new asana seems to be about balance and strengthening the hip flexors. it's hard to be flexible and strong in all areas of the body, but astanga addresses it all, that is if you are one of the few practitioners who sticks with the practice long enough to realize this. it really takes tons of patience and many years-i've been at it 9 years and feel like an embryo in the womb.

when i first met gwendoline hunt, it was my good fortune that she whispered a wonderful snack of wisdom in my ear which has stayed with me always. she told me, "the more you do this practice, the more you will understand it." SO TRUE.

PRASAD-offerings of sweets to a god or a guest (guests ARE god to indians)
usually a sugar bomb in any thousand of shapes and textures. some dense, like almond balls, some light and airy, like these pillows of coconut balls siva gave me at the internet yesterday. he left me with 10 and i ate every single one! "what are they?" "bombay sweets!" fresh coconut balls of heaven! and straight after yoga, a woman gives me dense cookie types that fall apart in your mouth! sugary buttery goodness! and i don't know why, but i feel like a god when i am eating these.
prasad is also the name of a small young extremely sweet waiter at the lonely planet. he was born with the perfect name! he wears a tiny t-shirt that says "try me."

i'm reading my 5th book this month called "being indian-the truth about why the 21st century will be indias" by parvan k. varma. it's a bit on the scholarly side, but pretty insightful. it discusses the traits that indians have so non indians can better understand them. they have a lot going for them. resiliant people who've had to deal with adversity constantly-even the middle and upper classes have to deal with traffic, polution, water and electrical shortages on a daily basis. they are also a detached people and spiritual, constantly getting forgiveness from "sins" or "wrong-doings"-a jump in the ganga does the trick, or several hundred mantras.
yesterday i read in the hindu that there were 80,000 indians admitted into top american schools last year! this is very good news for india. bright people, hard working, curious. that will get you a lot in this life.

A HARD RAIN is gonna fall...

it's totally downpouring again. monsoon is extended into the late months this year and it's delightful! i've never seen this kind of rain before. just downpours and stops. a hard rain, it is. rain in tropical india is actually romantic, except i have no one but my imagination to share that notion with. it's nice cause it's so hot here and is a nice change cause i am not a beach girl. i've made pals with my ivory white skin and we have an agreement.

in yoga, the strength is with me again, thanks to saturday's off. why we don't practice saturdays? cause saturn rules and it's inauspicious. it's a brilliant idea, imo. so during chakra bandhasana (drop back to the head), lino asks me the all too familiar question, "so how you feel?" and i'm feeling real good and strong, even though i ate 2 jaffles and drank 2 beers night before. he says "tomorrow you do vasistasana." 3rd series.

EROTIC INDIA PT. 2
i finished the sex book. i will spare you details, but mr. kumar keeps an active sex life throughout the rest of the book. his lingam is his best pal. the last hussy he screwed asked him, "why don't you wear a condom? you should be more careful."
so kumar, who has never been sick before, gets sick and can't heal. AIDS!!! kumar and his penis are no longer friends and he even slaps it around scolding all his 15 inches of manhood. because aids is SO humiliating here in india, he decides to take 30 sleeping pills, reciting the gayatri mantra after each pill is consumed.
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VISIONS OF INDIA
2 year old indian boy wearing dad's flip flops chasing a white puppy through the lonely planet restaurant during breakfast.
cut to 7 year old making silly faces, sticking his tongue out and such till he gets smacked square in the face with a ball of coconut fibers! his face went from "nya nya!" to balling like a great girls blouse! crack me up hours later!

vinyasa master

it sure feels good to be a student. when i'm in india i forget that i am a teacher and it's such a nice feeling. there's still much to learn in about yoga and life.

many people say astanga yoga is boring cause you do the same thing over and over again. but this is why we call it yoga mala-repeated prayers, chants and mantra repeated is extremely powerful. i have learned several instruments over the years and the only way i was able to finally play them was if i practiced scales and rhythms over and over again. there's something profound about that "do your practice and all is coming."

if you find that you are bored with astanga, ask yourself some questions-what is the 6th vinyasa of utkatasana? dristi is what? what is the transition? are you engaging mula and uddiyana bandhas? is your breath even and correct? this is not boring, but quite challanging.

anyhow, india is pretty interesting, both profound and scarey at times. it's 5000 years old and has much wisdom. practicing yoga here is perfect, especially with a soundtrack of chants, prayers, temple bells and explosions always in the background.

my hotel manager's name is joe-boy and his brother is johnny-boy. joe's ringtone on his cell is "oh susana, don't you cry for me, i've come from alabama with my banjo on my knee," and johnny has his name tattooed on his forarm with the crucifixion above it. interesting.

lino taught a half primary and a full today. there are lots of people confused about the correct vinyasa and he is trying hard to change that fact because he is VINYASA MASTER.

so i have met quite a few interesting people from all over the world. being alone does have it's advantages and it's actually fun to hang out with total strangers. people are so fascinating that i sometimes forget i'm shy. "you're a documentary filmaker for the bbc?" "23 years in the irish marines? now you are riding your motorbike all over india without a plan?" "nice book you've wrote of 365 yoga quotes."

gwendoline quote
hadie shared a good gwen story. she once said at age 60-"i'm gonna be through all 6 series by the time i am 70." then she goes on to say, "but when i reached 3rd, i had to go back to primary again because i had not learned the use of my bandhas!"
guruji always says, "slowly, slowly, slowly"

the year of the dog

finally saw "bluffmaster." with a name like that and after seeing the videos, i expected this to be a real horror. to my surprise it was good. basically it's a con gets conned movie with a decent cast-nana patakar, priyanka and abishek. btw-abishek should never smile. ruins his face. it's supposed to be a remake of a 70s film and it had all the right elements-gangsta rapping, rich stylin studly con men-think "miami vice" set in mumbai and showing all it's beauty.

i was actually wanting to see a more local film, but i brought a bollywood virgin and i want to take it slow with him. with indian cinema, you don't want to scare first timers away. the next one will be regional.

and when sharaf dropped us off, he asked for "help" in the form of 3000 rupees. how awkward. daren says it always leads to that. just say no. i mean, the dude now owns his own rickshaw thanks to me. i think that's enough help.
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THE HINDU TRIVANDRUM EDITION
tit bits

1ST FLIGHT FROM RUSSIA HAS 214 TOURISTS FOR A 10 DAY SOJURN IN KERALA
"we did not expect such a grand welcome. back home it's freezing but we're happy to see the climate is good here"
lady! it's south india! you are from russia!

CITY UNSUITABLE FOR HUMAN HABITATION
trivandrum

WELFARE FUND FOR SHOP FLOOR ASSISTANTS FORMED

NEW COW BREED WITH MORE MILK YIELD
phule triveni cows are robust and strong!
-they live 18 years
-they milk 10-12 months
-naturally disease resistant
-adaptable to drought

RINGSPOT VIRUS IN PAPAYA
PRSV-papaya ring spot virus-is a major infestation of the papaya crop

QUESTION CORNER
why do tennis players eat bananas?
why does milk turn sour?
when the hand rests, why do the fingers curl?
whi is the left thumb impression taken for men and the right for women?

SHANGHAI
a company in northern china will only hire candidates born in the asian zodiac's year of the canine, which starts january 29.
"we believe that people born in dog years are loyal and honest"

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AIR-ALL INDIA RADIO
vintage michael jackson
"wanna be startin something"
followed by the live version of "smoke on the water"

i'm totally not kidding

erotic india part 1

i plowed through half that erotic indian paperback-it's actually interesting coming from the mind of an 85 year old senile indian. way soft core, but by indian standards, HARD. we read the "F" word, of course the author is hung like a horse and it needs it's name in the cast of characters. ok.

he (he's a brahman) dumps the boring wife of 13 years and the kids. he hooks up with the sweeper, who is an untouchable, with an incredible dark, (BUT pretty anyhow-gee thanks) hourglass figured woman who is very happy to accept money and sex, especially since her husband is a lush and is never home.

than dude puts an ad in several newspapers for a live in sex slave for rps10,000 per month, room and board, free limo service-dude is an importer and a millionaire. hooks up with a short frumpy school marm with small tits and a fat ass who does not drink but suddenly turns into a 6 glasses of port a night hussy, the reputation of both of them becomes public, cause hey-servents are gossips.

now we learn of his schooling in princeton-free scholarship cause he's a genius and goes from delhi to princeton and back again. he meets an orthadox muslim pakistani hindu hater (the dude is a hindu) and the old(20 years his senior) fat smart mouthed pakistani woman gets all political on his ass, fanatical religeous and they have many interesting debates-the most interesting part of the book so far-and low and behold right before she leaves the college, she screws him silly and we get to know all the fleshyness of it-ewe!!! her orthodox muslim ways right out the window.

can't wait to finish so i can regurgitate it on this blog.
stay tuned.

humility

i've been receiving firm and frequent adjustments in class for the past few weeks, in addition to the travel and india itself. i have now begun to live through the "real" yoga that i talk a good talk about. you know, the one where we embrace the hard times, the stiffness, the weakness, the voices in the head that convince you that everyone in the room is judging you, and i thought i learned this lesson more than once before.

the way this yoga works is this. you feel like on top of the world, sometimes for a day, sometimes a week, light, perfect, confident. than it comes to a screeching halt, and there is no explanation. sometimes i try to figure it out. "food? not enough carbs? toxins? planetary? biorhythms? my general attitude towards the world at any given time (!)"

the reason does not matter, because as soon as i think i've got it figured out, i am soaring like a superhero through the practice once again.

how humble this practice makes me.

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you must have been an indian in past life, except we don't believe in reincarnation...

todd and i wandered into a bookstore somewhere on our way somewhere else, after canceling our plans to see "bluffmaster" at the parthas. sharaf was not available and i would miss his company and his big speakers and cd player blasting indian filmi music in the rickshaw.

the bookstores in india are usually small and the offerings often strange. the books are always dusty and dirty and in no particular order. but it was a slice of heaven, being rather book dry at the moment. they steered me right to, "the company of women" by khushwant singh. a sikh! ok. i got to reading it later and here is a snippet from the author's note: "i started writing this novel at age 83 and finished at 85. no characters in this expose are real: they are figments of my senile fantasies." i'm already skeptical and privately blushing. the 2 books i picked out for myself were selected tamil and punjabi short stories. call me conservative.

naturally we are invited to sit down with danny and tommy and culture swap. i vocalize my love for bollywood, they bash the bolly. "no good scripts-we like american movies. realistic is better." ok, i half agree, but i like the escapism of bad recent bollywood, as well as appreciate fine indian cinema as well. so i ask what these dudes like. "friends, animal planet, will and grace, and caroline in the city-very good script." ok. "so what about malayalam movies?" i chirp. of course they fall all over each other just at the mere mention of their beloved regional cinema, which is more realistic. "indians don't have washboard abs, fast japanese motorcycles and supermodels for girlfriends." this was a truly puzzling conversation.

they say to me, "you must have been indian in a past life, except we don't believe in reincarnation" and i don't know if this is a compliment or what. they are hindus who have converted to christianity.

which explains danny's obesession with the "god" cable channel. and i realize how alike we all are at the core, but so different in our approach.

dristi 101

dristi is my new favorite astanga topic. if you have lino's book, you can look up any of them you are unsure of. there are 9 dristis, but we will begin with the 4 used during surya (sun) namaskar (greeting).

1.nasagrai (nose gaze)
2.angusta ma dyai (thumb gaze)
3.broomadhya (third eye)
4.nabi chakra (naval)

there are 9 vinyasas in surya namaskar

1.ekam-inhale hands up-angusta ma dyai
2.dve-exhale forward fold-nasagrai
3.trini-inhale head up-broomadhya
4.catvari-exhale chaturanga-nasagrai
5.panca-inhale up dog (urdhva mukha svanasana)-broomadhya
6.sat-exhale down dog (adho mukha svanasana)-nabi chakra
7.sapta-inhale jump forward-broomadhya
8-astau-exhale forward fold-nasagrai
9.nava-inhale hands up-angusta ma dyai
samasthitih-nasagrai
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pronunciation of sanskrit numbers 1-9

1-ekam-yay kum
2-dve-dway
3-trini-chreenee
4-catvari-chatwori
5-panca-pancha
6-sat-shot
7-sapta-sapta
8-astau-ashtoe
9-nava-now wah

happy learning!

lungi love

regretfully, i finished "shantaram" and it's impossible to follow that one up. so i opted for the ridiculous and the sublime, 2 books that were hand delivered to my doorstep by friends. "journey to the east" and "scar tissue", a high school herman hesse and the biography of anthony kiedis from the redhotchilipeppers. i'm already almost finished with "scar tissue" and somehow feel soiled. that boy is about nothing but chicks and heroine. which makes him a very boring fellow indeed, and quite pleased with his tattooed self. but it's kind of fun anyhow. every year i bring a pile of books that don't get read, but this year i have to scrounge for reading material. i'm actually obsessed with books now, which is a tremendous achievement, remembering the television addiction i left at home. i was actually obsessed with "america's next top model" and "celebrity fit club." i may have been better off with a heroine addiction myself! and the horror of best sellers and romance novels scattered throughout this island is of epic proportions.

yoga is intense, as usual, and i am getting more than my share of assistence. i am learning a lot of subtle things i was not aware of-especially in intermediate series and am quite anxious to share the knowledge. the adjustments give here are not for the meek. they are extremely firm and frequent. they have eyes in the backs of their heads and they watch everything-check for bandhas, and make sure you are using correct dristi (gaze point).(follow up on dristi 101 in the next post)

there are at least 200 students right now and lino is making 70% of them do led classes for the next 2 days, which means they are really getting down to business with teaching correct vinyasa. YAY! the rest of us get to do mysore at 6am. this is the first time he has ever done this. the workshop is very organized and like a well oiled machine. it's very impressive. penucha has arrived today, so we are lucky to have 6 adjusters at the moment. it's SO good this year i doubt i will ever miss a winter here and encourage anyone who can get away in 2006 to come and join me. it really transforms the practice and i find it way better than the shala in mysore where theres too many people you just fall through the cracks.

i have officially fallen in love with the lungi, just like the turban. here in the hot south, it's all the men wear. it's a piece of cloth wrapped and tucked worn long to the floor or turned into a man mini-skirt. it's always paired with a crisp colorful button down shirt and perfect hair, of course. and i think the lungi for me has become a symbol for the place in india that my heart is really in-kerala. i just love kerala!

xmas eve

xmas eve
Originally uploaded by bindifry.

i posted a few dance photos and some other people stuff. this was a pretty fun night. he was one happy dancer. he was juggeling sparklers and shaking everything he had.

the crusher

so that girl who had all the good stories showed up at lino's class today. she was not allowed to drop in for a day, probably because he does not know her. she would have to commit to a week, which is fair. she got all snotty, stormed out and told a mutual friend, "lino is so arrogant!!" "my practice is way more advanced than most of the people in the room!"

that statement is SO sad. why is it that many yogis think the world owes them a big bow because they are "advanced?" i mean, yoga to me has always been about what you can't do,not what you can. because you are proud of your postures, this does not make you more yogi-er than though. i've met way too many people who are like, "look at me!! i'm such a yoga god cause i can do third series! actually, i'm too good to even talk to you!" i can't tell you how many people i have met over here in yoga land that exhibit this nauseating behavior.

xmas was way low key. yoga one hour later-7 instead of 6, my usual brekkie of gobi oothapam (cauliflower grilled rice cake with sambal (spicy lentil gravy), coconut chutney and tomato chutney, ginger tea, and fresh lemon soda-a true addiction. i opted for a little nap instead of attending the yoga party. davey, my irish acquaintance, yelled outside my door and wanted dinner at sunset. ok, cause i was on my way out anyhow. rooftop below average food, above average sunset, and below average conversation. because like so many people i meet, all they want to do is talk about themselves. even if they ask you a question, they don't listen to the answer. this is not communication to me. and i end up being one bored son of a bitch.

i spent xmas eve with davey and ann, another irish lassi, who is a yogi also. after my dinner with fellow chicagoans, i hung out with them at the way below average leos restaurant. it was amusing watching 2 people from the same country communicating. they could have been speaking malayalam it was so foreign, when out of the blue, the south indian ricki martin appears to juggle his sparklers and shake his booty like no one else can. my god he was flamboyant. and i wanted a piece of it. i couldn't help myself and promptly leaped up on the stage to fulfill my bollywood dream and dance with ricki khan martin to ole ole ole! soon about 3 dozen indian youth and geriatrics gathered and formed the typical stadium audience i'm so used to. god they love it when you dance or sing, cause everyone loves to do those things here. unfortunately what put a damper in the performance was the fact that the cd was skipping, making dancing a definite challange.

tina is here and we're about to embark in the greatest 10 days of yoga. she is the lion goddess-the crusher. i've named adjustments after her. she is very quiet and shy, you hardly even know she's there, when suddenly your being squashed like a rotton tomato! she is supremely gifted. lino's wife and teacher. she's kind of like a female sharath, if you know what that means. and incredibly humble. i want to be her when i grow up!

vagina mudra

so i noticed a horrible dead rat like smell in my clothes closet only to discover the shell i had brought back from vizhinjam had a decomposing crab getting eaten away by hungry maggots! super!
honestly, there's nothing worse than rotting shellfish.
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amir khan's new wife looks just like my friend cheekoo, who fancys him. are you there, miss lal?
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i met a girl from san francisco who was in bangalore at a yoga confrence and somehow ended up here. super friendly with some very good stories i am about to unload. she had been shown all the pretty paths, the river, the palms, all that is lovely about this tropical paradise, met a little girl who was sharing her little hand made doll house, when suddenly an indian man appeared, removed his member and preceded to begin "choking the chicken" so to speak! in front of the child and everything! so the woman starts yelling at the dude and he says politely-"sorry" and does his indian head wag.

the next one was about a certain celebrity yogi who was swearing like a trucker, multi-tasking with 2 cell phones and a blackberry at the airport. she turns up at the conference with a posse of indian youth touching her feet, while she is dressed all in orange like a sadhu, totally "yogic" constantly holding the vagina mudra.

another she told of a tattooed girl with the entire body of kali on her back and front of her body. indian children tore off her shirt, lucky she had a bra on, only to discover the much worshipped deity tattooed to her, and fell to their knees and began to do puja!

HO-ho-HO

ok-the radio-AIR, which stands for all india radio-the best damn radio in the world is on and that dreadful theme song from the six flags great america commercial (the one where the kid in the old man suit dances all over the place)is playing with malayalam lyrics. i am wondering whose version had come first. the radio in india is one of it's finest treasures. it was created so all people in india would have access to free radio and they managed to set up 98% of the country with access. i remember a friend asking me why i don't need to take my own music with me to india. "why? when all you really need is a transistor radio and some strong indian made batteries!" she did not understand. "won't you miss western music?" "are you kidding? i come here to get away from it! you can't hear the stuff i hear here back home." i love to sponge up the stuff they play here cause it rocks. nowhere in america can you hear all punjabi radio, rajasthani radio (which REALLY impressed me) and tamil/malayalam radio. there is only one station in most of india, and it varies regionally, but the same format. kind of like npr-national public radio. only the languages change, and slightly different style of music, but always great and always fascinating. they play regional, english, and hindi songs-everything from classical ragas to filmi to backstreet boys, john denver and air supply.

i've been feeling lonely and stir crazy. i am counting the days i will be leaving. i am very homesick and have booked my flight back to bombay, which is kind of a pain. i have to take a train north of kochi, taxi to kochi, fly into bangalore and stay a night, fly into mumbai next day, stay another night, then come home. is ANYTHING easy here???
in the midst of my self deprecation, along comes angela, the girl i met from london during cooking class and invites me to dinner at sabrimala. an x-cook from lonely planet stole the magic gravy recipe and opened his own vegetarian restaurant. this is a good sign, cause i've been feeling anti social, blue, and i would have just sat around for the next 3 days moping and feeling sorry for myself. the holidays depress me. i have no family and i am away from home for the third year in a row. ho ho ho. i know-it's my choice, but it's still sad ass.

the island (i call it this because it feels like a tropical island cut off from the rest of india) is now filled with obnoxious europeans with their ill behaved children. my hotel chock full of screaming danish babies that like to play basketball outside my room at midnight. obviously they don't have to get up at 6 to do yoga. i just stuff my ears with my squishy ear plugs, close my windows and pray for SOME sleep. such a commodity.
HO-HO-HO

the boys

the boys
Originally uploaded by bindifry.

these are my friends-well, sharaf and his best childhood friends. you can't imagine the weird looks from fishermen-a white girl and 6 indian boys. here they are holding up a bottle of cheap rum. they washed it down with water-took about 30 minutes for 4 guys to drink it. ick. and when they ran out, they swam out to a swank hotel with a roll of rps in their mouth and got 10 more kingfishers-2 of them holding onto the bag as they swam back to the boat. hardcore. i pretty much ignored them, cause they speak mostly malayalam anyhow, and they ignored me. i just took in the sights and enjoyed the rather amusement park fast speed the boat was going. i am very lucky to have had this cool experience. tourists ane women are never allowed to ride in the fishing boats. once in a life time experience and they were very sweet for doing this for me. now i am the one saying "thank you very much-i am very happy!"
of course my face is badly burnt and it did wonders for my cold, so i missed yoga the next day. oh well

yellow mosque in sharaf's village

yellow mosque in sharaf's village
Originally uploaded by bindifry.

this is the mosque that sharaf goes to. he lives in a small fishing village in kerala called vizhinjam.

fishing boat trip

fishing boat trip
Originally uploaded by bindifry.

well the boys decided to take me on sharaf's brothers boat today. it was a big one that was motor powered and moved really fast, like an amusement park ride. for 4 hours, we combed the arabian sea, and i got to see many fishing villages, temples and mosques.

E-G-O

yesterday was another splendid vinyasa workshop with lino. he was in high spirits, which always makes for fine entertainment. i have taken this counting workshop several times over the years, and it gets clearer each time. he demonstrates the real science behind astanga-each breath has a specific count- each asana a specific amount of vinyasas-breath movements. this has been an issue in my classes as well as his. some students love to linger and mince around the asana, when they should be taking only one long breath. this helps to bring the attention to the bandhas and breath, rather than fixating on perfect asana, which is a different style of yoga (vinyasa flow or iyengar). many students waste their time with thinking too much, and incorporating unneccesary movements when entering and exiting postures. this is NOT astanga. astanga is a very precice science. unfortunately some students are stubborn as bulls, and think they know what is best for them, when the fact is that they are fooling themselves into thinking they are doing astanga. i can't tell you how often this system gets no respect, some even dragging toys (props) into the mix, which is NOT astanga! guruji is famous for drop-kicking blocks out of his classroom! it's unfortunate, because these students are wasting theirs and my time, are completely disillusioned, disrespectful to me, and will never reap the fruits of astanga yoga. astanga is not a popular yoga because it requires complete surrender to the system. it's a science. and westerners don't like to be told what to do. (why is this never a problem with asian people?) i often wonder why some students come to my class, because they never change these problems. like i am supposed to cater to what THEY want, like it's supposed to be all about them or something. pity. there's a 3 letter word for that- E-G-O.