I had lunch today and it cost $1.32, which included a 10% tip. Food (and everything else) can be really cheap here too. After 4 days of being very stressed out, crying a lot, and losing my temper at every taxi driver here, I’m finally relaxed and enjoying India.
I spent two days in Bangalore, which is big and very very noisy. The first thing I noticed on the ride from the airport to my hotel was the noise – the horns are constantly honking. Sometimes they are to warn people, and sometimes, as one rickshaw driver told me, it’s to pass time. India seems very safe – the only thing that is a little scary is the traffic. Every time I cross a street, I feel like I’m in huge game of Frogger. But after a few days you realize that that scooter coming towards you is actually going very slowly, and that the rickshaw is pretty slow as well.
I had a traditional Ayurvedic massage in Bangalore which was not particularly relaxing probably because I didn’t know what was coming. It involved me taking off all my clothes in front of two Indian women, who poured large quantities of warm oil on me and in perfectly synchronicity, massaged me everywhere, including my breasts. Then I sat in a steam box. Then I had a shower, declining their offer to help me. This was however a traditional massage, nothing weird, just not what I’m used to or had expected. I’m now looking into Shiatsu options (clothes stay on I believe J .)
Bangalore was, I think, like most other big cities. Nothing in particular stood out. After two nights, I took a bus to Mysore. The three hour trip actually took five and a half hours – the bus was an hour late leaving, and I’m not sure what caused the rest of the delay. I got a hotel room for 2 nights, then my yoga school found me a room in a house with other yoga students. I moved today into a different house, a gourgeous old house with a beautiful garden, courtyard, cows, birds, squirrels, etc. And it’s right across from the yoga school.
Yoga’s going very well. I’m taking 6 ibuprofen every day (max daily dose) since I’m very sore – but it’s a good sore. I originally planned on doing the morning class which is from 5:30AM to 7:30AM, but quickly realized that simply was not going to work for me, so now I do the afternoon class, from 5PM to 7PM. It’s 6 days a week, Saturdays are off, and so are moon days (when there’s a full moon and a new moon.)
I’ve met some fantastic people and we hang out, talk about Buddhism (they talk, I listen!), go shopping, and eat. I’ve been thinking about a bacon cheeseburger for 2 days now. India of course is pretty much beef free, although I’ve heard that I can get some when I get to Goa. Southern India is very veggie, and honestly I’m not sure what I’m eating most of the time, except that it’s veggie and it’s good. Lots of rice and lentils and potatoes and paneer (which they say is cheese but tastes like tofu to me.)
Although I only do two hours of yoga a day, I’m not bored at all, I can’t really explain why but things take a long time here. Today, I was up at 9, packed up all my stuff. I moved over to the new house and unpacked. Then I walked to a copier-wallah (wallah means "person who does X") with Natacha. She had 7 books photocopied and spiral bound for 350 Rupees (about $8). We walked back, picked up Abdellah, then went for lunch at Sandiyah’s house, a woman who makes home-cooked meals for yoga students. The meal was fantastic – salad, rice, chapatis (like an Indian tortilla), potato in a mild curry sauce, and two other dishes that were good but I can’t remember what they were. Then we dropped Natacha off, and I went shopping with Abdellah. We went to the market where I bought some perfume (that took an hour – we had chai with the perfume-wallah), he went to a tailor to get some Club Monaco pants copied (total cost of material and labor: $6). Then I got some speakers for my iPod (that also took an hour - I had difficulty explaining I wanted speakers that could run on AC and on batteries, then one guy knew what we wanted to he sent a boy to his brother's shop which must've been half way across town). I tried to find another bra, but gave up on that, I'll have to put that on hold until I talk to a young Indian woman about where to go. Then back to the house, where I made a flyer for Natacha – she’s going to put on a Thai massage workshop. Then it was time for dinner. I had tofu and pretended it was chicken. Then I ordered a sandwich that looked like a burger – it arrived without the bun (even though the waiter said yes it looks like the picture) and after putting ketchup on it and being a little creative, well, it still tasted like a veggie burger. More veggie than burger. Did I mention I'm craving beef?
Tomorrow I’m going to a nearby Buddhist settlement to look around. It’s supposed to be very quiet and peaceful. My housemates are really great – they’ve mostly been in India several times so they take me to all the cool places. Other than Natacha and Abdullah, there’s Shanti from Kamloops, a Russian couple, and I think a Japanese girl is moving in tomorrow.
Things are flowing very smoothly now. I’ve also stopped taking the malaria pills, which were giving me headaches and nightmares. Indian people are a little confusing, but I just don’t assume anything anymore. For example, "yes" may mean "yes", "no", "maybe", "please wait", or "I don’t understand". Asking 5 people the same questions also helps. And so does repeating "shanti shanti shanti…"
