Dear Friends,
were predominantly Tibetan, and the Indian flavour we experienced was very little if at all enough to give us a taste of what was to come.
And what came was the "muchness" of this vast land, and "muchness" is the only word that describes it for me. There are sounds and noises, collours and shapes, faiths and beliefs,people, people and when the buss is full, even more people...and all of it much...too much :-)
We are in Rishikesh, which proudly takes its place on the tourist Indian map as the "yoga capital of the world" ( just too much to say). In reality, it is just a tourist hub, only here every fifth Indian (an exaggeration of course) has a yoga or and ayurvedic massage studio (another exaggeration: the studio is most of the times a tiny dark room with moldy floor and a dozen of soiled yoga mats). Similarly to the neighboring Haridwar we visited on the way here, it is also a Hindu pilgrimage city and boils with hundreds of Indians eager to bathe in the Ganges, ring temple bells or just enjoy the nudge of the weekend crowds.
The air is almost as polluted as in Amritsar (a one day visit you can also read about on my blog:
http://journals.worldnomads.com/tedigeorgieva/post/12084.aspx ), so we have limited our walks to a minimum: yoga - lunch - Internet. After 10 days of searching for a quiet place to stay, which included the transportation of our backpacks and ourselves on two motorbikes ( the driver and the two of us on one of them!), we found a quaint place looked after by a petite Indian lady, who calls herself "mama" and looks like she lives up to her name.
It seems like the cultural shock we've been expecting since we arrived to India is finally happening and we are grateful to have each other to share this profoundly different world. We find it curious, annoying and amusing at the same time to wonder why the devotional fervor here easily co-exists with scam and corruption, or why our waiter insists on seeing cheese in the sandwich while looking at a peace of almost dry toast, or why it is considered acceptable to ask such questions as "what is your salary" at first encounter, or why in country where living is often a fight for survival people are incurably full of hope and benevolence... In attempt to solve some of the puzzle, I and Misha are devouring a list of books recommended to us by a couple of International Politics students from Delhi, who we met at the art conference in Bir.
One of the reads "Being Indian" by P.Varma suggests that in 21st century every sixth person will be an Indian, so learning about this ancient culture seems only prudent :-)
Besides nourishing our travel "wounds" we are also exploring the yoga market here. So far I have greatly enjoyed a class given by a British instructor in the round building of the Kria Yoga Ashram. Her calm and flowing vocalisations have made the practice harmonious and wholesome, unlike many other classes I've taken which remain just sequences of different postures.
The Indian teachers we've checked out so far have been of the "do it like me" type, where you have to copy the shown assana (posture) often with very little information on body alignment or breath. I am starting to suspect that this is a deeply Asian style of teaching: the teacher demonstrates - the student repeats....with blind faith, devotion, and reverence.
On the positive side, the student develops discipline and perseverance...
To explore the above theory and to challenge my rigid training I am planning to take some vocal lessons at the nearest music studio. On this note, music in India is an inseparable part of everyday life. People just burst out singing as they walk, work or rest. In Ladakh, our hosts had a song for every activity, be that cooking or ploughing the fields. The last one was my favourite: when for the first time I heard the simple call on a fourth up and then a gentle slide on a fifth down, I thought a professional singer was practicing warm ups on fresh air :-) To add to this phenomenon of singing voices, imagine singing men! I can see my choral colleagues always famishing for male voices in their choirs overwhelmed with longing and jealousy :-) Yes, men sing here, sing beautifully, everywhere: Misha's barbers sing (not in harmony but in tune), our Yoga teachers sing resonantly and with feeling, porters sing, cooks sing.... The intricate tunes they produce with ease and grace fascinate and inspire me.
Stay tuned for my Indian singing progress chart :-) already from Nepal, our next destination.
Meanwhile I would like to wish all of you a peaceful and relaxed preparation for the approaching winter holidays, and to my colleagues - fulfilment and joy from the upcoming concerts, and most importantly, gratitude to yourselves and people you work with for the immeasurable love and happiness you bring to the world through the art of music!
Thank you for your warm homey letters!
Much love,
Teodora
