First Post From India!

Tuesday, 29 December 2009, 7 am

Made it to Pune.

The flights were essentially uneventful. Made it to London after a short delay in SF. Heather and I did not pay attention to our tickets and neither did the Virgin attendant who we checked in with in London. After 5 hours or so of waiting for our flight to be listed I went up to the Virgin counter and the attendant said I should hurry to another terminal about 15 minutes away. Turns out our flight to Mumbai was on Jet Airways not Virgin. We made it with plant of time to spare. The Virgin flight was okay and the Jet Airways flight was better.

We waited in Mumbai for a few minutes for our ride to Pune. As we stood outside the airport I knew I was in for a wild ride. The faces, the energy, the language, everything. Heather was in a hurry because she had a bus to catch in Pune to get to Goa. The driver and sales people seemed indifferent to her plight. We shared the ride with two computer programmers (engineers!) – one from Kerela (sp?) and one from Pune who lives in Marin county in California.

We could see some of the slums of Mumbai as we landed and got a better view of them as we made our way out of Mumbai. It is hard to describe and heart wrenching to see. We have a lot to be grateful for . Shacks attached to shacks with anything for roofs but mostly corrugated metal and garbage. Lots of people everywhere.

We made it to Pine in time for Heather to catch her bus.

The first stop was to drop me off at Arwind and Anjali’s. Heather knew where it was and directed the driver to the driveway. They had expected me a day earlier because that was what I had told them. I did not read my ticket correctly where it noted the arrival date as Sunday the 27th +1 day. It was the plus one day that through me off (Heather too, that’s why she was in a hurry to catch the bus). They were welcoming right away. The day before it was Arwind’s birthday, 74. I brought him two pairs of safety goggles to use hen he rides his scooter. He was happy to receive the gifts.

We had some tea and snacks, talked about my travels and the details of the house. I was given the tour. I have a large room with two balcony’s, a little pantry area and a bathroom. It is way more than I expected and perfect.

Arwind gave me ride on the back of his scooter and we went to the Institute so I could see where it was and then we went searching for some dinner. The traffic was crazy. There are more scooters, motorcycles, and bicycles than cars. A few buses packed with riders. The horns are always going off – mostly to let other drivers know that you are coming up on the side of them. There are lanes but that means nothing to the drivers. It is a wild ride – literally. We had a nice dinner and Arwind taught me how to eat with my hands as they do.

After the meal I was ready for sleep. Some people can sleep on planes but I am not one of them. I had been up for 30 something hours and was ready to crash. I slept well and woke up without any stomach upset. Good so far. I finally have a few minutes to journal.

Today I will register at the Institute and get some supplies for my room. Tea, toothpaste, soap, water and other stuff.

I hope to hook up with my friend Bill who has been here for two months and practice and then have lunch and a tour of Pune.

Tuesday, 29 December 2009, 10 am

I just registered for my classes at RMIYI. Pandu said I had to wait until Thursday to use the studio for my practice. While we were going over my papers we were interrupted by BKS Iyengar. He gave me a nod!

Here is the schedule:

Yoga classes:
M 7-9 a
Tu 7-9 a
Th 7-9 a
Th 5:30 p pranayama
F 6-8 p
Sa 7-9 a

Practice times:

M 9-12 a
T 9-12 a
W 4-5:45 p
Th 9-12 a
F 9-12
Sa 4-5:45 p

What will I do about Sunday?

I am off to exchange some money and get some supplies.

Tuesday, 29 December 2009, 9 pm

My kind hosts exchanged some money for me and I went back to the Institute to meet my friend Bill Moser. Bill, my man Bill. He hooked me up today for a whirlwind crazy tour. First lunch at his flat made by his cook. Curries, chapatti, lemon soda, rice – the works. Good conversation about Yoga and life.
Nana, Bill’s rickshaw driver came and met us at Bill’s flat. What a sweet man he is. This was around 1 pm and he dropped us off close to my place around 9 pm. We went to three temples, Gandhi’s museum and grave, an open air vegetable market plus, the incense/oils store and eventually out to dinner. The pace was crazy on the roads. Picture this: the vehicles do not stay in their own lanes and honk when they pull up beside you. People walking, on bikes, motorbikes, scooters, rickshaws, buses, trucks and cars all moving in packs honking like crazy. It was like a carnival ride.

A lot of the children wanted photographs taken and to know where we were form. What sweet smiles and warm energy. A lot of the women where traditional garments but few of the men do. You will see whole family’s on scooters – babies too. No helmets and buzzing around.

Even in India you can buy as much enlightenment as you want to. The temples cost to get in and there was stuff for sale all over. Flowers as offerings, t-shirts, books and otherstuff. The temples were beautiful even with all of the garbage around.

This is a town of 4.5 million people and wild goats, cows and pigs. Yup, I saw whole families of these animals all around. I saw one cow grazing out of a dumpster that had some green things hanging out of it.

I’ll write more about the temples once I go through the pictures and figure out the names and which one was which.

I will start classes on Friday and Pandu said I can start practicing at the Institute on Thursday.

There must be a party going on close by. Loud dance music – a mix of Michael Jackson beats and lyrics and Indian pop thrown in over the top. Very danceable – but right now I am looking to get some sleep.

It was a long and most excellent day.

More to come!

slide show of pictures.....