Last Moon Day in India

January 18th last moon day for me in India. It is the new moon, a time for beginnings and starting over. Perhaps even re-committing so to speak. The family that runs the "hotel" I am staying in, fast on the new and full moon for 36 hours. They begin their fast at 6pm the night befopre the moon day. No food or water for the next actual moon day. Then the following very ealrly am at 3am they break the fast with hot lemon water and at 6am the day after the moonday they take prashad.

Last night I walked in to ask for something which I cannot remember now and Hema was in the puja room doing prayer.

I have grown to love Hema and Thampy and their 2 children Shyam their son, 15 and Pooja their daughter 13. It has been really interesting to learn about their culture and plans and hopes for thier children. How marriages are arranged and how it is better for their son to work for the government in India than a private firm.

Their time at their temple is lengthy and frequent and I often find myself doing the room cleaning and have done my laundry. All but one time since I arrived. I prefer this actually and it has given me a true sense of living here. I have been openly invited into their home and been offered meals many times. I must say Hema is a fabulous cook and I have learned a fare share of traditional kerala cooking. Unfortunately, some of the vegetables we cannot get in the states. I am sure i will be able to improvise.

8 full more days here in Kovalam and at lighthose beach. The time has gone by quickly. The only time that has felt long was morning practices. It's been amazing to have that much time for a practice, never mind 2 months of such incredible teaching.

I have my opinions about bikinis and indian beaches. Westerners are gawked at and I have found myself to have reached a threshold but I remind myslef that I am just a visitor. This culture has it that the woman's body should not be seen below the waist hence the sari, sawar kameez and various other garments worn to keep a woman covered.

I have seen many indian women in the ocean in these garments but I must say the craziest was one who wore her heels into the water. The men swim in their under wear and a sight in and of itself. The local fishing boys go in to the sea wearing their lungies. I have had many a good day body surfing with these boys as they are excellent swimmers and were a bit fascinated by my abilty to ride the waves. I tried to explain to them that I grew up on the ocean and was an ocean lifegurad myself. We do have lifeguards here and they have been terrific. Indian baywatch.

I have met only a handful of folks from the US. One woman from NH. and older man from CO, a couple from San Fran, and another guy from LA.

So it has been great to chat with all the Europeans and British and pick up on their expressions. It is also very clear that we as Americans are considered to have a barbaric government in that we have the death penalty and this war in Iraq. Bush, Blair and Buscularone.

I think this is it for my blogs, but if something interesting does come up I will write more. I am looking forward to meeting Pattabhi Jois with Lino and checking out Bangalore and Mysore on the 27th. and meeting up with Chris.

Much love,
Randa

The Jungle Alarm Clock

New Year's Eve I was in bed after early am practice for the rest of the day with GI upset and it was as simple as Pepto Bismal, but I can't treat myself like i can treat others..so I went 3 days in misery and finally met with this Ayurvedic doc and he is talking up a storm. He has a boy run up to the pharmacy; I think he is saying papaya enzyme etc.. and it is "Gelusil". The Indian version of Pepto Bismal.

3 days of that at 3x a day and back to better tummy. Then a sore throat came on right after and now I have a nice head cold. But still practicing as you only let go of practice if you have a fever.

Lino offered me to travel with him up to Bangalore and to Mysore and he would introduce me to Guruji himself.. I have a hard time passing that one up although I must say on some level I am preparing to leave this country.

3 weeks or so left. In the moment, but definitely getting hits of... OK, I have had enough of India. Not Lino, but India. The bartering, begging, noises, smells, pollution, European cigarette smoke in restaurants, on the beach, and in the internet cafes.

Probably when you do not feel 100% tolerance for things go down. So I will NOT rush home, but sit with all that is around me and everything I have gained from my time here. Montana can wait as my life will resume there slowly.

The solitude has been other worldly on some level despite the jungle alarm clock. The lack of phone, radio, TV etc. has been great. I do not miss any of that, but I have put my walkman on a few times to hear some classical music and also Micheal Franti.

I hope you all are well. Other than my head cold and nice waves today that I am refraining from surfing, I am in good spirits and doing my own cooking. Indian food esp., the spicy dishes which is every dish was enough for 5 weeks . I had to take a break and will get back to it when the pal late says to.

I love you all..mwah


Much love, Randa

Christmas Eve in India

Chrismas Eve in India. Headed to Madurai on Friday after practice with a British gal and one of Lino's assistants. Madurai is renoun for the which is abut 2 -3 km square easily. It was a 7 hour car ride and that was enough in and of itself. We stayed at a hotel that brought the neigboring temples' elephant in for breakfast.

Meenishka was amazing and huge and it was easy to get lost but not so easy to go where only Hindu's were allowed. Somehow we made it into one "Hindu only" section but got pulled from the main queue for the mother of all temples. We all got blessed by an elephant and made offerings with lotus flowers, coconuts, garlands, bananas, and ghee. We spent nearly 2 1/2 hours in that temple and could have easily spent the whole day there.

The next a.m. we had breakfast with the neighboring elephant and then headed into the city and saw an incredible palace and ate with the locals and shopped and rode in a rickshaw and auto-rickshaw with views of more churches and temples. The car would not start when it was time to leave so we headeback to the neighboring temple and meditated while the mechanic worked on it. And voila! It started up within an hour.

We were blessed to be taken around by locals who just saw us gazing up at the work of the ceilings and showing us the old parts of the temples and the OFF limit sections and visting the bats and rats and old dwellings that are closed to the public. The car ride back was a little scary. Witnessed several cars and a truck turn over and I was ready to administer first aid.

I'm happy to be back in the ocean today and David Garrigues made it down from Mysore for Kirtan last night but needless to say we were a little late from the drive. Did get to frolic with him in the ocean this late a.m. and he and Julie serenaded me on the beach with their guitar and violin. Live bluegrass here in Kovalam. I felt right at home. It was awesome and quite the scene.

I'm well and loving my time with Lino and grateful to all I have learned from, Nancy and my other teachers. Tim, Nicki and Eddie, and of course Suzy Gill.

I am very excited to share all when I return and until then I wish everyone a very safe and wonderful holiday week. Blessings from 7 degrees North of the equator.

Much love, Randa

Ten days in India

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

I have been in india now just 10 days and feel as though I have been around the world and back. The first week of practice with Lino started with led First Series for 3 days then 2 days of Mysore. Which everyone was asked to do First Series and then always led Primary on Fridays.

The crowd keeps growing. The shala is great. It is up on the roof top of a hotel. Tall roof with bamboo walls that drape from the sides. Proabley 3-4 times of our studio.

The weather is very warm and humid and the Arabian Sea is such a beautiful welcomed relief after practice. It is quite warm too, but feels very good to frolic. And the waves have been amazing for surf.

I have been doing a lot of body surfing and really enjoying myself.

Yesterday I headed to the most Southern tip of India. Kanya Kumari, where the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea all meet. There were many temples and palaces to see along the way. Blessings and offerings were made and bestowed upon me by various monks and the architecture, granite carvings paintings on the ceilings and history was overwhelming. Not to mention the drive

The driving here is surreal. 6 hours in a taxi. Weaving in and out of towns and cities and not more than 3 minutes max would pass and the horn was blown again and again and again. Covered in black soot and had a bit of a headache on my return but it was well worth it.

My time here is very precious and I have already picked up a lot of knowledge from lino. He has an incredibile way of giving. He does not miss a beat.

I sit with him at 5:30 pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for Pranayama and every other Sunday afternoon is technique workshop.

The people intrigue me and I have embarked on an Ayurvedic course, so we will see what happens.

Much love, Randa

Click here for a map of Inida.