Back In Mysore!!
So, I just finished my third day of practice at the Shala with Guruji, Sharath, and Saraswati. It’s so great to be back in Mysore! I gotta say it has been an interesting last couple of days…
Originally Kwang and I planned to stay at the Sanctuary in Koh Phangan, Thailand till the 9th of September and then travel a bit more in Thailand till the 16th when I was going to come back to Mysore and Kwang was gonna head back to the States. However, I woke up on the 6th and decided it was time to get myself back to India. I missed it so much, and was pretty much over being on a small island in Thailand. Kwang loved the idea b/c it allowed him the chance to come back to Mysore for another week before heading home; and it would save us a good deal of money in the end.
So, we packed up our stuff, checked outta the Sanctuary, and took a taxi boat to Ko Samui. From there we purchased our ticket to Bangkok with Bangkok Airways and took the hour long flight back to Bangkok. Then we spent about two hours trying desperately to get on the evening flight to Bangalore, India; but that ended unsuccessfully! They had seats on the plane but they wouldn’t give them to us b/c no one would endorse our ticket (even though I spent 45 minutes in the Air India office inside the airport talking to the manager who said he would endorse it – but when we finally got to the ticket counter with Thai Airways (it was a joint ticket) he had gone home for the day). Oh well, at least we tried and we almost succeeded in getting to India that day. So we found a hotel and booked for two days as we knew it would take at least that long to get outta Bangkok.
The next day Kwang and I played good tourists and saw a lot of Bangkok – my favorite was the Aquarium, which happens to be the largest in Southeast Asia! Unfortunately both Kwang and I felt very ill all day as we ate some not so good food near the airport in Ko Samui and I think it made us sick. Nonetheless, we still managed to see some sites and get our tickets endorsed at the main Air India office in Bangkok…We opted to get put on Standby the ‘official’ way through their office and we were to try to fly out the next evening, the 8th. So we spent an easy evening in our hotel and the next morning I got up and went to Absolute Yoga to do a led primary series practice. And I must say it was offly nice too, since I missed practice on the 6th due to our scurrying around trying to leave Thailand and the 7th was a moon day. Didn’t do a whole lot with the rest of our day up until 4pm when we checked outta our hotel and headed back to the airport.
We were greeted with great news…We were able to fly out on standby that night – SUCCESS! The flight left around 8pm and we arrived in fabulous Bangalore around 11pm. After getting our luggage we grabbed a taxi and opted to go ahead and make the close to three hour drive that night as I didn’t want to get a hotel room in Bangalore and make the trip the next day. Once we arrived in Bangalore Kwang insisted we stay at the Metropole that night, which cost an arm and a leg, but the beds were amazingly comfy so that made all the difference.
Woke up nice and late Saturday morning and had a little breakfast at the hotel before getting showered up and out the door…Kwang and I went to see Shiva so he could help us find a place to stay. We ended up seeing about five places – and the last one was the winner. It is about a twelve minute walk to the shala a little outta the way from most things, which I am quite fond of (I really enjoy the walk to and from the shala in the mornings, having to walk about ten minutes to get to the center of Gokulam, and in general just a little seclusion – it’s like I ‘live off campus’ so to speak). In addition, the place rocks. I live above a very nice Indian family with two small children. I have one bedroom, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. I also have an enormous balcony all to myself with two couches and two chairs outside and a swinging chair as well…I just love this place and feel very blessed to have found this little gem I will call home for the next three months.
After successfully finding a place to live, Kwang and I met up with our friend and rickshaw driver Girish and he took us back to the hotel to collect our luggage and check out. Then we made our way back to my new pad and while I unpacked a bit and paid my monthly rent Kwang and Girish went to collect the stuff we had in storage (i.e. our towels, blankets etc.). When that was all said and done I went to the shala and paid my fees and then the three of us went to dinner at the green hotel! After a nice easy dinner I was totally exhausted – a very very busy day after so many ‘not at all busy days’. We went home and I passed out.
Sunday morning was the first day the shala was to reopen and Guruji led us in Primary series! I was actually surprised to see how many people there were in the shala on Sunday…All but the far back row was full! I know this first week will likely stay that way but I am sure it will begin to get really busy starting next week. As for practice, well it was truly amazing! So nice to be back in the shala with Guruji and Sharath. Energy is great in the shala as always, the air is fresh and crisp, the breath is loud and the focus (for me) is always so strong here. And the walk to and from the shala ROCKS. The weather is so nice right now – the mornings are cool and breezy and really wake you up, but not too abruptly. I have to wake at 4am again but I don’t mind at all…I actually have shot outta bed everyday thus far – I get up and take a nice bucket bath, and am out the door by 35 or 40 after 4. I get to the shala just about 5am and then go in with everyone else to practice. What is better than that?
Sunday day was spent running tons of errands, which I rather enjoy b/c I like to keep busy and the last month plus in Thailand seemed anything but busy. We ran to drop off laundry, get groceries, get dishes, and get money from the atm. It seemed non-stop till about 5pm when Kwang and I finally got home a stayed put the rest of the day. And yesterday was much of the same but more pleasurable running around. I had ordered some clothes and things to be made while I was in Thailand so I was very eager to get to the tailors yesterday to see how they turned out. All in all I was very happy but there are some changes that need to be made to a number of items – so I’ll give them a few days and then make my way back there – hopefully they can make my stuff the way I want it to be!
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