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Published: December 9th 2007
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Old folks home
My first apartment in Mysore, and fittingly the setting for the eve of my 35th birthday So I think it is fair to say we have reached a more serious part of the programme. One week into Mysore life, and I am really finding it hard to settle into the whole yoga scene. Mysore itself is quite nice really - the Maharaja's Palace is nice, although the 90,000 lightbulbs that twinkle all over it on a Sunday night make it look like a bad disneyland ride. This is the home of silk and sandalwood oil production - and of course, the self proclaimed home of ashtanga yoga. So, as far as I can see there are not a great deal of traveller types who hang around very long - unless yoga is on the agenda.
I have booked a month course, of which I have now completed one week. The teacher is great - really good. No posh yoga shalas here though - it is a bare room with seagrass carpet that fits around 12 people on one sitting. Class is at either 5.30am or 5pm - and I must confess that with the exception of one day, I have been attending the 5pm class. The reason for this was honestly not laziness.. I spent the
Birthday Girl
Me, 35, with party hat and birthday gifts first 4 nights here sleeping on the metal bed in the senior citizens hospice. Which was thoughtfully positioned next to the local Mosque - so even when I was feeling tired and made the room look presentable, the chanting goes on til almost midnight and then starts again at about 4am - which doesnt leave room for a lot of sleep - which made getting up at 5am pretty hard.
On the plus side, our bodies are warmer after being up all day, so being a relative beginner it is good to practice in the evening, as can be adjusted into shape more easily.
Some yoga type said those exact words above to me a couple of days ago, and I am adopting them as the law - until of course I manage to start getting up at 5am next week again..
This was of course birthday week - so as well as practising hard, I did manage a day off on Tuesday where me, Milly and Silas (who didnt leave Mysore and even dabbled in a bit of yoga) took ourselves to a luxury spa and had lunch, and I had a lovely coffee massage treatment that lasted an hour and a half. It was bliss. By that time it was 4:45 and we couldnt make it back for yoga (was in wrong state of mind anyway) and so stayed on for some more food and drinks. Milly and Silas were brilliant and bought me a party hat, a wee cake and some candles, and some indian comic books which are excellent as the tell you the stories of the Hindu gods with really nice illustrations as well. I had thought I would have a very quiet and chilled out bday, but it was actually brilliant - I had a great laugh. Depression about the passing of the years has not hit yet.
Milly and Silas have now finally left Mysore and I am aiming to meet with them in Kerala for New Years. This means that the plan as it stands is to complete the 3 weeks of my yoga course and spend xmas here. The problem is, I really dont think these are my people. My fellow yogis.
I had read a book before I came away about a girl from London, who travels around India trying to find spiritual enlightenment, and her first stop is Mysore. It was an entertaining read, but I remember thinking at the time that there is no way I would ever study yoga here. Yet 3 months into my trip that is exactly what I am doing.
The problem is so many people here just takes themselves sooooooooo seriously. The conversation always always revolves around "your practice", people dropping in the sanskrit names for the poses, people comparing injuries (scarily a lot of them), and also comparing the teachers that they have studied with. Constantly. It is soooooooooooo dull I can hardly bear it. I do get the impression that some of these people are just lost really. They fly from all over the world to come here and study yoga and presumably meet like minded souls - but some of them just dont seem very happy. In fact, quite the opposite.
There are of course some really good people as well to have a laugh with though - a lovely new zealand couple who are staying for a few months and so are going around town trying to buy some household items to do up their room. They amuse me each evening with tales of purchasing new stoves, searches for sauce pans, water filters, etc..in the shopping markets of Mysore. If you live that way you really can live on pennies. I, however, checked out of the old folks home on my birthday actually - figuring enough was enough and have move into Hotel Airlines -and I'm in room 101. And that is not crap attempt at humour, its the real truth. It has a tv and hot water!!!, and I dont even care (it is a bit of a competition to have the cheapest room and hot showers are not the norm - I hadnt had one since Mumbai). All that luxury for 400Rs (5 quid) a night. I think Im having the last laugh.
I had been spending most nights out of the yoga scene and heading into town for a naughty kingfisher beer but when Milly and Silas left, I forced myself to make better yoga friends in my adopted community. As a result, this weekend has been lovely and one of my favourite times in Mysore so far. I went with a bunch of people to a quite swanky hotel and paid to use the pool and have lunch on Saturday. It was really nice afternoon, and we all spent half our time laughing at the really really serious students who all have the most amazing bodies, and strut around in their bikinis doing yoga poses on the grass. Sooooo funny to watch. Today there was no class gain as it is a Moon Day - so no practice (too watery and we may hurt ourselves in practice apparently).
The reason I am staying on here is that I really am loving the yoga, and getting into more poses than before and am really finding that the class goes by really quickly so am reaching a meditative state sometimes - who wouldve thought it. Also, astonishingly, I think this week, plus the two weeks in Goa, have had a very positive effect on my waisteline. So if I take anything from this place it will be with a renewed love of the plastic mat and a slimmer bod for bikini and cocktail time in Kerala.
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