Blogs from Pali, Rajasthan, India, Asia

If you ever want to shock an Indian village member, we know the perfect formula. We have perfected it, in fact. First you gather up 50 some camels that need to get to the Pushkar fair and agree to move them in a caravan. Then you plan your route to Pushkar to include moving the caravan through small, remote villages in rural India. This isn’t hard as the route to Pushkar can include all the terrain you can imagine, including bustling villages. This combination alone will get stares of amazement. It will get people to run out of their homes just to catch a glimpse. It will entice children to giggle uncontrollably. And it will make all regular daily activity come to a screeching halt. But if you REALLY want to send people’s disbelief over the ... read more

Never underestimate the power of tea and the community of sharing tea. This is something we learned from the Raika. From the beginning, Dad and I were fully aware of our mission: get these camels to Pushkar in a safe and timely manner. But what we learned is that you get them to the fair in due time and along the way, you take time for tea and you take time for community. This sort of pace is not exactly a large part of our structured, get-these-tasks-finished sort of lifestyle, but we are learning. When it is time for tea and you are in the middle of the desert, making tea can be quite a process. First you have to milk the camel. In order to do this, you must get her baby near her, let ... read more

A few years ago, ok maybe it was a few decades ago, I watched the movie Sliding Doors. The premise was how one tiny decision, like being late for the train or using the stairs instead of the elevator, could have profound effects on the rest of your life effecting every moment that follows thereafter. It was a grand recipe for overthinking to say the least. This movie and it’s premise keeps popping into my head as I try to pinpoint what really got us back to India. It seems like it all started last October when I found myself in the steppes of Mongolia training camels with a crazy bunch of new found friends. We had no idea what to expect from each other, but before the experience was over we just knew we all ... read more

Still caught up in the bureaucratic bits about the next job appointment in China. So we'll enjoy longer stint in India in the meantime. Have been teaching some yoga classes to visitors and also had the very good opportunity to be a student now that some of our inspiring longer time Swamis are leading morning classes. Pot painting has been one of the projects keeping me amused here. Afternoon walks with Tulsiji and the dogs, a bit of horseriding, meals with longer time karma yogis, random moments with resident Artist Mirtaji, sitting with Mataji, practicing harmonium and constantly searching for what mischief the boys are up to fill the days in Jadan. Evenings I'm sleeping more than I ever did. I guess that's the flip side to massive days and low supplies of chocolate!! Seeing things ... read more

Driving from Nandan farms of Sindhudurg in Maharashtra to Castle Bera near Pali in Rajasthan was an interesting journey of 5 days... not that a non-stop drive should take that long.. we planned it that way. We first drove 380kms to Prabha's sister's place in Pune to do some laundry and relax for 2 days... and the drive on the Amboli Ghats was a delight. Being a part of the Deccan plateau and the western ghats whole area was beautiful and apparently it receives the highest rainfall in the western ghats. We then drove to Nashik, relatively a short drive of 220kms, to visit the Mahindra Xylo plant - to see the place where our car was born. The road was being four laned in parts and so the drive took us almost 6 hours. The ... read more