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Published: February 7th 2006
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dinner with the three sisters
Here I am with Australian yoga practitioners Kirsten, Jonelle and Nicole at Tiger Trail, the restaurant at my hotel in Mysore. They studied at the Ashtanga Yoga Shala. February 5
It is Sunday afternoon and I am back in Chennai after spending three days in Mysore, a small city in the centre of southern India. It was a seven hour train trip to get there, stopping at the world famous city of Bangalore -- high tech capital of India -- briefly on the way.
Mysore is famous for several things: one of the best climates in India; the many gardens and green spaces that surround it (it is called the Garden City, a refreshing change from "God's Own Country"); the production of silk and sandalwood (did you know they boil worms to get silk? I didn't!!); the yoga shala of ashtanga yoga guru Patabi Jois; and the incredible Maharaja's Palace. I loved it. The air is clean, it is cool-ish in the evening ... and for me, visiting the Maharaja's Palace was a dream come true. I have mentioned on this travel blog before my childhood obsession with the Arabian Nights. I painted huge murals of turrets and genies and flying carpets on my walls, but in Mysore I visited my first REAL Maharaja's Palace and I was not diappointed.
I declined to hire a guide,
and listened to Rimsky-Korsakov's Schzeherazade on my iPod and walked through the ornate, enormous and magical halls of the palace with my mouth open. I felt transported. It was truly one of the best experiences I have had in India. For me, it was like the manifestation of a dream. My mother taught me to believe in dreams and I have hung on to this faith through trial and trauma. Seeing this palace somehow confirmed my faith -- both in the power of dreams and in my the value of listening to my own inner voices, impulses and intuitions.
February 7
I have had a two-day delay due to the start of my yoga training, and I am writing this at lunch time on the second day -- and the school days are very long and very full, but mroe about that later.
So .... Mysore seems like a long time ago already! But I loved the city and the area that it is in, so I will try and cast my mind back.
Mysore is named after a mythical goddess and until independence it was a princely state, headed by a Maharaja (who became the
first governor). It is a seven-hour train trip, almost due west, from the coastal city of Chennai. The train stopped briefly in Banglaroe on the way -- a booming city famous throughout the world as a high-tech centre. Many call centres are located in Bangalore. All of you have probably called here for tech supprot sometime or another, whether you know it or not.
I was pleasantly surprised to see rolling, green hills for most of the trip, and very few towns, villages or people. I even saw some lakes, though in India they are not pleasure centres as they are in Canada (in the summer). I stood at the open door between trains with a couple of Indian men for much of the trip, enjoying the warm air and beautiful scenery, and took loads of pictures (incloding some pics of rocks for my brother in law).
I got to Mysore in the early afternoon. It was sunny and warm, and the evening, later, was a bit cool. Mysore has one of the best climates in India. I checked into my hotel, near the trasin station, and though I had been up since about 5 a.m. to catch
the train, I set out to see the town. I went to the famous covered fruit and vegetable market, and to the silk facotry and the sandalwood factory. I bought a Mysore silk saree, but I had no cash left to buy sandalwood oil. However, I was given a tour of the factory, which was interesting. However, they didn"t allow me to take any pictures. Their production methods are very archaic, so I can't see what they are hiding! But I did learn how labour-intensive the produciton is, which is why it is so expensive I guess. And the factory smells amazing.
Later, I went to the Hotel Metrolpole for tea on my way back to my hotel. Metropole is a beautiful hotel, created recently within a white-pillared mansion, set in a lovely garden. The restaurant is outdoors in the courtyard. I met three great girls from Australia -- nicknamed the three sisters -- who had just been to a month's training at Pattabhi Jois' famous Yoga Shala outside of Mysore. Pattabhi Jois is the founder of Ashtanga Yoga. He is still teaching at age 90. We had a fun dinner together, and I liked the hotel so much
-- and disliked mine so much -- that I moved there the next day. (I negotiated a really great rate!)
The next day I spent the morning at the Maharajah's Palace and then, after lunch, I went shopping. At lunch I listened to live Indian classical music and met a really interesting woman who is writing a Ph.D. on women gurus in India. She has met 65 of them and I asked her who she really liked, as I would like to spend time with a woman guru. She recommended Gurumaaa, who has an ashram near Delhi, so I may go there in March.
I spent the tail end of the afternoon swimming at my hotel, with a really wonderful family who have a retreat about 130 kms from Mysore. It's called Rainforest Retreat, and it is highly recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide.
The next day was my last day in Mysore so I had a car pick me up and I went to the Ashtanga Yoga Shala -- just for a quick peek -- and then I went up Chamundi Hill, which dominates the Mysore "skyline." There is a temple at the top dedicated to
a goddess who slew a demon -- another powerful female Indian goddess. Then I walked part way down, to the site of the big Nanadi Bull, where my driver picked me up. After lunch, I headed back to Chennai, to get ready for school to begin.
I will write much more about Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) and provide pictures in another entry, but I have to say how much I like it already, and how impressed I am with the quality and integrity of the program and the teachers. It definitely feels like the right place for me.
And without saying anything negative, the quality and appropriateness of KYM was brought into sharp relief for me after a visit to the Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Mysore -- which I knew immediately was not the right place for me. To make a long story short, the most western thing I have seen in India was the yoga class I witnessed at the Ashtanga Yoga Shala in Mysore .
But now I have to get to school, so that's it for Mysore. Next time, I want to spend a lot more time there as the place is surrounded by
nature reserves, bird sanctuaries, historical towns, ancient temples and rainforests.
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Deb
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Mysore question
Hey Mariellen -- as usual, great pics. Just curious, how do you pronounce Mysore? Being trapped in my all-Canadian mindset, I keep reading it as "my sore" -- not an appropriate name for such a lovely place. D.