Oh boy, I’m tired….Although its moon day I still got up at 5am…I couldn’t sleep anyway, but Girish and I had planned to walk up Chamundi Hill – he came and picked me up at 6am. I must admit, today’s climb was EXTREMELY difficult for me – I was so out of breath, and I could feel my quads with every step. Once we finally made it to the top – I thought I was in heaven ;) We had a lovely coconut and walked around a few minutes before making our way back down the hill.
When I came back to Tina’s I was STARVING! I had some scrambled eggs and a delicious fruit bowl – yum! I then proceeded to have great conversation with several fellow yogi’s – while going through and organizing my pictures from last night’s Odissi dance performance (you betcha – I can multi-task like the best of them.) Ran to Anu’s for a hot second to upload pictures and whatnot – then headed to my Dentist appointment – got me teeth cleaned today J While it’s most definitely not what you would expect in the States, really not bad at all – got my teeth cleaned twice while I was here last year – and must say you gotta find the right Dentist (first one I went to was horrible – but later asked Sharath and he sent me to his Dentist – whom I like very much).
With a clean set of teeth, I made my way to Rashinkar’s for a bit – ordered a sample skirt with a nice cotton flower material – then headed to Archie’s for some lunch. By the time I got back to Tina’s it was already 3pm, and my first Odissi dance lesson started at 4:30pm – so I took advantage of the time to spare and read some more of my most recent book – Damage Control. At 4pm I started heading to Sindhu’s house – about a thirty minute walk from Tina’s – but the walk was quite nice – it was a lovely day outside and I jammed my way there with some good ole tunes by Train!
So, “How was my first lesson?” – It was awesome! Much more detailed and demanding than I’d imagined – but I did know it would be difficult. I’ve never actually learned any type of dance before so I’m really intrigued to do so. Sindhu explained if I work with her five days per week for two months I’ll actually be able to do a dance by the end – five days per week for one month will only give me all the basic tools I need – but I won’t be able to perform a dance (same if I only do three days per week for two months – so I’m gonna give five days per week for two months a go and see what I can learn in that time). That will be pretty demanding on my body – 1 ½ hours yoga per day and 1 ½ hours dancing per day – in addition to the 1 ½ plus hours I spend walking everywhere – must drink lots of water ;)
Today was really interesting though – There is a beautiful opening and closing prayer of sorts (a physical one though using different movements with the body) which has four parts. The first part is a prayer to the gods, then to the earth, then to your teacher, and finally to your audience. You begin and end each session with this prayer – quite beautiful! I also learned the basic masculine and feminine ‘stances’ – and there are ten ‘postures’ to each stance – so basically I’ll be learning 20 different basic postures (but each of these 20 become more and more elaborate as I advance) that I’ll use to move and create a dance. Hope that makes sense. OMG though the stances, the postures are sooooo taxing on the quads – they were burning through the duration of the 1 ½ hour session – and she did tell me the first few days my body would be pretty sore – I most certainly believe it! I also learned ten of the hand gestures, five neck movements, five head movements and a couple other little things. I have to learn the Sanskrit names for each movement, stance, posture, etc….It’s quite a lot – I’m ready for the challenge though – will be so very rewarding.
After class I stayed and had a Chai with Sindhu, her husband Kiran, and their two little children. They are a lovely family and I know I’m really going to enjoy working with Sindhu and getting to know her personally.
On my way home I stopped into Loyal World as I was close by and Jake was grabbing some stuff – we then headed to Green Leaf for a bite to eat. Girish called me over dinner to let me know all materials had arrived from Bangalore, Barti had hired two new tailors, and the work on the bags had begun. He picked me up from Green Leaf to check out the first two bags! To my delight – they were gorgeous! I had purchased the Sari’s last week and was quite happy with my selections (and eagerly waiting for the lining material and zippers and straps to arrive so I could see one complete sample) – must say the stitching work was far better than I could have imagined! Yeah!!!
It’s been quite a long day – and I am just about ready for bed. Another long day awaits me tomorrow – for which I am grateful – I love to stay busy and be productive and also do things I really enjoy (I feel like the luckiest person in the world because I’m able to do all those things here – every second of my days are filled to the brim with things I love to do – couldn’t ask for anything more.)
Tomorrow I’m going to the bank with Ganesh to open an account here in India (as British Airways – for whatever reason, will only issue me a check from India – and only to the passenger (mwah) – and it can only be deposited/cashed through an Indian bank – and here in India you MUST have a bank account to deposit/cash and Indian check….BA has told me it will take about three weeks to process my claim for my stolen items and the ones I had to purchase while waiting ten days for my luggage – how much of the claim they will reimburse to me is up in the air – but I want to have an account ready and waiting when the finally do…Besides, I’m quite certain there will be some issue with obtaining a bank account anyway – its India.) After doing a little Indian banking, Maggie, Joyce, Jake and I will be making way for the Mysore Zoo! Excited? You bet!
Sweet dreams, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite (and if you read my installment on the highlights from Bryson’s book – well that may just have a whole new meaning to you ;)
