When Night is Day and Day is still Day

When you stay in Mysore long enough, you inevitably get pushed to the 1^st batch of students ie start time of 445am.
http://deniseyogajourney.blogspot.com/2010/09/1-sep-08-early-bird-catches-worm.html.
So, even though the start time indicated on your card says 5am, Sharath will say “You come, 445am’’ when he moves you to the 1^st slot.

NB.  The clock in the shala is 15 mins ahead of regular time (do not ask me why this is so as it creates a lot of confusion .. some students end up setting their watches to Shala Time.  Some, like me, don’t ... so even more confusion when you arrange to meet people for lunch or tea etc

When I registered this year, Sharath wrote 530am as my start time.  I was quite happy with that.  That only lasted 2 days though.  On my 3^rd day, I walk into the shala and he looks at me ... ‘’Tomorrow you come early ... 430am is your time”.  2 things flashed into my head:

1. 1^st batch already? So soon!
2.  430am? What happened to 445am?

I am still in ‘rebellion mode’ because I come at 445am (shala time).  Things are definitely starting earlier now because the shala is already almost full by then.  Shala gates open at 430am and some people are there as early as 415am (and they aren’t even kia su Singaporeans cos I’m the only Singaporean here at the moment).  

You must be wondering ... what time do I get up? The answer is – TOO EARLY!!  I used to get up at 345am last time I was here.  There’s a slight problem this year though.  Since I started a regular pranayama practice, I do 45-60min of pranayama every morning before my ashtanga practice.  I leave my house at 415am so I have to get up at 230am! And no, I can’t do pranayama after because I have no discipline to NOT have my 2 coconuts with Guru and/or go for chai with my friends.  Besides, pranayama is great to warm up the body and helps deepen my breath before my ashtanga practice.

So, I try to get to bed at 730pm ... which I realise is even earlier than the time my youngest nephew (Mikey is 1 ½) goes to bed.

To make matters worse, the US Tennis Open was on when I arrived in Mysore.  If you didn’t  know, I am a big tennis fan and especially a Roger Federer fan (although that does not influence my conclusion that Sharath looks like Roger Federer).

I am very fortunate to have cable TV in my house in Mysore plus finding an Indian channel which was telecasting the US Open live.  Hence I was presented with a dilemma ... do I get up to watch the tennis live if I have to get up at 1am to do my pranayama before sneaking in some tennis between 2 and 4.15am?  The answer-  YES .. just do it! I wasn’t rewarded too well by that decision:

• 1^st night - a Federer loss.
• 2^nd night- match postponement due to rain
• 3^rd night - rain delay.

I was so tired that I had to go to bed at 6pm one of those nights.

It’s very strange going to bed when it’s light outside, lots of traffic noise, neighbours clanging around and get up to complete silence and pitch darkness.  Street lighting is quite sparse so you can't see much that early in the morning.  I was walking to the shala at 415am the other morning when a policeman on his motorbike (at least I think he was a policeman) stopped by my side.  “Madam, where are you going so early in the morning?”.  Yoga, I replied.  OK, he said with a shake of his head before driving off.   This morning, I almost walked straight into a little pony who was standing quietly in the middle of the road! Gave me a fright!