Mum and Dad in Mysore - A Dummies Guide

Mysore is actually quite a family environment.  Students come here with their kids all the time and I even know of couple who practiced in their shala with their 2 sons as well as Grandma (and she had a beautiful practice as well!).  Sharath loves children and his kids come into the shala all the time.  His daughter went around once, asking people what their names were when they were upsidedown in headstand :o)

I have never thought that any of my family would come visit me in Mysore so I was pleasantly surprised when a few weeks into my stay here, Dad emails me to say that he and mum were coming for 10 days.  My initial reaction was ’Yeay’, now they may finally understand why coming here, for long stretches of time, is so important to me.  Then, when it hit me that they were actually coming, I panicked ... what was I going to do with them?

Mum’s very cool with doing nothing (which is what I spend most of my time doing here) but Dad likes to see and do new things and I stay away from touristy things here ... plus I sleep at 730pm, which is before dinnertime at home!

Anyway, their trip was a great success and this is because I did the following:

1. Rented my landlord’s backhouse (versus a service apartment / hotel).  This gave them more of a local experience (complete with powercuts and coldish water if the heater wasn’t working properly).
2. Gave them access to a kitchen and stocked up the refrigerator so they could make tea or dinner (if one goes to sleep at 730pm and they have to fend for themselves).  Dad made himself a 5-egg omelette and had lots of pineapple
3. Brought them out to local breakfast places, especially my favourite SBP (secret breakfast place ... named as such so we can go without running into every other yoga student in the shala!) which is a stand by the side of the road where you sit on benches under a plastic tarp and wash your hands with water from a plastic drum.  This place makes the BEST iddly and parotta ... yummy!
4. Introduced them to the locals.  Mum and dad loved meeting my landlord, rickshaw driver, tailor, coconut man etc.  And it was mutual.  Maney, my rickshaw driver, insisted on cooking them a meal and he cooked 2 types of chicken, even though he’s completely vegetarian
5. Introduced them to my yoga friends.  Dad, as curious as ever, grilled everyone on where they came from, what they did for a living, how long they were here for etc.  They obliged graciously and were so warm that mum and dad felt very much at home.
6. Brought them to the shala to watch a Mysore class, as well as a Led Intermediate class.  Dumbfounded is an appropriate word to describe their reaction.  They were confused by the seemingly chaos of a Mysore class ... lots of sweaty people packed into the room, all doing rather random things, with Sharath walking around making people grab their ankles or knees (in some cases) in backbends.  The Led class made better sense because everyone was doing the same thing at the same time.  Dad couldn’t stop talking about how amazingly strong and flexible everyone was ... and some of the poses he couldn’t grasp as even possible to think of, let alone execute with such grace and ease.
   NB. They weren't watching me of course
7. Got them up early and tired them out ... so they didn’t mind sleeping early.  Dad sleeps around 11pm at home, Mum never before midnight ... but they were in bed by 10pm every night here and up around 8am (except for days when they had to come to the shala early).
8. Spread out the shopping (a little bit every day).  Mum loves to window shop; Dad only shops out of necessity; shopping for pleasure doesn’t exist in his world.  So a bit of shopping every day satisfied both sides.
9. Let Dad experience the local barber ... he loved that it only cost him S$1 :o)
10. Took them out on a day trip.  We rented a car to visit 2 temples a few hours drive out of Mysore.  This was great for them to see the surrounding landscape as well as to get out of the city.
11. Got them to bring lots of goodies from home to share with my friends (eg. tau sar piah, pineapple tarts, dark chocolate digestives) and maximised their luggage allowance to bring stuff back to Singapore for me!

Here are some things to take note of though:

1. Too much Indian breakfast is no good.  To his credit, Dad lasted 5 days before he asked for toast and jam).
2. Remember to give them meat! That only hit me when Dad asked if we could have curry for lunch .. as in fish curry, mutton curry or chicken curry.  I realised he wasn’t asking for curry .. he was asking for Meat!

Overall, their trip was an overwhelming success, both for me as well as for them.  They got to see and experience how I live here (what I eat, what I do, where I practice, who I spend my time with) and also managed to do some touristy things and buy souvenirs for people back home.

Mum is already planning her next trip here.  She saw my queen-sized bed and said, ‘Wow, such a big bed .. I can sleep here with you when I come next year’.  She also dropped comments like, ‘No need to do that .. have to save some things for next year’ and ‘Since you come for 3 months, I can come stay with you for a few weeks’.

Here are a few pictures from their trip 

Mum in front of the Shala

Our day trip to Belur

I love this cow shot