The Land of Kangeroos, Koalas, Possums and Wallabies

… of which I saw none of (not even stuffed toy versions!).  Ironically, the closest I came to was Kangeroo jerky and that was when I arrived in Honolulu.

My first stop after leaving Singapore was Sydney.  I’d been once before, when I was 11.  It was the worst heat wave Australia had experienced in years, with bush fires spontaneously erupting everywhere.  My memories are of dry heat and dead vegetation.  This time Sydney left me with images of brilliant blue skies, green vegetation and water (lots of it).  There were some really cold days (grey, windy and rainy) which kept me indoors but thankfully, most days were lovely.

Being a tourist was never an objective for this trip.  Blame it on my extended time in Mysore but I was quite happy to relax and not do very much.  I was asked many times, “What would you like to do? What do you want to see?’’.  My answer was always, ‘’Er, I don’t know.  Haven’t thought about it’’.  

I did do some touristy stuff in Sydney.  It’s a beautiful city, especially from the water.  I love the use of ferries as a form of transport, even for working people.  I also loved the coastal walks, with beaches being connected by walkways.  I’d walk one way and then use the bus for the return trip.

er ... a beach (can't remember which one)

Another part of the coastal walk - with a cemetary right on the water's edge

Close-up of the cemetary

 

Yoga-wise, my aim of practicing with different teachers and in other studios hit a stumbling block.  On my 3^rd day, I had a bad injury with my shoulder.  It was bad enough that I didn’t practice for the rest of my time in Sydney.  It was awful not being to practice but I actually started to enjoy sleeping in until the sun came up and then … rolling over and go back to sleep when my alarm rang.  I can definitely get used to that! :o)

Another Sydney highlight was getting in touch with dad’s old friends and their families.  Getting the local flavour is always something I treasure about each place I visit.  I’m glad that Sydney was no exception.

Since I now have a camera (on my lovely Samsung Galaxy S2 phone), I did take some photos although I feel the pressure of needing to take some photos to show everyone.

Northern tip of the Gap (I thought it was the store at first) of Sydney harbour

Oceanside view of the Southern tip of Gap

Inside view of the Gap

An old lighthouse - a wedding party arrived for a photo shoot as we were leaving

Sydney Opera House

The famous Sydney Harbour bridge

PS. I have now started drinking coffee again … how can you not in a country with such great coffee.  I think it’s also the quality of the milk.  Having said that, most of the coffee I drank in Sydney was at home and it was… instant!

PPS.  Australia also started a craving for muffins … I was little disappointed in the Aussie muffins as they were

a) smaller

b) tended to have a sugar coating

c) didn’t have wholemeal/bran versions which I prefer

I was looking for these!!

  

Next stop on the hunt for those elusive indigenous animals – Melbourne ...

Life is Short World tour 2012

I have taken this year off to travel.  I call it my ‘’Life is Short world tour 2012’’.

There are a few reasons why I decided to do this.  Some of you know the whole background, others some aspects and yet others just think I’m off yet again, for no apparent reason.

The decision to take this trip happened at the end of 2010, when I returned from Mysore at Christmas.  I gave myself a year to save the money in order to take 2012 off.

A few factors affected me strongly:

• 3 close family friends (my parent’s generation) developed terminal cancer and passed away within 6 months.  I also heard of cancer striking seemingly healthy people in my age group.  It reinforced the fact that life is precious.  You cannot take your good health and that of your loved ones for granted.  Embrace the present, instead of living too much for the future.
  
• I was feeling a little ‘’stuck’’.  I had a comfortable schedule of classes and things were going well.  I am not the greatest self-motivator (ie I’m Lazy) and sometimes I need to shake things up in order to push myself to grow.  I did something similar in 2008 when I quit all my classes and went to India for 5 months.  When I returned, I was forced to start from scratch again … get new classes, market them, build rapport with new students and encourage them to develop a regular practice.
  
• Becoming self-employed was supposed to be flexible.  I can (supposedly) take time off whenever I want to.  However, I’d discovered that I was working nights, weekends and spending all my time off going to Mysore.   I’d always wanted to spend time in London with my brother & his family.  Another unfulfilled aim was practicing with teachers and friends from all over the world that I’d met in Mysore.  Exposing myself to other teaching styles and shala environments would make me a better practitioner and teacher.
  
• Going to Mysore always meant that I had to build up my class numbers upon return.  It takes almost a year to establish a consistent student base.  So, when I decided that I wanted to take some time off in the middle of the 2012 and still go to Mysore end of the year, I figured that I might as well take the whole year off.  It wouldn’t be fair to my students (especially the beginners) to keep coming and going.

So, the result was to buy a Round the World ticket and travel east from Sydney, ending up in London, in time for the Summer Olympics.  Plus, there’s always the lure of Wimbledon and the possibility of watching Roger Federer (my hero) in action :o)

I returned from Mysore March 1 2012.  I had a hectic 2 weeks to organise everything for the trip (eg file my taxes) and to spend as much time as possible with my 4 nephews whom I would miss terribly.

March 17, I left Singapore for Sydney … and hence my tour began …

Mysore x6

I always do a mental sum-up of each Mysore trip.  I thought that this being my 6^th trip, I’d have nothing new to say.  I was wrong.  As repetitive as each Mysore trip can seem to be, it is still full of surprises:

Sharath was different

• Visibly more relaxed and more energetic, even though he was working almost 8 hours straight the shala’s peak.  He joked a lot during class too.  When I went to see him to say good-bye, I told him I wished I understood Kanada ... because if he was so funny in English, he must be absolutely hilarious in his native tongue.
• Giving out more poses that I have ever seen.  He added 3^rd series poses to Led Intermediate class, which had never been done before. 

• Very engaging during conference.  I’ve seen Sharath in conference when it’s obvious he didn’t want to be there.  This year, he kept wanting to talk.  He spoke a lot from the heart, sharing his own experiences from his practice.  That plus his obvious dedication to teaching us really touched me.

Injury is the greatest teacher

This trip was tough because of my shoulder.  You’re forced to deal with discomfort and it’s a struggle to keep going.  The obvious solution is Rest but for me, practice helped.  It wasn’t easy to maintain a pace & intensity that doesn’t make the injury worse.  I have never skipped class but I skipped the last few Led Primary classes because it was too much on my shoulder.  I  did a modified home practice instead (I’m not sure if the one where I fell asleep on my mat twice before giving up counts as a practice though).  You also have to be fully present in every movement you make (a split second of unawareness and you can go over the fine line of good versus bad pain).  Mysore is most conducive for this because you’re largely left on your own anyway.  Sharath creates an environment for you to go deeper into your own practice, which is where truly learning happens.    

New hangout

I wrote a post a few years ago about a great local breakfast place (where people stand-up to eat).  It moved to a sit-down location and was referred to the old stand-up.  In typical confusing Indian evolution, they opened a new stand-up branch not far from its old stand-up location.  The food is great and since we are lazy yoga bums, we always park ourselves across the road on a staircase.  As the stairs are not very clean, we nicknamed the place the Dusty Bottoms Café.

More expensive coconuts

After many years, the price of coconuts have now increased by 2 rupees to 12 (roughly s$0.32)

Cold to Hot

Mysore experienced its coldest winter in over 50 years (12 degrees one night if I’m not wrong).  I also experienced the beginning of the hot season; very dry (17% humidity) and intense.  I left at the end of February .. the heat builds up to its peak in May (I can’t imagine how bad it gets).

Digital Pirates

Dealing in pirated movies and tv series.  With highspeed downloads and lots of time on our hands,  watching movies and tv series which is a great past-time.  I was watching an average of a movie + 2 episodes of a tv series in a day … love it!  It become common for people waiting in front of the shala gates every morning to exchange thumb/hard drives.  I felt like a drug dealer when people asked to get stuff from me.

Chai no more?

I never thought I’d say this … but me (the ultimate chai lover) started to find the milk in the local chai way too rich! That plus ‘’I’m over Indian spices, all I want is a grilled cheese&tomato sandwich” in my 3^rd week in Mysore is a disturbing incident for my long-term Mysore future.

Anti-social

I became a hermit, especially towards the end of my trip.  I got very selective about who I went out to meet and how long I spent outside. I preferred to sit at home by myself and watch a movie.  Was I homesick, bored? With too much time on my hands, I started to analyse Mysore friendships.  They are special because there is no need to explain our weird ashtangi lifestyle ie why our lives revolve around our practice (we sleep early, we don’t eat / drink too much too late etc).  People who come to Mysore are very different and come from multi-cultural backgrounds and varying social hierarchies.  As such, it is sometimes difficult to connect and to grasp underlying values and beliefs.  Mysore becomes a refuge from reality with some people running away from their real lives.  So, many friendships may not go very deep.  I started to miss my friends from home … whose character and values I know so well.  That’s when I knew it was time to go home.  As much as I treasured each morning in the shala, for the first time, I was counting down the days to leaving Mysore

.

This is the most eye-opening Mysore experience I have had to date and the most ‘’negative’’ one.  Having said that, I have already planned to return, September – December 2012.  I guess that only emphasises why Mysore is so important to me … it’s for the Practice.

Indian Men Can Cook

In the traditional Indian culture, men go out to work and women stay home to look after the household.  So in a smaller town like Mysore, all the ‘hotels’ ie restaurants are manned by men who manage, cook, waiter and clean-up.  Young boys work there, but never women.  The only eating places which feature women are those run out of homes, which are seldom formal eating establishments.

When the men get home though, they seldom set foot into the kitchen.  The women are expected to cook, clean and manage the household.  In wealthier homes, there are helpers to assist.  Even though this is changing (as it already has in Singapore), my Indian bachelor friends are still looking for the ideal wife who must know how to cook well and look after her husband & children.  The only difference is that my friends now respect the fact that their wives can work and have her own interests.  This is in additional to the responsibilities of the home though.

So, it’s rare to find Indian men who can cook.  The young men I have met in Mysore rave about their mother’s culinary skills and only attempt to replicate them out of necessity.  They do a good job though, especially in the Chai department (living up to my high standards).

There are a few men however, who cook better than their wives and cook on a regular basis.

As I have mentioned before, my good friend and rickshaw driver, Maney, is the ultimate cook.  He told me that his mum is an excellent cook (I have yet to meet an Indian woman who can’t cook) but he said that his father was also a very good cook who taught him a lot of dishes.  Maney’s wife couldn’t cook when they got married and he had to teach her.  Even now after over 15 years of marriage, he is still the expert.  When he cooks his yummy breakfasts and lunches for us, he is in charge and she is his sous chef.

Prakash (Sharath’s gatekeeper) is from Nepal.  His benefits include 2 meals a day and he sometimes prepares his own lunch.  He makes a mean chapati … rolling them out with great skill (I tried but couldn’t get them symmetrically round) and getting them to puff up so that they are light and fluffy.  Here's a photo of him making Bhindi (ladyfingers) and a video clip of him making chapatis.

Prakash's yummy Bhindi

My landlord Suresh is also a very good cook.  His wife unfortunately isn’t well so he has to prepare and cook the meals as well as look after the other household duties.  Both Suresh and Maney are very health conscious, staying away from sweets, fried food and other ‘’unhealthy’’ foods.  This really surprised me as India is the land of sugar and ghee.

Maney started giving cooking lessons to some yoga students after many fell in love with his light yet super tasty dishes.  I don’t like coconut chutney which is a staple with every Indian breakfast item (dosa, idly, vada, noodles .. you name it) but Maney’s coconut chutney I love.  His use of spices give his food a very well-rounded, subtle taste, with nothing overpowering anything else.  Most importantly, his food tastes as all the best dishes should ..home-cooked and prepared with love.  His knowledge of all the ingredients is amazing, not only what their properties are but how they should be prepared when combined with other ingredients.

Maney usually cooks at home then delivers the food.  On this trip, he came to cook a few dishes in my kitchen because I offered to help him write out the recipes for him.  It was great watching him in action – he made it look so easy, the sign of a true expert.

Maney's spice boxes (a staple in every Indian kitchen)

Maney making my favourite Tomato Chutney

Our instruments of choice - Maney's knife&chopping board and my laptop

Here are 2 clips (part1&2) of Maney making Dosa

I will now answer the obvious question … No, I still cannot cook! :o)

PS.  I sometimes go to the Sri Durga stand-up for chai after practice.  They open at 6am so sometimes I am there when they are preparing to open.  The guy made me make my own chai the other day.  He also ordered me into the kitchen one freezing morning to stand by the big 'table' they fry the dosas on ... to get warm :o)

The Sri Durga stand-up

My Sri Durga Chai Man boiling a huge pot of milk before adding the never-missing ingredient, Sugar.  It's cool how there's a tree growing in the kitchenn and out through the roof

I am a Singaporean .. I can follow instructions

Sri Durga gives credit notes when they don't have coins - no expiry date! If it's only 1 rupee, you get a sweet

Gong Xi Fa ‘Chai’

 … an appropriate Chinese New Year greeting from India, where Chai is a staple.

Chinese New Year has never been a big event for my family (for us it’s Christmas) and I have never been a fan of the noisy red&gold celebrations and goodies .  No pineapple tarts, cookies or BBQ pork for me although I do eat a lot of kua ji (pumpkin seeds), mandarin oranges and Yu Shang (the traditional New Year tossed salad).

I did have a wonderful New Year’s eve party hosted by a KL girl.  She and another Malaysian girl made an amazing Yu Shang, adjusting perfectly to the lack of the proper ingredients.  There was pomegranate, red peppers, crushed crispy roti (instead of crackers) and a sweet sauce made from apricot jam, plum juice and honey.  It was very yummy!!  The highlight of the evening was a fireworks displayed which was a treat for me ( I’m deprived of any firework memories since they are banned in Singapore).  It was an awesome display of flashing coloured sparks, lots of noise although the falling shrapnel  had people running for cover.  The next neighbour complained immediately even though it was only 730pm and the noise lasted a short 5 minutes.  She ‘’didn’t care’’ that it was a Chinese New Year celebration.  Obviously there are some double standards being applied since Diwali firework noise last about 2 weeks!

2 other exciting things happened in my usual uneventful Mysore life this past week:

One was my first visit to a dentist here.  The privately-run Vikram group of hospitals operate Vikram Perfect – Shape, Skin and Smile ie body and face asthetics plus dental care.  I had heard positive reports about the modern and clean dental facilities, plus how cheap it is compared to the West so I figured I’d check a filling that was causing me some discomfort and get a cleaning at the same time.

I was impressed by the service of the staff there – the welcome, registration process as well as the attention from the doctors and nurses.  The equipment was indeed clean and modern-looking but it felt primitive compared to what Singapore offers nowadays – it was similar to what I experienced when I was in school.  The doctors had lovely bedside manner, “Madam, if you experience any sensitivity during the cleaning, please raise your left hand and I will stop”, “Madam, would you like me to stop for you to take a rest” (ie do you want to close your mouth for a while).  The nurse diligently held the tube sucking out the saliva from my mouth and dabbed at the water spraying all over my face but neglected to see how the water dribbled down both sides of my neck, leaving my collar soaked by the end of the session.  The doctor also raised the back of the chair so I could rinse my mouth but didn’t lower the leg part so I had to do a sit-up in order to sit upright.

All in all, it was a pleasant experience and definitely easier on the pocket (consultation, scaling and polishing only cost S$24).

The second event was Guru’s coconut stand being taken.  For those who don't know, this entry describes my relationship with Guru, my coconut man

This is what it used to look like, from the side - take note of the trees providing shade

After having my usual 2 coconuts at Guru’s after practice one morning, I was amazed to see (on Facebook, none the less) pictures of the coconut stand being dismantled.  We drove by later in the afternoon to see that Guru’s little stand had been moved back away from the junction and the 2 trees providing shade had been chopped down.  I have heard different reasons for why this happened.  One was safety reasons as the stand was too close to the junction and customers parking their bikes obstructed traffic turning.  Another was that other locals were jealous of Guru’s booming business and complained to the Police.

Regardless of the reasons, we were just happy to see that he was continuing business.  By the next day, he had a canopy erected for shade.  I was also there when he was overseeing a group of young boys and men moving a big concrete slab to create a bridge over the drain and moving earth to level off the ground.

So hot without the trees

Guru's little shack - he has a burner inside to make his chai .. would definitely  fail any fire safety standards!

The new location - lots of space in front.  Looks ugly without the trees though

 So, it’s been an exciting week in Mysore.  Here are some pictures:

Yu Sheng - Mysore-style

Take cover , these are Chinese fireworks

Cows coloured for a harvest festival

Mysore 2011 Part 2 – The Return of the Jedi

For the first time in my 6 trips to Mysore, I broke my trip into 2 parts.  After 2 months, I went home for a 12-day Xmas break and then returned to Mysore Dec28 for another 2 month stint.

The title ‘Return of the Jedi’ just popped into my head.  I’m sure spending time with my nephews in Toys R Us before Christmas (the Star Wars section of course) and seeing their excitement over their Star Wars toys, decals for their room etc influenced me.  It could also have been the black strips of Physio tape on my shoulder and arm (my right shoulder’s not very happy with me at the moment), which made me look like a Darth Vadar’s droid who failed the factory inspection test.

‘’The Empire Strikes back’’ did strike me as a possible title but that had an ominous overtone to it.   I’d like to think of myself as a returning ‘good’ warrior rather than someone out to do battle with Sharath or worse, vice versa.

Having a break in the practice was an interesting experience.  For me, it takes about a month after arriving in Mysore to get my practice up to a steady level.  Then it progresses slowly from the 2^nd month onwards.  So, taking a break from practice in the shala to a comparatively hectic life of catching up with family and friends in Singapore (with lots of rain and ‘ponding’) was terrible from a practice-perspective.  Plus, I was teaching a few classes as well.  I hardly practiced ; a combination of a sore shoulder, not enough sleep, too much food and wanting to spend time with my nieces and nephews.  It was tough to see my practice plummet to such depths of pathetic-ness but I had no regrets – it was great to be home for the holidays.

It was also an interesting experiment to see if Rest would help my shoulder.  My conclusion – No, not for me.  Not practicing made me feel stiff and my shoulder felt frozen.  Once I started practicing in the shala though, it’s been getting better each day although I’m not back to normal yet.

When I arrived back in Mysore, it was after the coldest week where temperatures hit 7 degrees one night (the coldest in 118 years, so my landlord said).  My teeth were chattering as I stood in front of the Immigration officer that night (16 degrees I think it was).  Winter is now over apparently and it’s now going to get progressively hotter, starting to be unbearable from March.  For now, it’s perfect … cool in the mornings and evenings and warm in the day, minus the heavy humidity of Singapore.

Another first this year … I’d never been in Mysore in January or February before so it’s a different set of regulars.  I am also finding myself in the position of saying Good-bye as people leave.  I felt homesick for the first time as a lot of my ‘gang’ is leaving this coming week and I got a sms from my sister saying that it had been a tough day with the boys.  For a minute I wished I was home helping her out.

Although this is ‘peak’ season, there are so many people this year that the last practitioners are finishing after 12pm!  People who have registered to practice with Sharath have been asked if they would consider practicing with his mum, Saraswati, instead.  Sharath is saying No to anyone asking to extend their stay.  In fact, when my friend told him she was leaving early, he said Thank You.  Another friend from Mumbai was asked to go home and come back in July.  A new rule has also just been posted that the maximum stay is now 3 months (it used to be 6).

I also have no more stockings to occupy me so my current indulgent past-time is watching movies on my laptop.  I know it was what I was doing before but now I can fully concentrate on them without using them as an accompliment for something else.  I am glad I didn’t bring that unfinished cross-stich with me :o)

So, I have realised that coming back after a break isn’t just picking up where I left it.  It’s almost like a whole new trip.  Yet, some things stay the same – getting up every morning, walking to the shala, doing my practice, getting my 2 coconuts from Guru, then walking home to clean-up.  It’s a routine that keeps me stable through the variable elements in the environment around me.  I am very lucky to be here again for another 2 months.  Hhmm .. maybe I should change the title to the first Star Wars movie which is …  A New Hope.

Some interesting photos:

The light-up of the Club behind my house for New Year's Eve

Food coma after a Maney lunch

A very inconsiderate thing to order ... Paper Dosa.
My poor friend has no space for his food

Hello Good-Bye

In Mysore, you are also saying Good-bye to people leaving and Hello to the new arrivals.  It’s expected but I never get used to it, plus I hate good-byes.  Social dynamics (who you see during and after practice, who you go to breakfast &lunch with and who you hang out with) depend to a large extent on what time you practice.  If you’re done with practice at 6am, chances are you will not be waiting to have breakfast with someone who only starts practice at 9am.  So, you tend to mingle more with your friends who practice around the same time as you.  And if you don’t hang out at the common eating places, it’s not uncommon to miss even seeing people.

As we near the end of the 2^nd month of practice, we approach another changeover  ie. people who only signed up for 2 months are leaving, leaving gaps in the shala.  It happens at the end of every month but as we approach Christmas, more people are leaving now versus the end of the 1^st month.  January and February are typically the ‘’peak’’ months but it’s unusually packed this year.  The Led Intermediate class has been full the last 2 weeks (ie all 4 rows on the carpet + the last half row on the marble floor).  In comparison, last year, there were a few classes where there were only 2 rows who started and about 4 people who finished the full Intermediate series.

Sharath has already started  to move people up to earlier time slots, allowing for the new people to come in.  He’s working a long day; the 1^st batch starts 430am and right now, the last batch is starting at 915am (so he’s in the shala till almost 11am, which is over 6 hours).  Don’t forget that he’s up at 1am to do his own practice before he starts teaching us!

I know I haven’t been written in a while but I have good reasons:

- I was busy sewing to meet my 3 Christmas stockings in 2 months deadline.  Thank goodness for laptops, thumbdrives and downloadable&sharable movies and TV programs to keep me company.

- I was also asked by Sharath to assist in the Shala for the 2^nd month.  It was really weird because he asked me about 2 weeks into my 1^st month, after he helped me in out of a pose.  Very random.  Because he didn’t move away, I landed awkwardly and I was so blur, I had no idea what he was talking about.

My reaction … disbelief followed by awe then as realisation set in … fear!

So my 2^nd month has been something I have never experienced in all my previous visits here.  I assist from 430-630am and then wait for a spot in the shala to open up before starting my own practice.

It didn’t help that my shoulder started acting up again.  Lifting legs (sometimes higher than my head and sometimes very heavy legs of very tall people) wasn’t ideal to ‘’rest’’ my shoulder.  It was pretty awful the 1^st few weeks so much so I went to do a MRI (‘’frying’’ my credit card in the process because I forgot to take it out of my pocket .. haha).  To cut a long story short, practice has been quite hard the last 3 weeks.  I am able to take it easier in Mysore classes but for Led classes (especially Led Intermediate), it’s pure survival mode.  Definitely not a pretty practice; actually quite ugly :o)

The assisting has definitely been an experience.  Just being in the room and observing what is going on from another perspective is amazing in itself.  As with everything, there are positive and some scary aspects but overall an honour and definitely a key Mysore memory.

It’s nice to be able to watch Sharath adjust. He makes everything look so effortless.  He knows exactly what is going on in the room and he also watches the assistants as well.  With his sense of humour, he teases a lot … told 2 assistants that if any of them managed to bind a larger guy in a pose (which he’s been stuck at for over 5 years), he’d buy them pizza for a week!  He will scold us too, if we adjust in a way he’s not happy with or if we’re doing something he deems incorrect.  I have been lucky so far .. haven’t been scolded or fired!

Tomorrow is my last day of assisting.  It’s a shame that it took about 2 weeks to get used to the people and vice versa.  I think it’ll take a little longer to sort out what’s happened this last month in my head too :o)

PS.  Finished my stockings with a week to spare, so set up my Christmas card photo before I give them away :)

Merry Christmas from India

The shot with the local bystanders

The final cropped shot, cutting out the local bystanders :)