To Ft. Kochin with Love,

You are an amazing city. I adore your narrow cobblestone streets and friendly vendors. Your accessibility and culture make me want to wake up with you day after day. You have shown me a glimpse of how amazing city life in India can be. The way you open yourself up to all races, nationalities, and genders impress me. Everyday in your streets made me fall more and more deeply in love with you. Each new day brought out a different part of your personality. One day you showed me the Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront, the next day you introduced me to a delicious new thali and made my taste buds long for more. There was the day you gave me a great honor and allowed me to take part in the Onam festivities. That day I was able to explore your culture through music, food, dance, and multiple beautifully created flower floor murals. The next morning you opened my eyes to the street vendors and their delicious produce. The taste of brinjol, goas, plantains, lady's fingers and coconut ignited my senses and moisten my taste buds. In the evening you took me on an amazing date to witness Kerala's own Kathakali. It began in ancient Hindu rituals and has now evolved into a unique style of performance art that you have to see to understand. You even introduced me to your family. I met hundreds of your children at Prathysha Bhavan and Don Bosco. Each and everyone of your children brightened my day and made me thankful to be alive and well. You showed me what it is like to stay with a loving family. Living at Costa Gamma Homestay for those two weeks was like being home again. It made me feel safe and loved. You ended our time together with an amazing farewell evening. It was perfect! I was able to play basketball with your children at Don Bosco, watch and participate in a special goodbye program, and drive home to Costa Gama only to be welcomed once more by Benson Gama and his family. I left you in the morning and I don't know if we will ever see each other again. But know the two weeks spent with you was magically and I would not trade it for anything in the world.

Love Always,
Molly

Me with the Onam flower mural Tanner and I helped create!

Chinese fishing nets.

Kathakali...and yes it was strange.

And finally my little Kochin home! I love the Gama Family! Everyone visit Costa Gama!

Aurangabad -> Bombay

After an unimpressive and quite hellish last day in Aurangabad, Tanner and I made our way to the travel agency to board our overnight bus to Bombay. On the way there I encountered a drunken man who decided that he wanted what was on my backpack...little did he know how feisty the girl wearing it was. One direct shove to the upper left shoulder and a very forceful yell and stare into his dead eyes and he was shitting his pants. Tanner of course was by my side within a second but as we have been told it is completely appropriate for a foreign woman to hit a man but if a foreign man hits an Indian man no good is to come of it. So Tanner gave him a stern yell and even more deadly look needless to say the man was shocked and didn't follow us.

After getting jostled we managed to find our travel agency and wait for the next 30 minutes until our bus to arrived. For those of you that know me personally you know how car sick I get...now imagine being on a bus for twelve hours, driving down the worst road you know of, being surrounded by blaring horns, and unnecessary harsh braking and stopping. Okay, you have the mental image ready, now think of me in that situation. You can now understand how apprehensive I was to take the bus. However, it was the only option available at such short notice in our price range. The travel agent assured me that I would not get sick on this "air-suspension", "air-conditioned", "deluxe sleeper bus". Yea right dude! I know myself, I have been in India for six months, and I have experienced every horrible form of transportation India has to offer. Including another horrible long 20 hour bus ride from Hassan to Kochin with Jenny and 45 children. All I could think was, "Gezz I hope this bus ride is better."

So the bus pulls up and my stomach immediately starts churning, I get a nervous bladder, my throat and mouth become dry...I want to back out of the trip.

The bus driver takes Tanner's and my luggage and escorts us to the front door of the bus. Tanner is in front of me so I can't see anything but his back. But once he gets through the doorway all my fears fall to the way-side. It was the cleanest and most baller bus I have ever seen.

Let me explain. You walk through the front door and step on to the bus, no different than any other bus. However, a decorated Plexiglas door separates the driver from the rest of the bus. Once you pass through this door the whole atmosphere changes. You are immediately immersed in velvet curtains, single and double beds, carpet, and soft lights. The right hand side of the bus is occupied by single bunk-beds that are lined up head to foot. Turning to the left side you see double beds lined up the same way. Each bed is separated by a compartment and you can pull velvet, or velvet like, curtains together to get complete privacy from the aisle. I can only imagine this is how music tour buses are in the United States.

Tanner and I had seat 7&8. Which luckily turned out to be the top bunk on the left hand side. We hastily climbed up the ladder and made ourselves at home. At the foot of the bed was a luggage rack midway up the wall. Smart. Our feet could happily nest underneath while our belongings were safely kept out of the aisle and secure from the jostling of the trip ahead. Each side of the bed had it's own light, air conditioning vent, and shared a outlet. What world had I stepped into? Current, air conditioning, personal lights, and to top it all off the most comfortable mattress I have yet to sleep on in all of India!

We settled in, propped up our heads on our sleeping bags, plugged in the laptop, turned off the lights, and settled in for the next twelve hours by watching "World War Z" and cuddling.

After the movie ended Tanner was out but I had to "pee like a racehorse", as my dad would say. But the bathroom stop was only for men, it literally was the side of the road, they wouldn't let me off the bus. The next stop was a bus station about twenty minutes down the road. Tanner escorts me out, as it is now midnight or later, and all we find are stalls open to the outside world covered in human excretion. YUCK! Walking in the dark I carefully try to stay on concrete and what I think it dry. However, I slipped and my right foot went an inch deep into what I can only assume is poop mixed with mud. I curse but must move forward to my destination. I find the last stall, it is piled about a foot high with rubbish, but it is the most removed from sight. I suck it up and squat atop the rubbish pile and for the next two minutes straight my bladder releases. Tanner and I rushed back to the bus and I pulled out my face wipes, yes I know they are not for a poopy foot but hey it works, and took off my shoe, wiped my foot, ankle, and toes. Then hopped back onto the bus where I finished by washing my shoe.

Once my bladder was happy I fell fast asleep in the world's most comfortable bus bed.

This morning Tanner was abruptly woken up by a man patting his head saying, "get off, get off". It was 6:30am and we had apparently reached the place where we get off. We sleepily yet hurriedly packed up all of our belongings and got off the bus to our bags already sitting on the side of the road. Immediately there were tuk-tuk drivers surrounding us, asking where we wanted to go, and trying to place our bags in their tuk-tuks. We figured things out, got overcharged by the driver but finally arrived at the train station where I am writing you now.

We have a six hour wait until our train arrives, we are spending it in the "Upper Class" waiting room. I have decided that since class in India is highly based on skin color, the lighter the better here, Tanner and I are technically upper class :/

The next leg of our journey will be a seventeen hour train ride to Jodpher, Rajasthan. There we will hopefully be taking a break from the hustle and bustle of city life and enjoy some downtime in the desert.

That is it for now but wish us luck on the next few legs of the journey!

Yoga Wrap Up

Day 7 Impression: Today was an off day, meaning that we still had Satsung in the morning and evening and there are still yoga classes if you wanted to go. I attended Satsung and morning yoga class, once you get into a rhythm it is difficult to take a break from it and this rhythm I am in is good for my body and soul. After yoga we had an amazing vegetarian brunch and then I showered and got ready for my big day in the city! It turned out to be a soaking wet day in the city but was nonetheless fun. I went with another yogi to her doctor’s appointment then we went to get her a dress and had fresh pineapple juice. We decided that we would like a treat too. Bad idea! We got jackfruit chips and they made both of our stomachs ache. It was a shock to our system after seven days of homemade fresh healthy food. We both couldn’t eat it and felt ill for the rest of the day. After our stop to eat I was ready to get back to the ashram and go back to the daily routine. We made it in time for afternoon yoga and dinner, yet again an amazing “pure veg” dinner, which for those of you who don’t know “veg” and “pure veg” are very different! :) I was exhausted and skipped out on Satsung and slept like a rock.

Day 8 Impression: Today was Swami Sivananda’s birthday we awoke early as usually to an ungodly loud bell and had a morning puja for him. It was my first puja (a religious ritual performed by Hindus as an offering to various deities, distinguished persons, or special guests) it was very educationally and thought provoking. It lasted almost 2 hours and ended in a celebration of Swami Sivananda’s life and teaches. At the end everyone partook in arteya and took a mound full of sweets on a banana leaf. The whole day was dedicated to him and that evening we watched a video about his life. If you would like to learn more here is a brief reading: http://www.sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection§ion_id=1645

Day 9 Impression -Today started out like any other day at the ashram but after breakfast I went to check my email and I was approached by Colonel Nair, a guest speaker every Sunday. He was in the Indian Army for 40 some years then decided to leave and become spiritual and begin yoga. He also felt the need to start painting again. http://www.nairsart.com/contact.htm These paintings of his are displayed all over the ashram dining hall, and to say the least they are colorful and have interesting brush strokes. But they are nothing that was moving to me or evoked any emotion on my behalf. So anyway he began to talk to me and sat down and said he felt drawn to me because I was a fellow artist and he could feel that I would appreciate his work. He continued for the next hour or so to talk to me about his inspiration and his process while painting. I know it may sound harsh but I was tired and it was my quite time so I was not in the mood to be bothered. He was very kind at first trying to share interests and he even invited me to his home, but there was some strange feeling that I couldn't put my finger on during the conversation. A few minutes later when he was trying to sell me his paintings and pushing me to come to his house to see them I realized that yes he may a kind interesting gentleman but he was just trying to make money off another tourist...sad. Anyway later I found out that he did this to everyone else at the ashram so I didn't feel to bad about saying no and not going.

Day 10 Impression: So today I just felt an overwhelming urge to leave the ashram. It is full of amazing, loving and intelligent people but I don’t feel at home. Some people have been here for months or years and I have realized that even if I am in a completely different country than my loved ones I could never be this removed from them. I also have noticed more than usual my need for physical affection. At the orphanage I was surrounded by 90 girls who gave me multiple hugs and kisses everyday. Then I was able to spend two weeks with Tanner and then to be removed from all physical contact has been really hard for me. I need hugs in my life and I have realized that I personally can be surrounded by loving people in a supportive and loving environment but if I don’t have hugs I get really sad and lonely. So today I focused my meditation time on those people I love and sent them positive thoughts and virtual hugs and it made me feel a bit better but I am glad that my two weeks is almost done and I will get a big hug from the man I love soon!

After day 10 I stopped writing to focus on me. It was a nice ending to the ashram experience and I will post some lovely pictures soon and an overall rating (spoiler alert it is two thumbs up kind of place) as soon as I get a chance. http://www.sivananda.org/neyyardam/contact.html In the meantime please stay tuned for an exciting post about my last week in Ft. Kochi and my business meeting with Envirofit!

The Week of Firsts

The week of firsts! This week has been amazing I have been able to experience some of the many wonders of Indian culture. I bought my first sari, took walks with the girls to a new village, took part in the Independence Day activities, got my first henna tattoo by a villager, made hundreds of balloon animals, I traveled for 20+ hours by public transport straight, I attended my first Indian wedding and I played basketball with teenage Indian boys and lost my big toenail in turn.

So here is my week of firsts in pictures! ENJOY!

Sivananda Yoga - The Next Two Weeks

After a crazy past few months focusing my energy on other people I have decided to take the next two weeks and focus “souly” on myself. I am currently at Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwanthari Ashram in Trirvananthapuram, Kerala. My personal goal is to learn how to relax, gain strength in my bad leg, learn to be still, and possibly explore the option of me teaching children yoga in the future. The schedule here is pretty rigid:

5:20am - Wake up bell
6:00am - Satsang (Group Meditation, Chanting, Talk)
7:30am - Tea Time
8:00am - Asana Class (I’m in the beginner class)
10:00am - First meal of the day (Vegetarian)
11:00am - Karma Yoga (or chores)
12:30pm - Optional Coaching Class
1:30pm - Tea Time with fruit
2:00pm - Lecture
3:30pm - Asana Class
6:00pm - Second Meal (Vegetarian
8:00pm - Satsang
10:30pm - Lights out

My impression on Day 1: It is very quite and peaceful, the meals are simple but good, the dorms are clean, the beds are hard, the showers are cold, it hurts immensely to sit cross-legged that long. Day 1 I just checked in, showered, had dinner and attended Satsang - not much to get an impression on.

Day 2 Impression: Wow I have learned to sleep through bells (not good), and 5:20am is too early! However, today our Satsang was a silent meditative walk. It took us about thirty to forty minutes to reach the Trivandrum Dam and holding lake. We arrived just as the sun rose and chanted for a bit, then sat in silence and appreciated the view and sounds. It was breathtakingly beautiful. By the time we got back I was hungry and sweaty but extremely happy! We had tea and then it was time for the first yoga class (and later in the day I learned that there are actually four types of yoga and this part is just the physical aspect). In class we focused mainly on proper breathing -apparently we all do it wrong! lol After learning the proper breathing technique (breath from your stomach first not your chest, your chest follows after your breath has expanded all of your stomach). Then we began to learn the sun salutation. Of course I thought I already knew this and thought it would be boring and easy. I was wrong. Here they practice Hatha Yoga and the sun salutation is different from what I have been taught. So two hours, many breathes, chanting, sitting in pain and a wandering mind later class was over. Breakfast time! Yum, the same stuff I have been having my whole time in India but after no food for over 15 hours my body was yearning for it. We eat in silence to better focus ourselves and appreciate the food. Apparently it also aids in digestion.

Next was Karma Yoga and I was assigned to do after dinner clean up. Not too shabby.

The coaching class the second day was on what yoga is and the different types and forms. It was nice but extremely boring and the man who lectured was quite bland. Plus everywhere we go we sit on the floor in “a comfortable cross-legged position” yea right. After the injury I had there is no way that sitting cross-legged on a hard concrete floor for an hour or more is comfortable. They say I will get used to it after day 3...it is day 3 and still not used to it!

Anyway tea and another physical yoga class. This class was the same as the morning. They want us to have perfect postures and breathing before we get into anything too crazy...I agree. Yet again I was starving and ready for dinner. My third meal here and I quite enjoy eating in silence. I feel like I taste the food more and do not overeat or under eat. After dinner I had enough time to have a cold shower - ekkk - and then off to sit on the floor for another hour and a half. UHH.

Satsang at night focuses on meditation and chanting and then a brief lecture or quote and explanation of the teachings. I am really tired at this point and almost drift off to sleep but am awoken by “Aum”.

Straight to bed, a bit of journaling and I slept like a rock.

Day 3 Impression: I am still not getting used to waking up in the 5:00am hour but I have some time to get used to it. Sitting still hurts but the meditation is getting better. Instead of focusing on quitting my thoughts and being still I decided to do something that felt right to me so I took my beaded bracelet that Tara gave me and used it sort of like Rosary beads. I went through each bead and sent out a positive thought to someone I loved and then spent the rest of the time focusing on a few people in my life I thought needed some extra positive thoughts. It got me through the meditation and I talked to one of the people I sent thought to and it worked. She had a good day!

That is it for now but I will give you more updates as I have access to the internet in the meantime - Om Santhi Santhi Santhi