One month of routine brings about some interesting observations of indian life.

For the last month i have been doing my yoga teacher training in Mysore and have observed some really interesting aspects of Indian life which wanted to share with you all.

Loud 4 am happenings

My mornings generally began at 4:15am wake up - you can normally hear chanting coming from some random window throughout the neighbourhood - both Local and foreigners. I would leave my house by 5 to get to the shala by 5:15am on the way to the shala I would pass by groups of shadows on their way to the temples to pay their respect with a morning chant and prayer. Some mornings a procession would be roaming the streets of Gouklum with horns and drums chanting to some Deity of that particular day. Passer-byers would see cows on the street and stop to worship the cow, patting its head, and walking around it.

Cleaning ritual

Every morning the servants of Goklum are busy outside washing down the drive way and sweeping up leaves to make way for the days beautiful chalk drawing on the ground - each house has an amazing design in front of their drive way to ward off evil spirits. On the Indian New Years they went one notch higher by adding amazing bright colours with well wishes written in both Hindi and English, we didnt even realise it was the new year until 5am procession rolled through the neighbourhood playing loud music, every household was decorated beautifully with leaves, flowers, and chalkdrawings - people rushed around the neighbourhood exchanging gifts and giving out a mixture of indian sweets to bring in a sweet new year - it was like Halloween Indian style.

Rubbish collection - people power

Families from the local slums put on their green shirts and come to the richer suburbs like goklum to collect and sort through rubbish. Each household leaves their rubbish by the gate to be collected, the green shirt people then come and sort the piles into recyclable and non-recyclable - taking the recyclable to a collecting agent in exchange for some rupies - i hear the average wage is 45rps in one day - which is nothing - 1USD. People power is common in countries like India - where as in the west we would use machines to do manual labour task, here they use people - mixing cement, collecting rubbish, taking milk and curd from the local farms to the houses by bike, man standing on the road ironing clothing using an old fashion coal iron, washing machines - i dont think so...local ladies from the slums come and knock on your door "laundry mamm", there is no tuckshop truck but there is a lady who cooks curries and chapatis by the pot full and carries them on her head to the local construction site to feed the hungry workers.

Interesting noises of India

Often you will hear a saxophone like noise outside your window - be careful not to stick your head out and be caught looking or else you are obliged to give money to the man with the holly cow. These guys are so funny - two guys busted me taking photos and wouldnt leave my house for 10mins as they blasted their horns and laughed. These guys walk around the neighbourhood playing the tamil version of the saxophone with their beautifully decorated cows standing at peoples driveways until someone comes out and gives them money.

The holly men are the same, minus the horns, they stand at the driveways tapping their little chimes waiting for someone to give them some money.

The vegetable/fruit men with their trays on wheels full of vegetables singing a song - papayyyyyyyaaaaaaaa....

The dude who has 108 different household items jam packed on his bicycle singing a song about buckets....

Yogic behaviour

Some "yogis" (i say this coz thats how they like to refer to themselves - but very rearely do you actually meet a really yogi in the true sense) studying at the Pattabhi Jois Shala are a little strange - strange diets, cultish like behaviours - they wont say hi to you unless u have been studying at the Jois shala for years and are up to second series +, some walk around with a pole up there ass of course with perfect posture, they pay 600 Euros for one month of training where they are in a room jam packed with people, no adjustments and no personal attention - most love the prestige that comes with the label of "The main Shala".

Chanting, meditation, charity work, healthy eating, diet discussions, discussions on the sutras, discussions on the world, discussions discussions, everyone is discussing something or being silent within themselves, Mysore has created a great atmosphere to take a time out and do things you love to do. Apart from the two ass grabbing incidents I have really enjoyed my time here and have met some really beautiful people. Good bye Mysore.

AIDS in India

Eyes open to what is goin on but not sure what i am suppose to do with the information so i will write this and hope that it reaches out.

After doing some volunteer work with Operation Shanti and having many conversations with other foreigners doing volunteer work with other Not For Profit organisations i have learnt a lot about AIDS in India and would like to share my experience with you all.

Operation Shanti helps the worst of the worst - prostitutes, street kids, street people with AIDS. The project i undertook was to accompany an AIDS victim who was 8 months pregnant to her appointments to ensure she received the proper care so her unborn baby would be born with a higher chance of not contracting this deadly virus. The obstacles, lectures, and costs behind this task is enough to make someone not get treatment carrying forward the vicious cycle.

As i sat there day after day with this women and her 4 year old son - it sadden me to know that birth can land one in a horrible situation to begin with - and how fortunate we are to be born not only healthy but with a great start to life.

We take life for granted abusing our bodies with drugs, alcohol, and unhealthy lifestyles. We are so consumed by our egos for the bigger better best, that we become so out of touch with reality and the condition around us - there are people dying in the streets, children who have to work, beg, steal, to live - while we are so concerned about who will get voted off big brother or oh i wonder when the next i-phone will come out. Instead of feeding the ego why don't we feed the soul - if you cant go out there and help from the grassroots, support a cause that can. Instead of indulging in the external joy - why dont we worship our inner self and listen to what the body and soul is trying to say to us. Sure it is easy to speak these words, but all it takes is just one person doing something small every day to feed the soul, getting back in touch with our true beings - 1 hr of yoga, 30 mins of meditation, 30mins of listening to easy music resting the mind from the noises of the day - back to AIDS...

The patient.

The first day i met the patient she begged me for money and food - she was so conditioned that it was an automatic response in the presence of a foreigner - i was warned not to get emotional attached to the patient as it would break the work of the Organisation.

She is 28years old but looked far older in her frail state. She was the second wife and has four children (all are clean of the virus - 13 yr and 12yr old boys are on the streets working, 10yr old girl lives in the operation shanti home, and the four year old boy lives with her) husband lives with the first wife and doesn't support her, she contracted the AIDS virus 2 years ago, details were unclear as to how she contracted the disease.

There was such darkness and emptiness in her eyes, you could see that she had a hard life since she was born - but when she looked into the eyes of her son there was a spark almost like a reason to live - these moments were hard to witness as I knew that this child and unborn child would not have their mother for too much longer.

The more test we had to do and the more places we had to go was sending the patient crazy - it was functioning chaos - each time we thought we were closer to the end then we would find out some result and have to redo several test at a new hospital. She couldn't understand why she needed to take so many meds and have so many test and no body was explaining anything - each time we visited a new doctor she was scolded for irresponsibility - At first I thought they were scolding her because they were against AIDS patients having babies, but I soon began to realise it was because she already had 4 children which she could not care for.

The councilor
She was a young well educated upper class Indian lady who worked with pregnant AIDS patients at both Mission hospital and Ashakera AIDS hospital. The first day I took the patient to see the councilor, which turned out to be a bit of an ordeal - it was like a mother telling off a child - she kept pushing aborting the baby - to me this was strange as it is a life and didnt think this was an option, i basically had to cut in and stop her from pushing this point at it was upsetting the patient - incidents like this frustrated me as i wasnt sure what stand i am meant to take, it was best to remain neutral and centred. After about 30mins of lecturing, the councilor turned to me and told me: how irresponsible she is that she knew she had AIDS and still had sex without a condom, that she is a prostitute and is a danger to her children.

She then went further to tell me about the life of prostitutes, that it was cheaper for someone to have sex without a condom (only 10 ruppies - cheaper than a bottle of water) it cost more for a men to have sex with a condom so most rather save the money and take the risk, Men work in the cities and have sex with prostitutes then go home and have sex with their wife who then falls pregnant and the baby is born without the mother knowing that she is HIV infected. I've heard many cases like this and worst - baby girls being sold off to whore houses, village girls being human trafficked gang raped then forced into prostitution - then getting rescued and not wanting to leave the trade because of the ashamed disgraced feeling and low self esteem to return to their families.

There are so many NGO and NFP out there helping to fight these social evils - if you get the chance please help and support by either donating time or money.

www.operation-shanti.org/

Hampi - playing in the boulders and then some....

Nameste virtual travellers.

Hampi was truely a great end of 09 and start to 2010. The scenery looked like something out of Jurassic park endless rolling hills with massive boulders scattered all around. The ruins had amazing stone carvings which were a cross between worshiping the deities and full on tantric sex porn - not sure what was going on during the 1500s but someone had to get these images from somewhere right?

I spent a few days climbing through the boulders and ruins, afternoons by the riverside or lounging at the guesthouse filled with great conversation and atmosphere, and nights chilling over nice dinners and flicks on the big screen at the Tibetan restaurant. Hampi was truly the place to unwind and readjust.

Calling in the new year...
We had a chilled out party at the guesthouse, listening to music, conversation and relaxed vibes, several of the rock climbers invested in 6000rps worth of fireworks - groups of people would climb high into the boulders and set up the fireworks away from the 100 riot police who were located around the village to bust foreigners with illegal substances, at the stoke of midnight a vast show of magic lite up the sky as everyone cheered the new year in. A sense of contentment swept over the village as everyone welcomed the new year and the travel adventures which awaited them.

The first day of 2010
We lazily woke up to the first day of the year, bright blue skies made this the perfect day to cruse the country side on motorcycles. After a yummy breakfast we set off for the reservoir for a swim and some cliff jumping - how refreshing and relaxing - well so we thought, after about 20mins of tranquility the locals started surround the area - it was bizarre - these men just came to stare at the foreigners swimming, i would have totally understood it if we were all in Bikinis but i was the only girl and i was fully clothed and the guys were all in shorts. These men just had nothing better to do but watch, after 15mins of feeling like circus freaks we decided to leave, my friend and I were climbing down from a boulder when one of the guys approached us really quickly, my mate was about to punch this guy and he was standing in a threatening way over some of our bags - he had a look in his eye which made us all feel weirded out. After we started walking they came in really close and were practically walking right on our feet. My friend forgot his sunglasses so he went back, then local guy who approached my friend and i when we jumped off the boulder was holding my friends sunglasses and said if u want to get them back give me a kiss, my friend went to grab his glasses when the fat guy swang them behind his back and grabbed my friends crotch. My friend grabbed his glasses and came back and told us what happened when we turned to look at them the fat guy was grabbing his crotch - groosssssss.....we could work out WTF so we jumped on our bikes as we looked around and there were about 50 other local men standing around being all macho. We went to Hanging rock for lunch and the fat guy followed us - while we ate he let down the tire of my friends bike and they left. It was really strange we were not sure if the guys were doing it because they were gay or if they just wanted to see if they could freak the foreigners out. It wasn't until we were riding more that we noticed that there were just groups of men out hassling foreigners all over the countryside, in the afternoon my friend bumped into the same group of men and he said how about a kiss - my friend clicked it and said $%$# do you want me to call the police - the guy freaked out and said "please no i can go to jail for this" - I've heard numerous stories about men shoving fingers down women's pants as they are walking, or riding past on scooters and grabbing boobs... lesson for today: some Indian men behave like 16 year old pubescent boys, the rule is to shame them infront of their friends...

Apart from that incident we had a fantastic day cruising through the country side and seeing the sites, totally magical - the air flowing through your hair, the sun on your skin, and nothing to worry about, well apart from the motorbike potentially breaking down....that nite i bid hampi and my new friends a fond farewell as i hit the road bound for mysore...