Leaving Mysuru after 4 weeks

Yesterday morning, Tuesday, I could not bind Supta Kurmasana, (see previous post...), but my practice was still good.

For breakfast I went to the Green Leaf restaurant and had Bisibali Bhat, which they only serve on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. Leena had been craving it when we arrived in Mysore, but could not find anywhere that served it. It is like a soup with vegetables and rice in it. Tina said she would give me the recipe.

In the afternoon I had my third and last cooking class with Tina. The cooking class was supposed to be on Wednesday, but was moved ahead. This was going to create a little problem for me... see later. We made idli's and the sambhar and coconut chutney that goes with it. We also made masala dosa's. Idli and Dosa are made from the same batter, which is lentils and rice soaked in water and then liquidized in a blender. Normally masala would refer to spices, when used like masala chai, masala aloo etc, but when referring to masala dosa, the word masala means the dosa has been stuffed and this could be potatoe (aloo) or cauliflower (gobi) etc. Both idli and dosa's are breakfast dishes. You can also get plain dosa, set dosa, which is thicker and contains some bicarbonate of soda, and you get rava dosa, which are made from semolina instead.

After the cooking course I got ready for my yoga class at the Mysore Mandala Shala with Sheshadri. (I have commented on Sheshadri in the previous post already: In trouble with the law) Before going to the shala, I searched one last time for the idli man, the place that Michael had taken us to for breakfast one day and which served the big dosa's.... I finally found it... so guess what tomorrow morning is idli for breakfast :-).

The yoga drop-in class cost Rs 400 and we were 15 students in the room. Sheshadri is quite small, but he shouts at people too, just like guruji and Sharath :-). He started counting us through Surya Namaskara A and the first repetition of B. We then continued Mysore style (on our own) and he would walk around adjusting and assisting people. The students were all of very different levels, some were doing the second series, whereas others were using a printed page to try and remember the sequence of asanas in the primary series. Sheshadri was very good... I would get into a difficult pose and saw him walking toward me and I would feel apprehensive because I was worried he would push me too far, but I was never in any pain and he pushed me further than I have ever been in many postures, especially Marichyasana D and Supta Kurmasana. Yes, this time, with his help I bound the posture completely with my head under my crossed ankles...
The fact that I had eaten idli's and masala dosa's 2 hours before the practice was not very good though.

Today's practice was ok... I was not too tired, but because we ran out of water at home I was quite dehydrated... (There are no shops open at 6 am to go and buy a bottle of water.)

After practice, Jay, Myra, Lori and I drove to the idli man for breakfast... It was as good as we had expected again. This time we took lots of photo's to capture the good memories :-).

Today I have collected my tailored clothes, then I packed, but I have not weighed my bag yet. I cannot be overweight, as I still have 2 domestic flights and an international flight, all with different airlines. I have made a package of most of my books as could post 5 kg for Rs 350, but this is a special rate for books only, so I have to take the books to a tailor, who will wrap the books in a see through plastic bag first, then stitch cloth around it, leaving a small window free to prove that it is only books at the post office.
I also considered buying some chai (tea) spices today before I leave (I have made enquiries as to which is the best one), but because I am not sure how much my bag is weighing, I thought I better refrain.

I also had my final sanskrit class today... we had a test... did not study and it went well. We can now write words in sanskrit if I know the spelling of the word with our alphabet, but the word means nothing to me... The next course would teach us how to create sentences, but we would still not know the meaning of the words unless we used a dictionary.
The language spoken here, Kanada, uses a different alphabet to sanskrit, but Hindi, does use the sanskrit alphabet, but the words are different to sanskrit.

In the evening I phoned a bus company in Delhi (travel agents were not able to book buses) to find out what time the buses to McLeod Ganj (13 hours) were leaving Delhi and if there were seats available. Most tourists take a train or hire a car, because buses are dangerous, but since I am travelling alone hiring a car is too expensive and the train tickets are still waitlisted. I had bought 2 train tickets one for the first of March and one for the second of March just to see when I could get on the train. The bus is turning out to be cheaper and it is more convenient than the train, because after the 12 hour trip to Pathankot, I would still have to take another bus to McLeod Ganj for 4 hours. Since the railway company charges 25% of the ticket fare if cancelling a train ticket less than 24 hours before scheduled departure, I had to go cancel my tickets tonight and take the risk of trying to get on the bus in Delhi tomorrow.
On the way home I got stopped by traffic cops, for not wearing a helmet and charged Rs 100 fine... I am glad it was only that because I also did not have my driver's license, which they asked for...

Tomorrow I will be doing my practice, shower, eat, return the gas cooker, mattress and Scooter to Randy and then go to the train station where I will catch the eleven o'clock tipu express to Bangalore, arriving at around 14:00 and then at 16:00 my plane to Delhi leaves arriving at 18:40. It is all very tight, but if all goes well I will have just enough time to make the bus station and buy a ticket and get on the bus before 20:15.

I am feeling a little sad about leaving Mysore, as it has been home for a month and it is a very beautiful place, but I am also starting to look forward to going home now. I have been away for 5 weeks now and I have achieved what I set out to do for this trip. The next week is a little bonus of travelling, but I did receive an email today from a woman who is in Daramsala / McLeod Ganj and she reported that it is very cold and has been raining constantly. When I left SA, I had not planned my week off, and expecting India to be hot I did not pack any warm clothes...