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...

Last led yoga class in Mysore and movie night

Saturday the 24th, was the day off and I really did not do anything, no stretching and no exercises... I really needed the break. (I usually do stretch and do some additional exercises before going to bed.)
Yesterday morning, Sunday, was my last led class in Mysore, as I am leaving a day early and missing Friday's led class. I also noticed this morning that the shala was getting a lot emptier, and the tailors around town, who do a lot of work for the Yoga tourists, are saying that this will be there last really busy week. Guruji is also closing his shala on the 14th of March to go on another world tour. I don't know exactly where he is going except that he will be in the USA to open a new shala there.

Saturday, I had a lazy day and basically just shopped around town... Stores close around lunch time and open again either 15:00 or 16:30 and then stay open again until 21:30. At 13:00 there was another demonstration at the KR circle yesterday. Seems to be a very regular occurence. Streets just get blocked and demonstrators walk onto the road for 5 or 10 minutes and then it is over...
My shopping was not very successful yesterday, but I did scout out some shops and I tasted some of the local speciality sweet called Mysore Pak, which is incredibly oily. All of the shop attendants always handled the sweets with their bare fingers, which I did not like, but I haven't gotten sick.
I also phoned one of the local cinema's to find out about what time the movie Guru is showing. It has been on circuit for about 3 months and I am told is very good. The newspapers don't show the times, just what movie is showing. The movie house is called Skyline, right next to Sterling... in SA this would have been Cine 1 and 2 :-)

Instead of watching the movie on Saturday at 17:00, I ended up at Jaganmohan Palace at 18:00, the same place the talent show was last week Saturday, to watch some traditional Indian dancing by a famous Indian dancer. This time it was not free, but there was a seating plan and tickets cost anywhere from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000.
When "Amma", a women with the status of a saint, arrived, everything stopped and she was escorted into the auditorium with a choir of song from women following her. The dancing was very very good. Am trying to load a video snippet on the blog ...

Sunday, the shopping was successful. Bought some indian style outfits for my nieces who have just had a birthday, bought a Kurta (men's traditional garment) for myself and I bought some other bits and pieces. I found out that there are basically 4 different outfits, other than a saree, that women wear traditionally. All come in different fabrics from cotton, cotton/silk mix, crepe silk, pure silk, synthetic material etc, which affects the price as well as how much embroidery etc is on the garment.

1. Sharara: short top, with bell-bottom pants and a scarf
   
2. Gaghra: long/short top with long skirt and scarf
   
3. Salwar (Ladies Punjabi): long/short top with tight fitting pants or ali-baba type baggy pants and scarf
4. Choridar: long/short top with push-back pants (wrinkled) and scarf
   

After we were told that there would be no conference again this Sunday, I raced to the cinema to watch the movie Guru in Hindi without subtitles. The movie cost Rs 25 and started at 17:00 on the dot, no advertisements and finished about two hours and 40 minutes later with 5 min. intermission (yes, very short).
The movie was about a businessman who started with nothing and built a huge company but was then sued etc, as well as a love story. It was fast paced and only about 4 musical dance sections in the movie, but I also enjoyed that... and Aishwarya Rai, the bollywood actress, is very beautiful :-). The audience was quiet throughout the movie, which I did not expect, and the movie house was old and had outdated equipment, but not bad or extremely dirty... all in all, I had a good experience and I hope to see the movie with english subtitles again in future :-)
The story was shot in Bombay / Mumbai, and I recognised Chowpatty beach that I had walked to on my arrival in India at the beginning of my trip... What I also found interesting was that in the movie, the main actor always touched the feet of people he respected. I have not seen this being done other than by westerners doing it to guruji as a sign of respect. I always thought it was a little strange, but now that I have seen it being part of the Indian culture, I am more comfortable doing this myself to guruji. In fact today, a child begging for money touched my feet.

This morning, Monday, I had a brilliant practice... I got my chin onto my shin during quite a few forward stretches, my jump back and jump throughs went well and for the very very first time I bound Supta Kurmasana (sitting on the floor with legs in front, bend forward and put your arms under your knees and wrap the arms around your back, cross your ankles, place head under legs and then grab hold of your hands). Don't know if I will be able to do it again tomorrow, but that is ok :-)

At ten o'clock, I was met by someone to take me to Madhu for a massage. The last massage I had was by a women who had been working for 12 years at the Ayurvedic Centre in Mysore and she cost Rs 500. A massage by a westerner will cost in the range of Rs 1,500 to 3,000. I only get massages by someone who has been recommended to me. The nice thing about that lady was that she came to your place to give you a massage.
Ayurveda is the ancient science of indian herbal medicine and holistic healing. Lots of tourists try there fasts during which they have to drink medicated ghee (clarified butter) and eat only brown rice cooked with specific spices etc. I had considered visiting the centre, as they have consultations where they then explain to you what type of body you have according to the 3 doshas. The centre is a full spa with a 25 metre swimming pool, tennis courts etc., but their prices are in US dollars, so a deep tissue massage will cost over Rs 1,500.

Madhu was recommended to me last week and what impressed me was that Katie said she never screamed in pain before where others had, when being massaged by the "three sisters" as they are known, but Madhu made here scream :-). The cost was Rs 750, which is still less than a simple back massage back in South Africa.
So when we got there, Madhu was just finishing off doing his morning prayers. He did not have a nice house, like the houses in Gokulam, so no seperate puja room, so he just had pictures of the deities like Shiva on the floor and candles and incense in front of that. He then ushered me into a bare room that just had a wooden massage table only about five (5) cm high along the floor. I later found out that he comes from a long line of Ayurvedic massage therapists... ie: his father and his grandfather etc all did this, and the table was apparently over 800 years old. It was made of wood with absolutely no cushioning on it and its surface was not flat but convex, tapering down along the sides and then a little ledge... I guess so that would collect any excess oil running down. The oil he used (he said it was medicated oil... don't know exactly what) smelled very very good. The massage like the previous one started in a seated position, with the head, then down the neck and back. Then I had to lie on my back and he massaged the down the front of the body and down the legs. I always thought you are supposed to massage up the body towards the heart, but this is not the way it is done here. While massaging my legs, he stretched my legs in the split etc and he made me scream too :-) He asked me how many years I had been doing yoga and after hearing that it had been multiple years he said... "Well, I don't think it was regular (practice)!" No, I have never practiced yoga daily until now and that is why I am still so stiff!!!
Then he put a blanket on me and told me to relax and he left the room. When he came back I thought it was all over, but he said turn around onto my stomach and the massage (and the screams) continued... Then he got out a gas burner with a similar top like a skottle braai and he heated a little bag containing some medicinal leaves and he rubbed me down with the hot bag. At the end he asked me to push my upper body up and he stretched my spine backwards. Finally, he asked me to stand up and standing behind me with his back to mine, he grabbed my arms and lent forward picking me up on his back and stretching me. Maybe not the most hygenic of massage parlours but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

In the afternoon, I finalised the embroidery design for the pants I am having made and then I had my second last sanskrit class... The final class on Wednesday will be a test, so I need to revise a little. I basically have two days left in Mysore.
I have decided not to visit the Tibetan village as it is 2 to 3 hours drive one way and I am going to visit the Tibetan community in McLeod Ganj anyway. Other than that I did not have any other unaccomplished activities / sights while in Mysore.