Expectations vs Experience

Having arrived safely back home I guess it is time to do a bit of a review.

I looked at my post “My love / hate list after one week” and had to smile. I can still see myself… excited like a child on a birthday, wanting to love Bangalore with all my might. Well, I haven’t managed to learn to love Bangalore, but I do have more perspective by now, a deeper understanding why things are the way they are, developed sympathies and utter disgust for certain things…

So, what did I actually expect when we came here? I knew India would be very different to every other place I had ever been to. I have done extensive travelling in Europe, I have explored southern Africa and have occupied some rubber floats going down rivers in eastern Siberia. But I knew, India would be a different category.

Ganesha

First of all I expected it to be extremely colourful – literally and figuratively. And yes, that it has been. The colours of the sarees of the women and their glitzy jewellery, the colours of the temples, the colours of the fruit of the markets, bright friendly paints in some villages, the pictures on many long walls of Bangalore, flowers, butterflies… The variety of religions and traditions, the endless number of stories of the hindu gods, the many different landscapes in Kerala…

I expected it to be hot. And yes, it was hot. In the beginning we had a dry heat, later it got more humid. I wore a cardigan a couple of times in the evening against the mozzies, otherwise I didn’t need anything long sleeved.

Crowded and loud. Yes, but the amount of crowdedness and loudness exceeded all expectations. The density of people in the city was overwhelming. You are never alone anywhere. And when the side streets got a bit quieter at night, the dogs would take over. And it was never quiet anywhere at any time. I slept poorly most nights, so I know that the quietest time is between 3 and 4 in the morning, but still I heard the dogs howling and the occasional motorbike driving. By day the traffic of the main streets produces a cacophony of honking and motor noises, in the quiet street you just get the vegetable and newspaper sellers shouting for customers.

Friendly. Yes and no. Some people were incredibly kind, others just turned away, but I guess that’s what you can get in Australia as well. I didn’t see as many smiles as I had expected… smiling, happy children were something special. A lot of friendliness was fishing for tips. Who can you trust?

Tasty. Oh yes, the spicy Indian food is wonderful. I tasted so many new and interesting dishes, aromatic, so full of flavour! I had not expected that it would be so difficult to get non-Indian food and also the ingredients for dishes / cooking the way we are used to. We ate out more often than I had anticipated a) because it was cheap, b) because it was so tasty, c) because it was hard to cook at home. Our kitchen in the apartment wasn’t very well equipped. You could get by… just the lack of an oven is hard to overcome by improvisation. As I couldn’t get my usual ingredients I took to cooking rice dishes, veg curries and things like that. But then again, this was food we would eat when being out… bit of a dilemma.

Cheap. Yes, the basic food we bought, bread, milk, fruit, veg, pasta, rice, water etc. is very cheap. If you want to buy European food like cheese, ham, tins and jars imported from abroad, you can in special shops like Nature’s basket on 80 feet road, but it will cost you more than in Australia. Eating out is very cheep, especially in unposh Indian style restaurants. But there is no limit in poshness and price for the well earning middle class…
Clothes are relatively cheap, especially Indian clothes. Fabric is cheap and tailors as all services where the main cost is labour.

I expected  Bangalore would be a modern big city comparable to any other big city in the world. Grainne even said there was no point going to Bangalore as it would be just the same as anywhere else. I assumed there would be fair amount of white people here with all the international IT companies, that English would be the main language, that we would see a good mix of people from all over the world. None of that. The cities of India are certainly much higher developed than rural India, the standard of living way up… still, this is India. From the cultural richness to the slums, from the glorious temples to the steaming mountains of rubbish – I would not mistake this for any other city I have been to. White people are  rare. Especially white children. Trying to be as respectful as possible with Indian clothing and behaviour we still got stared at everywhere. Complete strangers kept taking pictures of the children. We once went into a souvenir shop in the middle of the city and the shop keeper said to us that he had seen has walking by his other shop in Koramangala – 10km away in an 8 million people city. He was not lying, there was no other family with 3 white children in Koramangala.
And English is not a main language. Most people understand a least a little bit when spoken to face to face, different story on the phone obviously. To find somebody speaking well is much harder. This is not a criticism, I just hadn’t expected it…

Our local park, anything allowed?

I couldn’t wait to see the lush green parks of the so called garden city Bangalore. Well, this was a bit of a disappointment. Yes, there are several parks dotted around the city, even Koramangala had a few. But… well… they are different to what I had expected. First of all, apart from the huge Cubbon Park in the heart of the city and the Botanic Gardens, they are all relatively small. Second they are fenced off (probably to keep away cows and rubbish) and have certain opening times, usually mornings and evenings. If you come at the right times you still have to keep to the endless rules… no walking on the lawns, no playing, etc.
What I admired instead were the magnificent rain trees, jacaranda and flame trees that line many quieter streets providing blissful shade under the merciless sun.

I was looking forward to strolling around huge markets laden with exotic fruits and spices, wonderful fabrics and colourful clothing. And yes, we found several markets. One was in fact very close to us – Madivala Market. And it was laden with fruit and veg, otherwise with flowers for offerings, fish, some household items and… rubbish. The rubbish was piling up between the stalls and in gaps in front of them. Rotting piles of vegetables can produce a surprisingly disgusting smell… that seemed to be all too attractive for  diarrhoeal cows. When you think about it, it’s not actually too surprising, that there is a lack of picturesque, touristy markets as shown on TV in Bangalore, as this is not touristy city, still… I hadn’t expected this kind of… I don’t know… it was just too dirty and smelly to be in any way appealing.

I had hoped we would be able to hire a piano for Siobhan and get a teacher come to our apartment. This, unfortunately didn’t work out at all. We managed to find one shop where we could have hired a grubby looking keyboard at a reasonable price, which my daughter refused for the stickiness of the keys. The only place I found for hiring pianos was astronomically expensive.
We did though find a chess coach for Sean during the last few weeks who spent many hours teaching our son openings, endgame strategies and many other useful chess knowledge.

I expected to do a lot of travelling, maybe for a holiday towards the south of India, but also for many weekends in the surrounds of Bangalore. And yes, we had a wonderful holiday touring Kerala. An unforgettable time leaving countless impressions that gonna stay with us for the rest of our lives. But otherwise we didn’t travel a lot. Savandurga in the beginning was probably our only proper day trip out of town. Several reasons for this… a) transport. Ordering cabs proved to be quite difficult and unreliable. b) it took 1 – 2 hours to get to the outskirts of town alone, c) accomodation at holiday destinations can be rather expensive for foreigners, d) destinations in easy reach of this 8 million people city are described as overrun and polluted. Pollution is a big thing in general. Still in Australia, as soon as we had got the address of our apartment, I had studied the area on Google maps. I was very excited to see two lakes nearby with paths going round them and could see us already walking happily on our Sunday strolls around the beautiful lakes. As it turned out these lakes were fed by the sewer rivers of the town, smelling that you want to hold your breath, the banks piled with garbage.

I knew we would see poverty. I didn’t know how close we would come to it. And yes, we did see poverty. And it was right in our face. Every day. As soon as we left the house. The security guard who asked us for money so he would be able to pay the school fees for his daughter. The big building site close to our apartment. A wooden board invites male workers, 200 rupees ($4 = a good meal in medium class restaurant = 100g of cheddar = a T-shirt in western style shopping centre) a day, 6 days per week, first aid kit on site. The workers lived beside the building site in make shift sheds, we could see them cleaning up by the water tank behind the low fence with a hose… Walking to our Yoga place we would pass several small building sites. Each one would house a tent made of blue foil, where the building family lived, often with children. No power, no running water… I remember peeking in as they were cooking by the road side on a fire built from some sticks, cleaning their dishes, cleaning teeth with their fingers, urinating on the road… and I feel helpless, embarrassed… I don’t know… Then the slums. Rows and rows of corrugated metal sheds. We never walked in… to embarrassed of stares and beggars… just got a glimpse passing by.

Kovalam fishing village

But as bad as the poverty made us feel, the differences were worse. This huge gap between the well off middle class and those people scraping along way below the poverty line. We, as outsiders, guests, foreigners, observers felt guilty enough spending half a month’s salary of a security guard or rubbish worker for a meal in a restaurant… what about all those Indian people sitting at the other tables? Did they think about it? Did they take it for granted…. to be better of than the “others”? I guess, most of the friends I made in India belong to this middle class… if you read this, can you answer this question – How do you live with this, seeing the poverty every day of your life and not really being able to do anything about it? Or are you? And I guess, I should ask myself, how do I live with this…
Yes, we have seen a lot of poverty. Being back here in Perth it nearly seems unreal. The poor in Bangalore and the even poorer out in the country… working their fields with oxen, tiny huts with the most basic interior, children so skinny, it breaks your heart…

Sean, Swami Krishnananda Saraswati, Grainne, Siobhan, Ravib

I had hoped to get a bit into Yoga and meditation during our stay. Well, yes, we certainly got into this. We found this wonderful place SURYA JYOTHI YOGA VEDANTA CENTRE, where Swami Krishnananda Saraswati and Ravibabu introduced us to basics techniques of Yoga including Proper Exercise (Asanas), Proper Breathing (Pranayama), Proper Relaxation (Savasana), Proper Diet (vegetarian), Positive Thinking (Vedanta) and Meditation (Dhyana). Attending the classes 3 mornings a week and practising at home has not only made us more flexible but gave us deep insights into a different way of life, into Hinduism and a spiritual approach. Our gurus were very kind and we learned invaluable lessons from them. Thank you so much Swami and Ravib!

I guess the biggest surprise all in all was how complicated day-to-day life can be. Just crossing roads filled with 8 chaotic lines of rick-shaws, busses, motorbikes, cars which generally only stop for cows. Walking along footpaths full of rubbish and gaping holes. Trying to get transport from one place to the other, explaining the way without speaking the native language and haggling about prices. Avoiding getting sick all the time, coping with the highly contaminated tap water. Feeding ourselves without being able to buy foods we are used to. Keeping the children happy without having a garden or parks to play in…

India, the most beautiful, colourful, amazing country. The most challenging daily life for myself. Land of contrasts and differences, land of richest history, seemingly decaying presence and endless potential. Land of spirituality and imagination. Land of sadness, poverty, death, chaos, smell. Land of happiness, riches and beautiful nature. A complicated mosaic, encrypted language… I understand bits of it, but I don’t think I’m going to find the key to decipher it completely. Do I even want to?
Whatever, I wouldn’t want to miss our India adventure for the world! It gave us a deep understanding of the world around us we could not have achieved in any other way, we learned so much. Our experiences are probably going to influence our future life, our values, our behaviour… and who we are.

 

Perth Crazy: The things I’m REALLY looking forward to

With only one more week to go in India I’m letting myself think about all the things in Australia I can’t wait to get back to. Of course, there are things in Bangalore that I will definitely miss as well, some of which are our wonderful yoga classes and our even more wonderful yoga teachers, the beautiful temples and shrines that just emanate peaceful happiness and can be found just about everywhere in the city, and, of course,  the delicious Indian food that is so different from anything I’ve tasted in other countries and is filled  with tasty and unique spices. But there also so many things waiting in Australia that I can’t wait to see and experience again after more than four months in India. Here are just a few of the main ones.

1. The beach. There are some things in life that you just take for granted, such as air, water or food. For me, the beach was one of those things. We grew up in small town in Ireland called Tramore, which was nestled snugly right by the coast. Whether it was munching greasy French fries on the stone pier next to the shore, hunting for crabs in the slimy rock-pools while throwing sticks into the foaming waves for our dog, Chomska, to fetch, or braving the Irish rain and cold to take a dip in the frigid water, the sea was always part of our daily lives. After moving to Australia the beach took on a greater meaning for us when we realised that in Melbourne it was actually warm enough to swim, with actual swimming, instead of just dipping your toes into the water and watching them turn blue while the howling wind and the blinding rain tries to throw you off your feet. But Perth, the place we moved to after Melbourne and now our home, definitely gets to claim credit for the most spectacular beaches. With the pristine white sand, crystal clear, sapphire blue water, and the 1000 camera-weilding tourists and locals, it’s probably the closest you’ll ever get to paradise. So the fact that in Bangalore the closest I can get to the sea is in the bathtub is completely new and totally heartbreaking for me. So you can probably imagine my joy when I discovered that during our two week holiday down in the south of India we would be stopping at a seaside holiday resort. The moment we arrived at the hotel I ignored the stifling, possibly fatal, heat and waded through the insanely humid air until I found what I was looking for: the beach. Sure, it wasn’t exactly pretty with the gritty grey sand, army of crabs and wickedly sharp rocks that loomed menacingly above the sea. But at least it had all the basic components of a beach: sand, water, jellyfish. I was in heaven. Well, at least I was until we started noticing an oily yellow substance swirling sluggishly in water about ten minutes after we had entered. That combined with the fact that there was a huge, open-air fish market a few kilometres down-shore and all their waste had to go somewhere, was enough to send us all scurrying off to the burning hot, crowded swimming pool with our tails between our legs.

The beach in Perth

Beach in Bangalore

Yep, even though it’s going to be in the dead of winter when we get back, I’m still looking forward to just walking along the beach, feeling the glorious, salty sea breeze on my skin and splashing happily in fish gut- free water.

2. The cold. As I already mentioned, when we arrive in Australia it will be frozen in the depths of an icy winter. This means there’s going to be lots of wet, rainy, cloudy, stormy, bone-chilling coldness. For some people this would a rather unappealing prospect to fly back to, but I can’t wait for that glorious rush of shivers when we finally arrive. My skin is aching for some numbing coldness, my burnt body longs for some cold to chase away the lingering heat, and my feet are itching for a thoroughly idiot, insanely immature and unbelievably fun rain dance. All this is because, due to some exceptionally annoying timing, we have been experiencing a nine month long summer. After enjoying Australia’s brain-roasting summer, we promptly caught the plane to India, where a another muscle-marinating summer was in full swing. And let me tell you, after more than half a year of sweat, heat and sunburn, a roaring fire and a hot cup of tea is starting to look pretty good.

 3. The food. This has been a major topic of discussion in my household over the past few days. Once everyone fully swallowed and digested the fact that we would be returning to Australia in a few short weeks it was all anyone could talk about. Of course, we have all tasted many delicious new things here which we will surely miss, but there is also a significant amount of things it is almost impossible to purchase, things which we took for granted in Australia. The first of these things is bread. You will find an impressive array of naans, chapatis, rotis, dosas and parathas in any shop or restaurant, but it is exceptionally hard to get hold of a decent loaf of bread. In grocery stores bread is practically an extinct species, and all the local bakery offers is a motley assortment of sticky cream cakes, crunchy biscuits, strange pumpkin-like creations and triangle-shaped toast. So far the only places we have been able to buy some real bread are a European shopping centre, a Singapore bread shop and an insanely expensive but ridiculously delicious buffet at a fancy tourist hotel. This tragic loss has been amplified by the fact that in Perth we have a wonderful Czech bakery right across the road, where we could dash over to every morning and get freshly baked bread rolls and free cupcakes or Danish pastries. The helpless desire for bread has by now reached the point where my sister is dreaming about bread rolls at night and my brother has taken to talking about sausage rolls for hours on end. Another problem in the food category is that our cramped, sweaty kitchen does not possess an oven. It is also lacking a dishwasher or a food processor, but I think the absence of an oven is the main problem. While visiting some of my dad’s friends in their apartments we noticed that a lot of other people seem not to have ovens either, but then again, most Indians are used to cooking things such as rice, curries and sambar, all of which you make on a stove. We are not.

I want an oven! I WANT PAVLOVA!!!

Suddenly we found ourselves faced with a problem. My mum was no longer able to cook a large majority of the foods she made at home, foods we consumed almost every day. Gone were the freshly baked cookies dripping with melted chocolate and the home-made muffins bulging with berries. Gone were the nachos drowning in cheese and the pizzas piled high with meat and vegetables. Gone were the cakes, the pastries and the bakes. It was a crushing loss, not least of all for my mum, who adores cooking and plans on getting right to it when we get back. I could bore you all to death by continuing the endless list of foods we miss, just some of which are cheese, berries, and foods from our delicious deli across the road, but instead I’ll finish by stating we plan on fixing this problem as soon as we get back.

I could keep writing for hours by continuing to the describe all the things I miss, including our car, a real hole-free pavement, our garden and swimming pool, all my awesome friends, my books, and my own room, but I think I’ll end it here. That said, there are also countless things in India that I will greatly miss as well, including our amazing yoga teacher, with whom we had our last lesson with today. Anyway thank you all for reading my post and have a nice day!

 

YOGA (THE STRETCHES) Part 2

This is part two of YOGA (THE STRETCHES). Here are some more stretches:

The shoulder stand. To do the shoulder stand you must balance on your head and shoulders. It increases memory power, will power and many other functions of the upper body by making the blood flow in that direction.

Shoulder Stand

The fish is a very simple asana that opens the lungs to the maximum.

Easy Fish

Harder Fish

Half Locust

The half locust strengthens the lower back and thigh.

Savasana is the relaxation pose for all asanas done on your back. It is the best relaxation pose. It calms the body and replenishes lost energy.

Savasana

Lotus is the pose for meditation. It calms the brain and increases flexibility of the legs.

Lotus

Half Wheel Builds up strength in preparation for Wheel.

Half Wheel

Wheel stretches chest and lungs, strengthens arms, wrists, legs, abdomen and spine and helps general fitness.

Wheel

Wheel

Forward bend stretches the complete back and relaxes nerves.

Forward Bend

The 2nd version of crow and flying lotus both improve concentration and increases flexibility of the legs.

2nd version of Crow

Flying Lotus

Leg above head merely increases flexibility of the legs.

Leg above head

Child pose is a good relaxation pose.

Child Pose

These are but 11 asanas of 84 000.

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

Spicemania

One of many spice shops in Periyar

Indian food is spicy… statement of the obvious. New to me was that Indians love their spices so much that they spice up dishes and food us non-Indians would never think of. The dish will then be called Masala something with masala being the locally popular spice mixture. “Locally” meaning – in this particular restaurant, market, town, region… One of the examples would be a Masala omelette which is a normal omelette with added chilly, onion, garlic, tomato and spices. Even if you buy a six pack of eggs in the supermarket they often come with a complimentary little packet of masala. Masala tea, known in Australia as chai, varies from supersweet milky tea with a spice mix to deeply aromatic teas with cardamom or ginger flavour. Masala bread takes a bit of getting used to. Harder I find Masala lemonade… don’t think I gonna order that again 😉 As a filling masala seems to have the meaning of a spicy potato mixture. So you can get masala dosa – a pancake made from rice and lentils stuffed with spicy potatoes. As a topping masala will be a mixture of chopped tomatoes, onion, chilly, coriander leafs and spices, for example in masala papad (crispy chickpea flour bread) or peanut masala.

Spoiled for choice

But enough masala science. During our Kerala tour we went to one of the main spice producing areas not only in India but in the whole world. The tropical Malabar coast offers unique and ideal conditions for many of the spice plants. When Vasco da Gama landed here he was right where he wanted to be – in the middle of spice land. India is the largest producer of spices in the world. I was surprised to learn that although they are also the biggest exporter only 10% of the produced spices leave the country. The rest ends up on the Indian market.

The variety of spices grown here is simply amazing. There is cardamom, ginger, chilly, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, pepper, tamarind, curry leaf, turmeric, vanilla, thyme seed, star anis, coriander, asafoetida, mace, cumin, allspice, saffron, fennugreek, mustard seed… to name the well-known ones. We drove past many single culture spice plantations but there are also countless so called spice gardens where the farmers grow a mixture of many different species.

While in Periyar we visited one of these spice gardens and were lucky enough to have a guide who had studied botany. The spice garden was a lovely shady place and every few steps there grew another exotic tree or bush with flowers, buds, leaves, bark or fruit waiting to be smelled or tasted.

In the village spice markets lined a whole street, fresh produce being offered in big baskets alongside with packaged dried spices. Too bad we couldn’t take any home with us, Australian customs are strict.

As much as we look forward to eating all the food we are used to again back home, even the kids are wondering whether we are not going to miss the spices, whether some dishes are not going to taste boring. Ah well, luckily enough there is plenty of Indian food shops in Perth, where we will be able to stock up and satisfy any spice cravings.

 

Kovalam – Indian Sea Side Resort

Hotel beach

Kovalam is supposed to be India’s best developed sea side resort, quite a dubious title. I am generally not a great fan of touristy beaches lined with hotels, but we were longing for a few days of just relaxing, strolling around and swimming in the sea, which we miss so much in Bangalore…

We were to stay in the Soma Palmshore Hotel. On arrival we get greeted with flower garland and a welcome drink, this time a traditional coconut with straw, hmmm, very tasty. Then an Aryuveda lady seeks our attention, showing us photographs of all the treatments available in the hotel’s aryuveda treatment centre. Errrr, I actually just want to go down to our cottages, it’s been a long drive. I wonder how enjoyable it is for an aryuveda therapist to work in a hotel occupied by European tourists and rich middle class Indians, applying the occasional massage rather than working in a regular treatment centre visited by the locals. Aryuveda is an amazing treatment / healing method, but to really benefit from it you need to undergo a regular or longer term treatment. A one-off massage might be quite relaxing but doesn’t really use the enormous potential of this method. However, Aryuveda clinics seem to be a standard facility in most bigger hotels in Kerala and particularly popular with Germans and Swiss people. No surprise then that we encounter the highest density of Germans in Kovalam rightly correlating to the density of big hotels…

But back to our hotel. Through the blossoming hibiscus bushes and various kinds of palm trees we can see the ocean. A few flights of steps lead through a garden down to the beach. All very picturesque. A security guard hangs around the bottom gate of the hotel. Some hotel staff are laying out washing on the grass to dry, a gardener is cutting the lawn with… well not nail scissors, but ordinary garden sheers. I guess his monthly income is lower then the cost of a lawnmower. The cottages are wonderfully cool… I just stretch out on the bed…

This time of year is actually off season. The monsoon is due to arrive and it is just too hot. Ian goes out to get some snacks for our lunch, when he comes back, having looked unsuccessfully for some kind of food shop for half an hour, he seems to have taken a bath. No, not in the swimming pool, just in his own sweat. We are used to a fair bit of heat but this humidity is a real killer. I had never been to anywhere as tropic as this, apart from some green houses in botanic gardens. The actual temperature during the day doesn’t go over mid 30ies, at night high twenties towards morning. The humidity oscillates between 65 and 99%. This is the first time in my life I leave the aircon on during the night…

Anyway, it is indeed quite relaxing for a while, just to hang around the hotel, frolic in the waves, enjoy the bathtub warm swimming pool, write some mails… In the evening we stroll down to Lighthouse beach. A long promenade of hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops lines this beautiful beach. The sun is down already and all the lights are glittering invitingly. We decide to walk along the prom to the end and then go for our dinner having inspected all the restaurants. There is quite a choice. Most restaurants face the sea and are open air. A menu will be on display outside and a waiter standing beside it trying to persuade every passer by to come inside. It can be rather tiring to decline for the 15th time, so maybe the 16th restaurant will have the most customers. Anyway, Kerala coast is famous for its delicious fish dishes. Many of the restaurants display a variety of fresh fish beside the menu. It is supposed to be inviting… I don’t know, I does the opposite to me. Especially in the places where the fish is not even cooled with some ice. It doesn’t dry out though, too humid here. Ah well, in the end the family vote goes to a pizzeria. Too much talk about rotten fish 😉

Mosques in Kovalam

The next day we walk towards some mosques we had seen in the distance. This is the opposite direction to the touristy bit of town.The main income source here is fishing. It doesn’t seem to be a very high income. Poverty is back in full view here. We watch a big group of man bringing in a fishing net for a while. About 20 of them pulling on on end of the net, 20 on the other, a couple swimming out to sea to guide the net in.
The mosques are very colourful, seem like some palaces out of 1001 nights. Looking around we can see the next bay and lots of people by the harbour. Is that some kind of celebration? Curious enough we decide to walk over. We are passing through the fishing village. Then there are big roofs which cover mountains of fishing nets and dozens of men sitting in between repairing them. Nearing the harbour we walk past what must be hundreds of boat engines hung up on horizontal logs. That’s how the fishermen go out – in little boats, not more then 5 – 6 meters long, with a little engine put in the rear. And then we arrive at the harbour. This is not a celebration, it’s a fish market! Ten, fifteen boats are at the shore with more of them coming in or leaving. In the boats on the shore the fishermen are handing big baskets or crates of silvery glittering fish to men on the beach who carry them away to the market or little trucks. A lot of shouting everywhere… maybe negotiating prices. This is like… middle ages? No, no engines in the middle ages. And carts instead of trucks. But apart from that?

The harbour

Mending the nets

Well, we watch the scenes for a little while then move on through the market as quickly as possible. The smell is overwhelming.
Ah yeah, one more thing… not a single white person in sight here… just 2 km down from the touristy promenade.

The days pass, we are relatively lazy by our standards – the humidity paralyses any potential enthusiasm for walks, outings or any other activity that involves moving around. I enjoy quiet mornings down by the beach practising yoga. The time around sunset is most popular for going out and walking / splashing at the beach. Especially with the Indians. Around midday one can spot a few pink bodies venturing into the waves. Even a lone surfer! At sunset the beach is sprawling with people, it is really crowded. Not many Indians can swim and swimming cloths the way we know them are not really common. This seems unusual to our eyes which are used to a lot of flesh on Australian beaches. The lack of flesh shouldn’t surprise as Indian women’s clothing is, while being very elegant, all about hiding rather than showing. Still, watching the women going for hip deep paddles in their sarees and salwar kameezes is a wondrous sight. Everybody is having fun… enjoying the breeze, splashing and paddling, holding hands stepping into the water or just walking along, chatting.

Sunset at the public beach

Restaurants and shops are all tuned into the clientele. One evening one of the restaurant waiters trying to get us in is even promising that they wouldn’t use any spices… What? For goodness sake, we like spicy! We’ve been living here for 3 months… Indian food without spices is like… elephants without trunks, summer without sun (hang on, that would be Ireland)… whatever… Nevertheless we very much enjoyed the “German Bakery”, serving Spaetzle, bacon and eggs, fried potatoes, etc.
99% of the shops sell exclusively souvenirs. Their range seems pretty much determined by European taste. Especially the choice of dresses and skirts is amazing. The only other place where I had seen skirts for sale was in the touristy bits of Periyar. (Apart from western style skirts in expensive boutiques in Bangalore)

Going in?

Well, all in all, a nice relaxing time here in Kovalam. I am sure this place had more charm 20 years ago, before it had been discovered by European package tourism operators. But on the other hand this business earns a living for many families in the area…

 

Kalaripayattu

While we were on our holiday we visited Periyar and while staying there we went to a Kalaripayattu presentation. This is the mother of all martial arts and is spectacular to watch…

First they performed a religious opening ceremony, and after that the real thing kicked in. It included mock fights with swords, daggers and other weapons were one mistake would have meant DEATH. In these mock fights they jumped very high and often struck sparks. These were breathtaking although at the end someone was always disarmed and after that the weapon-less person always won. This was because it would be hard to make the person with the sword win without killing the other fighter. After the mock fights they show how to use a bow staff. First with one and then with two which seemed almost to be touching. After that they lit both the staffs which resulted in an amazing show that looked like two rings of fire! Next they demonstrated how to use an urumi-sword / flexible-sword which looked impossible to block. The last act was jumping through a ring of fire. It was purely amazing.

Sword Fight

A twirling staff with fire on the end.

Two staffs with fire on the end.

Jump through the ring of fire.

Facts:

Kalaripayattu is the mother of all martial arts and was used by the lords of Kerala. It was used when two lords had an argument. It worked by each lord choosing a champion and the champions fighting instead of there being a full scale war. Here are two more pictures I found on the web.

How do they do it?

 

 

More about the temple opening

Sean has already described the temple opening last week beautifully. However, as this was one of the most impressive events we have witnessed in India so far I have to post about it too…

Temple entrance decorated with flower garlands

As we were leaving our yoga centre and walked down the street, my guru caught up with us. He mentioned that there was a new temple opening in the neighbourhood and asked whether we would like to have a look. Yeah, sure! So he lead us into the hinterland of the big streets where some deafening loudspeakers had been shouting out mantras and music for the last three days. (They had to be deafening to be louder than the traffic din.) I had wondered about that, now I learnt that this had all to do with the 3 day celebration of the temple opening – live broadcast from the temple. Passing cows, goats and hens, little shops and handyman stores we could already see the most colourful temple at the end of the alley, still covered with bamboo scaffolding in places but glistening in the sun all the same. Several huge pieces of material extended the roofs of the new building to offer shade to the endless number of visitors. Everything was splendidly decorated with whole carpets of flowers and flower garlands. Shoe removal time. Following our guru we squeezed into the inside of the temple together with hundreds of other people. At the far side there were three altars. Guru lifted up Siobhan to ring the bell in front of the one on the left, a Shiva Linga statue, to alert Shiva that we had come to pay respect to him. We bowed and then tried to do the same in front of the other god statues. Wasn’t easy with the crowds everywhere. Eventually we managed to get outside again. There were three little fires burning and we followed guru walking around them. I noticed my yoga teacher looking totally happy… hadn’t seen him that happy before. He said to me, “This is celebration of life and celebration of gods!” and he kept stressing how lucky we were to witness this. It’s not everyday that a new temple is being opened.

Inside of the temple

As we stood around we saw many people leaving the temple in a kind of procession. Everybody balanced (or held) a little decorated golden cup with a coconut on their heads. As many people left the temple it got a bit less crowded and we went back inside. Instantly we got handed the little coconut cups as well. What is happening? What are we supposed to do? Ah well, lets follow guru. And he followed all the other people… out onto the street and into the labyrinth of little lanes and streets around the temple. So we walked along, bare feet (our shoes stayed at the temple) wondering what this was all about. I also briefly wondered how much dog and cow poop was going to get stuck between my toes but quickly decided not share this thought with the children. Just hoped nobody would tread into something sharp.

Sun god Surya

At first we carried the cups in our hands but got quickly told to put them on our heads like everybody else. Sometime later we caught up with the main body of the procession having reached a richly decorated gate to one of the lanes leading to the temple. Having felt pretty lost after turning so and so many corners, my hair feeling rather sticky from the spilled coconut milk and my arms feeling utterly exhausted from holding that cup on my head, I was quite glad to regain my sense of direction and nearing the end of this walk. Still, sensing the excitement and happiness of everybody around, my tiredness got counteracted pretty successfully. As we were getting close to the temple I asked, “So this is all to pay respect to the gods?”
“You got it!” In the end we shoved our way back into the inside of the temple building. The cups got handed to a priest who poured the milk onto the Shiva linga statue (I suppose that is what he did, I couldn’t actually see it), a ritual we had observed at the big Shiva statue a couple of weeks ago. After that we went back out, bowed a last time to the gods and then guru explained, “We have worked for the gods, now it is their turn to work for us and look out for us.” And then he finished with a cheerful, “Shall we?” which made me smile because it sounded as we were leaving a party… but I suppose we were indeed.

What a wonderful experience! I think we were truly very lucky to have had the chance to take part in this. Thank you, guru!

(Photos were taken a few days later with less people around.)

 

Poverty

Poverty is something that walks hand in hand with Bangalore city. There are signs of it everywhere.

A skeletal beggar dressed in filthy, tattered rags, a hopeless expression on his face and a tiny metal bowl clutched in his withered hands. Two children playing in the dirt and rubble of a crumbling ruin, abandoned by all except for those who have nowhere else to go. A crooked shack, crudely fashioned out of tin panels and weathered wooden boards. A mud-streaked child, naked except for the frayed cord around his waist, being washed by his exhausted mother at the side of the road.

These heartbreaking images sneak up on me every day, grabbing me by the throat and making me think, “How could it have come to this? How could there be so much pain and suffering in the world? And how could it be stopped?”

 

Temple Opening!

On Friday as we were walking home from yoga, one of the yoga teachers came out of the yoga centre and asked us if we wanted to come see a new temple which was just opening. The teacher said that it was the third and final day of celebration and the official opening. When we arrived in the large temple we realised that there were more than 1000 people attending. Because 1000 people couldn’t fit in the temple there was a great, massive pavilion. We looked around a while as we waited for the main temple to empty a bit because there must have been three-hundred people in the main room. The yoga teacher showed us around while we were waiting. He showed us the fire and how many times you needed to walk around it. It is one of the amazing things about Hinduism, that instead of being annoyed if you go into their temples, they are happy that you join in their rituals because they think it is respectful. When the temple began to empty, we went inside and looked around. Everyone was leaving as they began walking down the road carrying coconut offerings. We rang a large bell and our yoga teacher explained that the bell would create a vibration to alert the gods that we were there. Then a priest handed us a coconut offering and we joined the procession with the coconuts in beakers on our heads. As we walked our teacher explained that the walk was to pay respect to the gods. So we were walking along the road barefoot with coconuts on our heads and cars behind us honking to get past. As I said before, it was amazing that people just smiled instead of shoving us from the procession. When we got back our teacher told us that we had done something for the gods and now they would look out for us.

It was an unforgettable experience.

P.S. Sorry that there aren’t any pictures.

 

YOGA (THE STRETCHES) Part 1

I know that I already wrote a post about yoga but that was hurried. Now I will go into the details of some of the stretches:

1.The plough (below) is a yoga stretch that makes the spine and neck more flexible, strengthens the arms, back and shoulders and is good for internal organs.