I start practicing and I go quiet. It’s busy. I’m up at 4:30 every morning and on the mat at 5:45. It’s going well and I really love the energy in there. Good good stuff. Today was my first led class. I went to the 5:45 a.m. class. People get there at 5 a.m. and sit on the steps. You think that’s early, we are actually waiting for the 4:15 a.m. class to finish so we can find a space on the floor. When the doors open it’s a mad dash to get a place on the main floor. Otherwise you end up practicing in the lobby or worse, in the restrooms. I made it to the floor and front row. And I actually just walked in and din’t have to be “unyoga” to get a spot.

I am in a Sanskrit class 3 days a week. Um, Sanskrit is not an easy thing to learn. I missed the first 4 classes so I am hustling to catch up. We have our first homework assignment due Monday, so I am have to know all the vowels and syllables. It’s a bit like writing kanji with all the letters and symbols. There are actually 3 Japanese women in class with me and they are kicking butt. The teacher, Laksmi, calls me by my last name, which is quite funny as he is a very proper Indian man. He calls roll each day and is very professor like. No joking around, you have to sit up straight. So he knows Page is my last name, but he says he likes it better, so I am Page in class now. I’m on his good side right now, I don’t know if it’s because I wear my geeky glasses in there so maybe he thinks I am smart. But time will tell if I stay in good graces. He is a bit more abrupt with some of the others, so it is actually making really really study. This is a good thing as pressure is the only way I can really study and learn something.

Filling up my noodle even more, I took a cooking class and am now going to cooking classes 3 times a week with 3 different amazing cooks. Our first class was with Shobha, we made rotis. Well, I watched and she made them, but basically it is whole wheat flour and water (equal parts), then you roll it out to a flat pancake and briefly brown on both sides. That’s it! A roti also known as chapatis, go pretty much with every Indian meal, it’s a staple. 2nd class was at Tina’s. Mags even stayed as Tina’s 2 dogs slept under the table while the cooking demo was going on, so Mags was under the table, to the chair, then running after Sharmila, the Nepal girl. We made rotis, a chana dal dish, and Aloo sanji (a cauliflower dish.) The amazing thing about Tina is that it was a cooking/ayurveda class. So now I know how to cure many ailments with turmeric, chilis, cumin and coriander seeds. Super informative and we got to eat the lunch after class. My 3rd class is next Thursday with Ganesh, a man who runs Anu’s internet café. I hear he is a great cook too.

Laksmi has been watching Mags when I am at Sanskrit and practice. I am honored to have her with us. She is an amazing woman who has come from a very difficult past. I do not feel comfortable sharing her personal business, but I admire her completely. She is a true survivor. Mags really likes her. She speaks maybe 25 words of English, so when we have to really talk we run 5 houses down to Shobha’s and Randy’s and they translate.  She works her butt off though. She is at our house at 5:15 every morning, then goes to Randy’s to work all day when she leaves here, at 4 p.m. she is back with us till about 6 when I finsih sanskrit class. Not only does she watch Mags, but today she said she is going to clean our house. I am so thankful for that, because the maid who we have had for the house is a man and his idea of clean is not my idea of clean in the least bit. No disrespect, but the poor guy does not know how to clean. Laksmi cleans Randy’s house and it is spotless, so I am looking forward to this.

Other than the practice and classes, we have been at the pool quite a bit. Mags really likes routine, so I get home from practice, we have breakfast and then we rickshaw it to the pool for 3 hours where she swims and has lunch. The pool is at the hotel and yogis can swim there for 200 rupees. They all love Mags so everyone takes turns swimming with Mags. It’s like a swimming with the dolphins attraction, only “Swimming with Mags.” Afterwards she naps, has dinner and then bed. In between all this we are still feeding the dogs, we have a constant bowl of food and water out for them. So 2 of the dogs follow me home after practice every morning as they know it’s breakfast time.

We’re meeting more and more people and all the yogis we are getting to know are truly good people. They radiate this happiness and sparkle in their eyes, along with a calmness to them. Seeing that many people in that state of mind, proves that the yoga truly does work. I honestly have never met so many good souls in one place.

Tonight we went to a small benefit concert for the mentally disabled children. This was put on by the Shri K. Pattabhi Jois Charitable Trust organization (http://www.kpjtrust.org/). Mags had a great time. There were 2 flutists, a tabla player and a sitar player. Kids were sitting up on the stage, so Mags went right up and started dancing to the tablas with them. That’s one great thing about many of the yogis here, they all volunteer with the Charitable Trust group set up by Gurui and many of them work with the non profit groups here in town. Here in Mysore and this is something I am definitely bringing home with me…yoga is not just asana practice on the mat, it continues the other 22 hours when you are off the mat. In the US and I am sure in all countries, but I know in my life at home, you can get wrapped up in the day to day things that you can forget to be present in the moment.

My roommates come home tomorrow for 2 weeks, so we may be moving over to another place till we have our house back to ourselves. Ms. Toddler needs to run and my roomies have a lot of projects and music going on, so the 2 worlds may not mesh so well.

Saturday is a day of rest for all yogis, so I am seriously resting. I’m tired. It’s also Valentine’s day and I am really, really missing Ray.

(For those who don’t know ashtanga poses, here is the primary series so you can refer to some of the poses I am talking about in here. http://ashtangayoga.info/asana-vinyasa/primary-series/index.html)

I was up at 4:30 a.m. ready to go to the shala!!! Laksmi was right on the dot at 5:30. I showed her around and left to walk in the dark with my yoga mat and mysore rug to the shala. I was calm and relaxed and happy.  First time in a week that I have been on my own with out Mags. I love her but it was a sense of freedom to be going to practice by myself.

I walked through the gates, slipped my shoes off at the door (along with 75 other pairs of shoes!) at 5:40 a.m. and walked into the lobby to sit and wait to be called. There were about 12 others waiting too. It’s cool as you sit on the floor just waiting to hear Sharath or Saraswati say, “One more!” We sit there and watch everyone practicing. The room is packed and super, super hot. Not from the heat turned on but from the people working on their mats. That is the beauty of ashtanga and as Guruji says “boiling the blood to burn off the toxins.”

I am waiting and as another person gets called in to put their mat down, I am inching forward and now I am getting butterflies and tears of joy. I have practiced and practiced and practiced since 1998. Every day and sometimes lazy and have taken a month or two off here and there. But I have worked so hard on myself, my soul, my body and my mind. Now I am finally here after 11 years! The shala, the birthplace of Ashtanga, Guruji’s house.  I hear, “One more! from Sharath. I look at the others and they say you go, we’re the 6:15 group. I walk in and smile. Sharath says go here. I lay my mat down, look around and stand in Samasthiti and start the chant in silence. Vande Gurunam…. Hooray!

I thought I would forget the sequence or get distracted by others at all the amazing poses and what people are doing with their bodies. One alone, people are catching their ankles or knees in their backbends. But no, I am solid and in my space on my mat, not distracted at all, but just being. Go girl go!

Standing poses all good, jump through sit down, keep going. Yeah!!! Marichyasana D is coming. I got this, I keep saying in my head. You see, before Mags, I was quite the skinny minny and binding all these poses were very easy. It’s easy to do poses when you have 7% body fat and you weigh no more than 115. But mamacita here, as I had mentioned before, well those 12 pounds have messed with me binding in Mari D. The rule is in Mysore, you can’t bind in a pose, you stay there till you can. I have been working and eating salad just so I can bind here at D and do my primary series. One I am past Mari D, it’s smooth sailing everything is flowing from here to the end. All newbies at the shala have to do primary for the first month, regardless of what series you are on. So I knew now 2nd series here for me, but come on….least give me all of primary. I traveled 32 hours/half way around the world  to get here!

Next stop..Mari D. Bind on the right side…hooray!! Bind on the left side…hooray! I did it. Hmmmmm, singing a little tune. Lalala, kurmasana. Lalala. Sharath comes by, says you bind in Mari D? I said, “yes, want to see?” He said, “you stop here”.  Ok. I think perhaps he saw my sadness, as I am so not the poker face person. So he gave me a chance, he said…”kurmasana”. I smiled and done, Kurmasana! Then he came and started to put me in supta kurmasana. No prob, I can put my legs behind my head. Hmmmm, hmmmm. Oh, my hands bound behind my back too, well, now, well, crap. I guess that counts as not binding fully in the pose. He said, “you stop here, do backbends”. I am fine with that.  I stand up to drop back and he says, “no on the mat”. I’m ok with that too.  I am here, at the shala, happy and I have another month to go.!

Om! Namaste! Jai! As Guruji says, “All is Coming!”

India has servants. This really shocked me. I guess being from the states with our civil and equal rights and now finally having Obama as our president, I find it hard to believe that there are still such things as servants. What is more surprising to me is that many of my new white friends have these servants. They are cooks, cleaning people, nannies and helpers around their houses and businesses. To me that is their job - the nanny, cook, Merry Maids, but they actually call themselves servants. We were walking to breakfast the other morning and a young Indian woman came up and started walking with us and gushing over Maggie. I asked her directions to the restaurant and she said, “You need a servant? I have servant.” The whole thing felt very wrong. I am sure it has to do with the caste system here, but I am going to discreetly figure this one out.

We’re over our jet lag know which is great! Mags is sleeping through the nite and she is even taking a 1 – 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Our days are much better. We are out and about and meeting lots of people. Miss Mags actually has more friends than me. We went to Tina’s house for breakfast. She has turned her backyard into a great little breakfast spot. Tina is a great person and a great cook. She has another restaurant too that serves lunch and dinner. She has been so successful that she just hired a cook from Nepal. He and his family were literally starving to death in Nepal. I guess it is quite horrific there with the people starving and literally no food to eat. Someone in his tribe told him of Tina and they made the trek here with their little 3 year old, Shamilia. She has been very shy as mostly adults come to eat there so she has not been coming out of the house. Thanks to Mags that is over now. Mags just walked into the kitchen and next thing her and Sharmilia were outside playing all morning. Mags even went for bath time when Sharmilia’s mom gave her a bath. Tina gives cooking classes, so I have signed up and this will be Mag’s new play date as well.

We also went to a bday party for Angenea, that is another name for Hanuman. He turned 6. His parents, Jessica and Andrew, are form Encinitas and have been living her a year. There was actual pizza from Domino’s, a magician, sack race and painting. Mags had a great time. They also have a 3 year old, and we have set up play dates as well.

I have 3 new friends too, all are here for 3 months. This is their first time to Mysore. 2 are sisters from Vancouver Island and 1, Shelly, is from Detroit. She is like the Mysore social director, so I have learned a ton about where to go and get things. All 3 of them have wanted to come to Mysore just as I have, they told their husbands they wanted to go for 3 months. Their husbands had no interest in coming to India, so they said, “well we’re just going to go and you can come visit us.” The 2 sisters laughed as they called their lovely men the first week and they thought for sure their wives would be begging to come home. Instead they shocked the men and said they love it and that this was going to be their first trip of many!

Today is a full moon day, which means no practice. It is a yogi holiday so people were out last nite. Staying out late for yogis is going to dinner at 7 versus 5. We were in bed by 7, but this is good as I start at the shala tomorrow. I am leaving the house at 5:30 a.m. and my start time is 6. I have to wait for someone to finish and leave before I can go into the room as it is super crowded. The first start time is 4:30 a.m. Shelly has this time now. I guess the longer time you are here, Sharath bumps you up to an earlier time. It’s quite an honor, but honestly that is early. The gates open at 4:30 a.m., but Shelly said people get up at 2:30 a.m. and start lining up by 3:30 a.m. just to get a good spot and many of them do their meditation outside while waiting in line. I can say I am happy for now with a 6 a.m. start time.

Today has been a kooky day already. Mags woke up at 3 a.m. just on fire. She popped her head up from underneath the covers, we are covered from head to toe at night to keep the mosquitoes away from us. Unfortunately that doesn’t help much. But she popped up, covered in the sheet and sprang off the bed out to the main room and was playing non stop till 8 a.m.Our 2 friends who we are staying with happened to be up as they were leaving for Hampi at 6 a.m. for  2 weeks. Thank god they were up, because the girl was ready to rumble. Good for me they were up too as I had to get them to show me how to turn on the hot water for the bath. I cannot tell you how loud Maggie has protested to the cold bucket bath. The Indians around probably think I beat her.She finally crashed at 8 and slept till 10 a.m. I am frickin’ exhausted, but couldn’t sleep. Then Jessica was at the door. Jessica is Andrew’s wife. The kindest person you could ever meet. They have lived here for a year now with their 2 children who are 6 and I think 4. She was bringing me an invite to her 6 year old bday party tomorrow. I am very excited as Mags will love to play with some kids and Jessica and Andrew are moving to Seattle to open a yoga shala. I hear Andrew is an amazing practitioner and teacher. It’s good to talk with Jessica. They really like it here and their kids are in the montessori school. There will be 10 kids tomorrow. Hooray!Mags is up and hungry, so we walk to Alii’s. It is a restaurant run by yogi’s and I hear they have good pancakes. Mags needs some good food, other than white rice and fruit. As we walk through the main town, Maggie’s fan club is all over her, saying…”Hello Maggie!” in their great accents.Alii’s is not only a restaurant, but filled with yogis selling their items. Samia, a dear friend from Seattle is there selling her amazing jewelry. It is so nice to see her. We get in and toys are waiting for Mags as we sit outside in the courtyard. Other yogis are there and I keep hearing bits and pieces of “Ashtanga this, 3rd series this, Iyengar this, the girls who do 3rd series all have tiny wastes and big shoulders”…I am thinking hmmm, 3 of my dear girlfriends are on 3rd series and they don’t have that type of body. But anyhooty. Mags has her “coffee milk” delivered. Mom drinks coffee so Mags always has steamed soymilk with it. They also bring her a pancake in the shape of a butterfly. Yeah!Our waiter, Bruno, is French. He moved here a year ago with his wife and their 3 year old, they now have an 8 month old too. They love it and we will see them tomorrow at the party. He takes us through the house/restaurant and people are hanging out checking email on their laptops, an Indian man is there who teaches painting. I am going to take his class. They show me a space for kid’s yoga and out back is a sandbox for kids. On the back porch, 3 people are contorted in these crazy headstand poses. Way advance 4th series and on stuff. I take one look and think, oh man, I am going to get my butt kicked when I start practicing at the shala. I had to stand there and try and figure out how the guy had his body contorted like that, He was white too not some ancient Indian yogi.We pay our 200 rupees for our large breakfast and as we walk out, our rickshaw guys are there. Perfect timing as I show them a business card that my yoga teacher gave me of a fabric store. In the rickshaw now with Mags screaming, “Cow!” again we are off. This is quite a long ride and we are seeing lots of cows. Mags and I are throwing apples and pears out to them as we fly by. We stop at the atm and wait in line. 2 guys cut in front of me and the 3rd one, I snarled and he held the door open for me. The atm spits all too many small denominations and I am trying to stuff this huge wad in my purse, thinking could I possibly get rolled here? We walk out and these lovely dressed Indian women see Mags and start smiling. One pinches her cheeks so hard that she backs away and says, “No touch!” I start laughing and apologize. They probably think, those unruly cowgirls! Laughing, we get back in the rickshaw.Crowded, crowded street and the first time I see women covered in the dress from head to toe all in black with their veils. We pop into this fabric store and….more yogi girls. This is the place. It’s a very nice store and I don’t think very many Indian people shop here. 5 people are waiting on us and I am looking for orange silk to have some pants made. I find it, get 2 meters and 3 pashimas. All I have are summer strapless dresses and shirts and it’s not too cool to show your shoulders in India, so must cover up. Back in the rickshaw, and they drop us off at Shiva’s house, which is a few doors down from the shala. Shiva, is this very tall man by Indian standards. Shiva is the guy who can get you anything, not the mafia guy as he is in a bright orange tunic and flowy pants, bowing with namaste to us all the time. His pug is Maggie too and the Maggies have bonded quite nicely. Shiva rented the house to us. He is a good man and I hear that he is personally responsible for the livelihoods of about almost everyone in town as he sends you to them. We need bottled water, the wireless code and someone to come clean our place. I tell him and done deal. His 4 guys hang out on the driveway of his house and all work for him. They are all so kind and always smiling.We leave his place and feed the stray dogs across the street. As we are walking down the street, Shiva’s guys pass 2 on a scooter and say, next time we have plates for the strays for you to put the food on. There are 4 puppy strays in the vacant lot across from the house and I’m thinking that is why they lounge there all the time. We walk back and run into Joseph. We were supposed to stay with him and I canceled last minute as I wanted to save money. His place is gorgeous and fully accommodating. I feel bad that we are not staying there and actually think we may move over there when our house roomies get back in 2 weeks. It’s a bit uncomfortable us meeting as he is being polite, but I know I messed him up. We walk on looking for the juice stand which is by the Ganesha Temple. We feed a cow 8 small bananas, 2 mangos and an apple that I have in my purse. 2 more blocks and we run into Samia again, she is coming by our place for a guitar that was left for her. We let her in and she shows us how to turn on the hot water. Thank you!!! Finally a hot bucket bath. Mags still screamed, but we are clean. Tonight is a benefit for the orphanage at this other yogi restaurant called Santosha. I have seen alot of yogis today and would rather go to Shobha’s to learn a new recipe. Not that I am not into making more friends, but want to enjoy all the aspects of India. I do have some things we can donate to the orphanage though. So who knows.Om.

I’m a cook, I love to cook as much as I can. That’s probably why I still have those 12 pounds from Maggie weight hanging on. So I am blessed to be hanging over Shobha’s shoulder who is an amazing cook and I am taking notes and learning. Man, they like their food spicy here. We made a dish called Dosa, I think, who knows. Sauteed cabbage, onions, green beans w/ tomatoes and a couple big fat chilis. She showed me how to make this bread where you have water and rice mixed together to fluff up over nite. In the morning you pour a cup of the mixture into a pan and it makes this amazing bread, not naan, but similar to that.

So armed with this new knowledge of cooking, the 3 dishes I have learned, plus how to make Indian coffee better than any Seattle barista around. We head to the grocery store by rickshaw. Mags laughed the whole way in the rickshaw. She loves it and she keeps tapping our driver, Kumar, on the shoulder saying, “more cows, more cows!”
We get in the grocery store, Loyal World, and I feel like I am like, uh oh, I don’t know what is what. We go through the narrow aisles, smiling at everyone as I guess we are standing out as blondes and I finally muddle through it. No real substantial food that I can find as I can’t read anything nor know what is what. So we walk out with some diapers, juice boxes, soy milk and a couple other things, including dog food and treats.
Back in the rickshaw to our new house, where we settle in with our measly groceries. Mags keeps saying she is hungry so we open these cool little chip bag that I though Shobha gave her and she loved. Turns out they are Punjabi sticks and they are hotter than the sun here. Oops. We take off a block to the vege/fruit stand where we stock up on some baby bananas, mango and grapes. Least we can make smoothies. Packed in my bag is 3 small bags of dog food. We feed about 9 dogs with that, throw treats to the chained dogs and fed a cow an apple. We even gave treats to a crippled monkey who was sadly dragging himself across the road on his bottom. His clan were climbing up the apartment building climbing into people’s balconies looking for food. Maia, if you are reading this, it was your apartment building. It kills me to see so many suffering animals, but I will do what I can to help their pain while we are here.
They say for every hour you change in time zones, it takes a day for each hour you change. If that is the case, we have 13 days of this and we are on day 4. Mag’s pink blanket has still been missing since yesterday’s rickshaw ride, so hopefully Randy and Shobha have it.  Last nite was tough without it along with the jet lag. She slept 3 - 9 pm, 11 - 1 a.m., up till 5 a.m. (I’m dying here) and then up for good at 8 a.m.
We headed out for breakfast today and couldn’t find Santosha’s which has a great western breakfast. Mags has had little appetite so I thought pancakes would be great. Unfortunately we walked and couldn’t find it for half hour. Back to Kumar’s rickshaw and we ended up at Green Leaf, which is all Indian food. I muddled my way through and we got a rice pancake thing, which she loved, plain naan and toast with jam. Very carb, must talk to friends here and learn what is what on the menu. But for now fine, I am trying to drop the 12 pounds anyways.
So here we are, mosquitoes have nibbled us every nite. People are recognizing us now and when we walk everyone calls out to Maggie…”Good morning Maggie. Hello Miss Maggie. Oh Maggie, great Indian name as our famous noodles made here are called Maggie’s Noodles.” Even Shiva, who helps all the yoga students, his pug is named Maggie. We’re settling in. We went to the pool today and everyone was kind, not overly friendly, but kind. All are yoga students, perhaps they’ll get a little more warm and fuzzy once I start practicing with them.
Now off to the shala to pay our fee for the month and see if I can practice this week with Saraswati. Must move my jet lag body. Tomorrow, we head to Gokalum to this amazing fabric store. Going to get some fabric and have some clothes made by Manju. He is outside the shala in the mornings and can copy any pattern.
I am really loving India. Getting used to it and know there is so much for me to learn here. Om.

Shobha is gorgeous. Beautiful sari, gorgeous dark skin and eyes, gold earring in her nose and amazing gold necklaces with jewels on them. Her smile is kind and she instantly reaches for Mags and takes her in her arms. So nice to finally be at our place and to have someone carry Mags. The house is lovely with the concrete architecture and wrought iron gate. Every single house has gates around their houses with the most intricate fence design with emblems and details in the fences.. There is maybe 2 feet between each house and the backyards are nonexistent and actually the concrete of the patio connects with the neighbor’s backyard wall. You can hear everything in eachother’s homes, someone is playing tablas in the distance, dogs are barking everywhere and there are 2 cows across the street eating a neighbor’s tree leaves. Plus the constant horns of the cars and scooters. I see a bunch of westerners sipping from coconuts under a stand.

We leave our shoes at the door and we meet Laksmi. She is their cleaning lady and will be Mag’s babysitter. Mags likes her instantly and it is great. Laksmi is a tiny frame with a beautiful sari on as well. In dress our 2 worlds could not be more opposite with my jeans and Anthropolgie shirt. They are amazing hosts and immediately say, “you take bath and rest.” They start the hot water for us, which means they walk outside to a back patio where the shower is in a small concrete separate room and turn on the hot water switch to get it ready. They show us to our room, put a sleeping mat like a tatami down, throw beautiful Indian colorful sheets on the bed and show us the restroom. I see a shower faucet with a bucket and she says you can take bath here. I feel like an idiot as I have no idea what is the correct way to take a shower, so I say thank you. Mags just on the bed and says “Maggie bed!” She is so happy and I wish I could express my same feelings just like she did. She lays down and pretends to snore. We go sit on the couch and they bring me a coffee and Mags some milk. Very lovely, I had been wanting a coffee ever since we got off the plane.

We fumble our way through the bath and Mags loves it because she can dip a big measuring cup in the bucket and poor it all over her. No worries about not having a bathtub, this is so much more fun. I was to nervous to ask for a towel, so we dry ourselves off with my shirt and get dressed. We fell asleep for 3 hours.

I leave Mags sleeping and Shobha had gone to the store and was making us lunch. Amazing chapatti and sautéed cauliflower with spices. I have heard she is an amazing cook and I am going to hang with her in the kitchen and learn from her and Laksmi. She said she went easy on the spices for me and I am on fire from the dish, but I like it. I am going have to work up to the Indian taste buds here.

A man shows up on a motorcycle. He has the classic Indian mustache and is dressed nicely. I climb on the bike sideways as I have a skirt on and he takes me to meet up with another nice man who show me 3 houses to rent. Cruising through the streets of Mysore, now I see where the money is at. The houses are mansions with amazing detail to the structures. Something in the states like these would be $2 million and up. This is India? The diversity between the classes is so staggering. First house was gorgeous and the apartment is upstairs. The landlord is a family man in his 30’s and answers the door with a white towel around his waste and shirt on top. I thought maybe we just got him out of his shower. Simba, the gold lab is tied to the garage. More on this but everyone has a dog and they chain them to the front of their gates or porch banisters 24/7. This is killing me to see, especially as they could roam free within their gated fences at least, but they don’t even allow them that. The apartment is great and very cool, only problem is I would have to take a scooter and I just can’t see me putting Mags on there to get around. The men say, no problem, every does this and they will teach me how. I am intrigued as I have always wanted to learn to ride a bike, but no mags on there.
2nd house, the landlord comes out in a towel around his waste with a shirt on top. I am beginning to see this is proper attire here. Perhaps it is a wealthy thing this class does here as they don’t have to work too hard it seems. The top floor has 4 bedrooms with a common kitchen and a large balcony. I walk to the edge of the balcony and a whole palm frond/tree house city is behind the house with pigs, children and dogs walking through trash and the women trying to get their kids to come inside. I can’t do this. 3rd house was another gorgeous house and finally walking distance to the shala and the stores. But the room was sterile, bed with dressers and no kitchen. All the houses had showers with buckets.

I come back and decide to walk down to David and Joy’s to see what their place is like. They are leaving and I can take it over. I call him from Shobha’s phone and tell him my address, he says to walk outside. He waves to me from 5 houses down. Perfect, I get here, check the place out and done deal. Close to walk to everything, king size bed, own shower, nice kitchen and the door and windows are so solid and locked that it is like a fortress. Price is right, so house hunting done.

I come home and Mags is still asleep. Not good. It’s 5 and she has been down since 1. I wake her up to eat so we can try and get on a schedule. Shobha makes her amazing chappati and Randy gets home. Mags is crying and just tired. I bet Randy wished he didn’t invite us here. I say goodnite and we go back to bed at 6, We sleep till 10 and she waked up hungry. Crap. I can’t go in the kitchen ad wake them up, so we have snacks of veggie booty, animal crackers, soy milk and water. She falls back asleep at midnite, only to wake up for god at 3a.m. Crappy snacks again and at 5 am. I am out of entertainment ideas, so I put on a movie. 7 we are up and out and about. The shala is packed. My god, there are so many people here. We buy a coconut to drink, buy a homemade loaf of wheat bread from the nicest Indian man for $0.75 and sit in front and watch everyone. People are nice to me and some ignore me. I can see the clichés that my lovely ashtangi girls say they can’t stand. I don’t care though, I am here for me and to practice and not for anyone else. It’s just amazing to be here and in front of Guruji’s home, which is amazing!!!

We walk back to the house and I want to figure out why people have dogs here. Every dog is chained to the front porch constantly. I am so jet lagged, gotta sign off.

It’s amazing and astonishing at the same time. Everything is so colorful and almost every woman has gorgeous bright clothes on, while the men are more subdued in their natural colors. It is still traditional with women covering their shoulders and legs, men wear long or short sleeve collared shirts mostly with pants. The younger men are more tshirts and pants.  It’s very very loud with traffic and non stop horns.

The drive from the airport was crazy and fascinating. Bangalore is incredibly dusty and/or polluted and it was actually hard to breathe while we drove through there. No car seats here, so Mags rode on my lap in the backseat. She thought she was in heaven to be so free and not strapped in.  She even had a snack and dropped cheerios into the big woofer speakers in the back of the taxi. Oopsy. The drivers are constantly honking and passing. They drive very fast and on the opposite side of the road. We pass motorized rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters with 3 people on them and even babies straddle their moms and dads and ride on the motorcycles and scooters. Absolutely mind blowing seeing that. Women in their saris sit sideways on the bikes so not to straddle the seat like us westerners would in a skirt or dress. There is something very appealing about this for the country and I almost wish we weren’t so non–traditional in the West. We pass carts being pulled by oxen that look so tired and hungry, just worn out. They are pulling huge carts of goods piled a story high. Stray dogs run everywhere, looking for food and many hobbling on 3 legs obviously from being hit by cars. A random cow is walking down the road, looking for food. Goats, ox, ponies, cows are all tied up with a one foot rope right in front of people’s houses. Doesn’t matter if there is one house or 20, most everyone on this stretch of highway has a cow tied in their front yard.  But they are all in very poor shape and backing in the sun with no water or food in sight.

There is so much poverty. People live in metal shacks and some even live and work under a tarp all in this one space with no sides for walls. It is unbelievable and there is garbage right next to their homes, where children and animals are digging through it for food. People relieve themselves wherever on the sides of the road. The air is mixed with a smell of exotic spices, incense burning and urine. This is right in Bangalore and as we leave the city.  The poverty is staggering and right next to a tarp house might be an old amazing structure of Ganesh and the most beautiful old architectural building. The mixture is just as you feel when watching a movie and someone is whisked away in a cab through Hong Kong or something. But the poverty really hits home. I have seen third world before, but it is right in front of you here. After an hour or two of seeing this, I see why the animals are starving as the people can hardly take care of themselves. I am starting to see this is culture and there is nothing that will ever change this poverty here.

As we leave Bangalore, we come to these amazing sugar cane fields and one whole city revolves around the crop. It looks exactly like Hawaii with its cane fields and palm trees. Lush farms everywhere. It is absolutely gorgeous and I instantly see a new side of India and I again think how much I miss Hawaii. People still live in tarp houses, but now I start to see houses made out of palm fronds and trees. Then some concrete small worn down buildings start to mix in as we come to the main sugarcane town. Everyone has a little small shop here selling anything from drinks to a fruit stand, shoe cobbler, tailor, wood carvers, anything. It’s a mish mosh and everyone’s store space is so small, you can’t tell what is what.

Crossing fields, more and more, cows, oxen pulling carts, shanties, some cool architectural buildings, but I can’t tell what they are at all. Nothing looks lived in, no glass for windows just open holes for windows, then you notice people are living in there. I start to see billboards for hotels, themed water parks, animal exhibits, spas, restaurants. We’re getting closer to Gokulam where Mysore is. So weird to see these boards for such lavish places when underneath someone is literally trying to sell a flower garland and their feet are tough and white on their dark legs as they have no shoes, nor have probably owned a pair in years. I see the occasional traditional dress of men all in white, I see the old Indian men walking with their long wood sticks, head wrapped in a turban and just a cloth to cover their upper body with a pair of shorts on. Their legs are bowed and the size of the emaciated stick they are carrying.

After about 2-1/2 hours, I think, we have now been traveling for about 40 hours total with everything. Mags is holding up well, sleeping in my lap, but now she pops up. Just tired, but happy at the same time. Our driver has not said a word to us, but he keeps getting on his cell phone talking when people call. He speaks the local dialect they call Canada (not sure if that is how it’s spelled.) But he talks on the phone and Mags starts repeating all the words he is saying. She’s such a breathe of fresh air! We pull into Mysore and wow, big huge money here and still the poverty mixed. But stunning gorgeous houses, like something you would see on Park Avenue only with the most amazing architectural details and garlands of flowers draped from the buildings. Wow! We pull up to our house, Mags throws up now on the woofer speaker. Sorry taxi driver. But the girl made this trip without a hitch, she threw up, smiled and felt so much better. Shobha, Randy’s cook, is waiting for us outside. The house is gorgeous and everyone has their name etched in stone or marble built into their walls around their house. It’s good to have finally arrived. Monday 11 a.m. We left Chicago 9:45 p.m. on Saturday.

Mags did great, the plane was not full at all. We ate a light dinner, watched half a movie and she slept the whole way. I had to wake her up once we got to the gate. Next flight in 30. She is wide awake and on fire, so more to come. This plane is packed to the brim and unfortunately we are in the middle seats. Boo.

The journey begins! We got to see all of my old friends from high school last nite and all of their lovely kids. We had pizza and movies for the kids. It was a great send off. Breakfast today with my family and we are out of here at 7 to the airport. More on the 22 hours flight when we land. We miss Ray already!!!!!!! 

So I forgot I have asthma. It’s so funny as I am in denial I think because I am so the yoga girl, that what would I be doing with that? But I had an attack last nite and thought it was bronchitis. Hello! We went to the doc the second they opened and they put me on the breathing machine immediately and prescribed 2 inhalers for every day, plus steroids for a week and an emergency inhaler. I am trying to be ok with this, but I am going to the shala to practice 2 hours everyday and it’s not like I do Hatha yoga. I do Ashtanga which is fast and needs the ujayi breath. It will be ok.

It’s freezing here. 10 below with the windchill. It is so cold when we walk outside my legs are instantly numb. I’m ready for India tomorrow with 90 degrees.

Tonight, I have invited all my college friends and their families over for pizza. I’m so excited to see them!
I should be napping with Mags, but I can’t sleep.