The start of my second Indian Adventure- Birthday and Christmas in an Ashram 2014!

Thursday 11^th December 2014

I started my day today in Myanmar and flew to Bangkok.

I slept the entire flight to Bangkok and woke up in a bit of a daze I had to cross town to the main Bangkok airport via the free shuttle and thankfully Ganesh was on my side removing all obstacles we landed at 10.20am and I had disembarked, cleared immigration and collected my bags all in time to board the 10.40am shuttle! At BKK check in hadn’t even opened so I had to wait in line with all the other keen beans.

When I was eventually through to the gate I bought a ridiculously overpriced sandwich and sat and read my book until boarding was called.

I hadn’t remembered to ask for a vegetarian meal in time (I never do, it should defiantly be an option when you buy tickets online!) but lucky for me since we were heading to India the choice was veggie or chicken and it was pretty darn tasty. About halfway through the flight my e-reader ran out of battery much to my distress so I slept the rest of the flight.

The flight arrived into Mumbai early and I was soon reminded how time slows down in India it took an age to get through customs and immigration collect my bags check back in and then head to the domestic terminal. The bus is supposed to come every 10mins I waited almost an hour but it didn’t matter since my flight was delayed by a little over an hour. When finally I boarded I was exhausted and soon fell asleep only to be woken up by the air host asking if I wanted dinner, does a bear shit in the woods of course I did! I ate and was soon out cold again.

I arrived into Bangalore at about 11.15pm hoping it wouldn’t be too hard to find Maezee as I should have arrived before her. I looked around the terminal and there was no sight of her so I went out and searched but there was still no sign of her and they wouldn’t let me back into the airport to look, wouldn’t do a call out over the PA and wouldn’t send someone in to look. I was at a loss as the staff just kept telling me to call her… kind of difficult with no phone or phone number. My tablet was flat and my laptop wouldn’t pick up the Wi-Fi which wouldn’t have mattered anyway since you needed a phone to receive a txt with the password, half an hour at the customer service desk and the lady still tells me to call her.

Eventually I met the most obnoxious, insulting, skin crawling, racist American man I have ever met (mate if you’re reading this and you don’t like India or Indian people what the fuck are you doing here? I’m sure they would be happy to see the back of you!) as much of a prick as he was he did let me use his iPad and a quick look on FB and I saw a message form Maezee that she had missed her connecting flight after a delayed flight and so would be spending the night in Delhi.

It only took about two hours but at least I now knew the deal and headed by taxi to our hotel. It was in the arsehole of nowhere and took an age and a very frustrated lost taxi driver to get there but eventually I was in a room in a bed sleeping y little heart out.

Friday 12^th December 2014

The morning came and so did Maezee after a brief chit chat we decided to head to the train station and try and get night train tickets to Madurai city.

We Rickshawed to the station and spent the next 90mins being sent from one counter to the next to the next. Eventually we had two tickets but only one bed on the train but had applied for another and were told it was a 99% chance we would get it.

We then took a rickshaw to Cuban park and had a stroll around before picking up another rickshaw who took us to a nice (but overpriced) place for lunch and then (as always in India) onto his friends shop. I got some wee Christmas Ganeshes to hang in the rickshaw and Maezee got a scarf.

Back at the hotel we got snacks then chilled until we had to head to the station. We went into the office and were told we had another berth but that it was in a different carriage. Our train left at 9.15pm but was on the platform at 8.40pm so we clambered aboard and made friends with our sleeper mates. A dude on his own kindly swapped beds so we didn’t have to split up.

We spent a wee while eating our train snacks chatting and reading before heading to bed to sleep away the rest of the journey.

Saturday 13^th December 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!

We both slept rather well on the train apart from a brief moment when Mae needed the loo and woke me up to look after her bag in the dark I couldn’t see a thing and she scared the bajesus out of me but it was all rather funny.

We had about an hour till we were due in Maderai City but the train pulled in slightly late. From the train station we walked 10mins to the bus station and found our bus to the ashram. It took about an hour to get there then a 10min walk arriving just in time to dump our bags and have breakfast.

After food we registered made up our beds in the dorm and then chilled out until tea time after which was our first lecture which didn’t overly make sense as it was towards the end of the last series. Next was asana class and I was delighted to find that after three weeks of no practice I could still comfortably stand on my head. (Probably my greatest achievement of 2014)

Class finished and there was just enough time for a shower before dinner, after which I spent reading some birthday messages before Satsang.

As it was a Saturday it was the weekly talent show which was rather entertaining but bedtime couldn’t come quick enough and I had a great sleep.

Sunday 14^th December 2014

Today was our first full day of Ashram life. Every day the schedule is the same to teach self-discipline and what not it goes as follows

05.30 (yes you read that right 5.30qam every day!) wake up bell

06.00 Satsang –silent meditation then chanting (awesome start to the day!)

07.30 – chai (or for those of us who don’t drink milk black tea)

08.00 – Asana class (for most of you that’s yoga class)

10.00 – brunch

11.00 – Karma Yoga (that’s cleaning sometimes sweeping sometimes mopping other times toilets and if you are really unlucky it’s sticking your hand down a drain and pulling out the hair)

12.00pm-13.00 free time

13.30 – Chai time

13.45- Philosophy lecture on all things body mind and spirit

15.30 – Asana class

18.00 – Dinner

19.00- 20.00 free time

20.00 - Evening Satsang

22.00- Lights out bed time

This morning we started the day with a silent walk we sat in the middle of nowhere on a giant rock and chanted for a while until we headed back to the ashram other than that it was the scheduled events

Monday 15^th December 2014

Instead of satsang this morning we had a fire ceremony I’m not really sure what we were celebrating but it was awesome we sat around the fire chanting for about 90mins and then made offerings into the fire one by one whatever it was for I felt extremely energised and uplifted even if my legs were completely numb with pins and needles form sitting on the floor

As it was change over day for the yoga vacationers (the programme works in two week blocks) we watched a documentary for the lecture

Tuesday 16^th December 2014

Today was ashram business as usual but with a bajan group performing for us at Satsang

Wednesday 17^th December 2014

We had another silent walk this morning I was feeling pretty drained as I have developed a cough that seems to be worst at night when I’m laying down.

I found some clippers today and shaved most of my hair off leaving just a pony tail on top like a weird monk, one of the guys here said I looked like a Berlin techno person I’m not really sure if that’s a compliment or an insult so if you know shed some light for me!

Thursday 18^th December 2014

Today was a blegh kind of day in the morning asana class I was getting so annoyed with the tone of the teacher’s voice that I had to get up and leave. But the afternoon class left me feeling a bit charged up.

Friday 19^th December 2014

Happy one month on the road! I have officially been travelling for a month today! Fridays are days off in the ashram so after Satsang and the morning chai we heading into Madurai City on the bus.

The bus was crazy full of mostly school children all crammed in like chickens with hardly any room to even breathe!

When we arrived in town we hit up a local restaurant and got some masala dosa for breakfast before going to the Meenakashi temple the security there was crazy strict and you couldn’t take anything in and we were frisked like nobody’s business.

Inside is absolutely outstandingly beautiful but I didn’t feel like it was a spiritual place at all as there were so many hawkers trying to sell (mostly crappy) trinkets and more food vendors than could be imagined. It was also full of people worshipping and visiting but the whole effect was more like a street market with all the yelling and food smells.

The best parts are strictly for Hindus only so we were a bit dispirited about the whole thing.

Maezee and I needed to get train tickets to Kochi so we headed to the train station where we were told there were no tickets available until the 8^th Jan!  Our only option was to go back the day before and apply for emergency quota but since we didn’t want to do that we got tickets through a travel agent which is the exact same process but we pay them to apply on our behalf and saves us a trip into town. Fingers crossed we will actually have tickets when the time comes!

After the ticket situ was somewhat resolved we headed into another town that’s partway between Madurai and the ashram where we got more food then ice-cream and snacks from the supermarket before arriving back at the ashram just in time for dinner!

Saturday 20^th December 2014

All day I was dragging myself along until the afternoon asana class when I absolutely came alive and made quite a bit of progress!

It was the last day of the Yoga teachers training course that has been going on for the last month and so we had an absolute feast for dinner

The evening satsang was mostly the graduating ceremony for the ttc which was pretty cool followed by the weekly talent show. Maezee and I got up and spoke about the Rickshaw Run resulting in a few donations which is awesome! By the time we finally got to bed I was absolutely shattered!

Sunday 21^st December 2014

Sunday morning silent walk and chanting under a big shady tree was the perfect start to the day. The ashram was pretty empty with students leaving and also because there was a big trip out to some temples.

In my free time a wrote a bunch of postcards and the lecture was super informal which was good for my tired brain

Monday 22^nd December 2014

This morning I was on Struggle Street after so many sleepless nights coughing so I slept through Satsang and got up in time for tea. My biggest accomplishment of the day was sitting completely still during meditation in the evening.

Tuesday 23^rd December 2014

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!!! Apparently that’s not a thing but it totally is! Tonight we had another fire ceremony in the temple which was wicked. When everyone is chanting together like that you can really feel the power, the energy and the vibrations!

Wednesday 24^th December 2014

Happy Christmas Eve!!! Today was awesome it was business as usual until Satsang which started at 9pm and finished close to 1am! We spent the whole time singing carols, listening to readings and stories and watching Christmas skits at the end we all got a candle and sat in silent meditation for the 10mins leading up until midnight then we all cheered and wished each other Merry Christmas and had an enormous cake and Christmas cookies and the most heavenly chocolate balls! What a way to ring in Christmas!

Thursday 25^th December 2014

Merry Christmas! This morning we had a sleep in and Arti at 7.20am then after tea we went to the local old folk’s home and gave them some gifts and Christmas cookies and sang carols with them. Back at the ashram we had a short yoga class and then a slightly late lunch but then from there the day was a regular ashram day.

After dinner we had a candle light carol service walking around the ashram grounds were we all got a bit silly singing in ridiculous high pitched voices. We finished the walk in the satsang hall where we had Arti and from there it was free time for the rest of the day so we headed to the library and all crowded around my 10 inch laptop to watch a movie!

Friday 26^th December 2014

Friday day off! We had planned on going into Madurai to watch a Bollywood film but it didn’t finish till late so threw a spanner in the works instead after tea Maezee and I set off to the ice-cream town (I call it that since we have no idea of its name and everyone goes there for ice-cream)

The bus was absolutely rammed and going so fast I was convinced we were going to go around a corner and someone would be flung out the open space where the door used to be! Thankfully this didn’t happen and we got there unscathed.

First stop was masala dosas for breakfast and then as the ice-cream shop wasn’t open yet a wee walk around town. We found “India’s best hair and beauty salon” and got our eyebrows threaded for a grand total of 60 cents (NZD) what a bargain!

By then the ice-cream shop was open so we headed back there stopping to pick up some samosas for afternoon tea. Back at the ashram no one was around as they had all gone out for the day so we relaxed away the afternoon until 3.30pm when we did asana class and then dinner etc. etc…

Saturday 27^th December 2014

Our last day in the ashram… it was so sad to leave we got up early and had our last satsang and cruised through the day until afternoon tea after which we had to motor to the bus stop.

We got into town a little after 3pm and went to pick up our train tickets from the travel agent there was a bit of confusion about who had it and had we paid but in the end it was sorted and we rushed across to the station to find our train was delayed by about an hour.

When we were finally on board we were lucky enough to be sharing the berth with a creeper who sat too close and openly stared at our tits. Every time the ticket man came past he kicked the guy out yelling and beating him with his ticket book but he always came back. It transpired that our berth was “ladies only” and that the guy had no ticket anyway he was persistent though and always returned.

Maezee and I watched a movie on my laptop (having to close the screen every time anything remotely sexual happened least we stir old pervy tits into a frenzy) when at last we went to bed it was a fitful sleep as we had to get off at 3am. In the middle of the night old pervy tits shook me awake yelling and pointing about something but then the train stopped and he ran to get off while his wife tried to steal first my pack then Maezee’s rather unsuccessfully since her husband had woken everyone up with his screams.

We were glad to see the back of them! We arrived in Cochin and got a rickshaw to our accommodation for “the night” only to find they didn’t have our booking even though we had paid in full online but it all worked out when we were bumped up to the much nicer place next door and didn’t pay a cent extra!