Sunday 16th June 2013
DAY ONE ASHRAM: Today
was the first day of our Ashram programme. Everyday this is what the schedule
looks like
·
05.20
The first bell rings
·
06.00 Morning Satsang (Meditation followed by
chanting and some spiritual readings followed by Aarti and Pasard)
·
07.30
Cup of tea
·
08.00 Two hour Asana class (Yoga)
·
10.00
Breakfast
·
11.00
Karma Yoga (basically cleaning)
·
12.00
(Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays) Optional meditation coaching
·
12.30
(Everyday) optional Asana coaching
·
13.30
Cup of tea and a snack
·
14.00
Philosophy lecture
·
15.30
Two hour Asana class
·
18.00
Dinner
·
20.00
Evening Satsang
·
22.30
Lights out
So this morning
we headed to the Siva hall for morning Satsang it started with a silent walk which is usually
to the dam but as it was raining we did laps of the hall with Shanti the
resident dog following us about after that it was chanting and then as it was Sunday today we did the Sunday
prayers. At 7.30am when we had tea we chatted to a few people also starting the
course and said goodbye to Claire who was flying back to Australia that night.
At 8am it was time for our first Yoga class it was really slow paced compared
to what I am used to and there were a lot of demonstrations and a lot of
savasana (complete rest laying on your back with your eyes closed) in between
each exercise.by 10am we were so hungry so were pleased that Claire was right
that breakfast was the better meal of the two great meals a day. The Ashram
follows a sattvic diet which is completely vegetarian as well as cutting out any
foods that might excite or depress the body such as onions or garlic. This
morning at 11am we had our orientation we were given a tour of the Ashram and learnt all the rules then at 12pm we were
given our Karma yoga tasks, Ayla and I along with two other girls had to clean
the dorms we split it in half and then Ayla did the floors and I did the
bathrooms. At 13.30 we had a cup of herbal tea and a banana before our first
lecture. It was by a guest speaker Colonel Naire who comes in every Sunday to
do a lecture.it was hard to pay attention as I was feeling sleepy and really
uncomfortable sitting on the floor. The afternoon’s yoga class was very similar
to the one this morning with just a few progressions here and there. We took
the time between yoga finishing and dinner starting to shower and potter about
a bit dinner was really simple just dhal and chapattis. After food we went to
the shop and got a few things (we already brought yoga mats the day before)
then at 8pm we headed to evening Satsang we are slowly learning a few of the
chants which makes it a bit more fun.
Monday 17th June 2013
DAY TWO ASHRAM: I woke up this morning after a horrible night’s
sleep in which I had severely violent dreams! My eye headache was back and bizarrely
it had swollen up. We went to Satsang and throughout meditation I sat staring
at the floor as if I moved I felt a bit nauseous. By the time 8am rolled round
and it was time for yoga I did feel a bit better but still struggled with some
of the inverted positions. At breakfast we were starving so luckily it was a
satisfying meal. We did our Karma yoga and then in the free time we sat in the
hall and I did some writing. At 12pm we went to the meditation coaching to get
a few tips it was just me and Ayla for the most part he explained the reasoning
behind the cross-legged position for chanting (by sitting in this position your
feet are facing upwards ready to receive the Prana energy around you it’s the
same for sitting with a straight back the prana and apana can travel up and
down your spine) we also gave us a counting exercise to help calm the mind and
slow it down which was really helpful. The lecture this afternoon was on Yogic
principles so we started with what yoga meant to us and then learnt about the
different elements and incorporating them all to live yoga as a lifestyle. The
afternoon class progressed a little and I began to feel like I was getting a
little bit more of a workout. We headed to dinner and then spent our free time
before Satsang browsing the books in the shop and doing some writing.in the
evening satsang I still struggled to find a comfortable seated position but did
find the counting exercise cleared my mind more.
Tuesday 18th June 2013
DAY THREE ASHRAM: this morning after another rubbish sleep
I stayed in bed until just 15mins before Satsandg then got up dressed and
rushed over to the hall. We started as usual with meditation and I was
pleasantly surprised when 25mins went by quite quickly (and I don’t think I was
sleeping) Yoga this morning was still moving at a pace that was to slow for me
but the intermediate class is actually more of an advanced class so I am
reluctant to change. Breakfast was a welcome meal and fuelled us ready to get
our Karma on. We got on our hands and knees and got rid of every cobweb and spider,
ant or other insect we could find! We walked over to the Sivnanda institute of
health which is an ayurverdic clinic we wanted to know the price of a massage
but it was actually a bit pricey so we sacked it off. We then checked out the library
I withdrew a book about vegetarianism as I am exploring the idea of staying
vege all the time (since leaving England I have only eaten fish and seafood…ok
and one bit of chicken at the closing part) the snack this afternoon was a muesli
type thing but was full of clumps of brown sugar and nuts which I tried in vain
to avoid the lecture today was on bhakti yoga which is the expression of love
to god through music. We practiced some chanting and I played a drum. The yoga
class this afternoon was encouraging as I began to notice some improvements in
my flexibility. At dinner we had these weird pancake things which were phenomenal
apparently they are made of the same ingredients as chapattis but the ratio of
flour to water is different , however they are made they tasted amazing and I
had to go in for seconds. In Satsang we meditated for 30mins but my hip was
hurting which made it hard to concentrate. During the night Shanti (the dog)
was running up and down the dorm corridor howling and barking at something
unknown so it was hard to get a good sleep.
Wednesday 19th June 2013
DAY FOUR ASHRAM: this morning I was awake early but no one
else was up and I couldn’t see the clock so I didn’t know what time it was I
think everyone must have been tired as no one turned on the light until moments
before the second bell rang. We rushed to get dressed and headed over to the
hall just in time for Satsang again I was finding it really difficult to get
comfortable but concentrated on my breathing and using the counting exercise we
learnt helped. I didn’t feel properly awake until after yoga by then I was
feeling really stretched out and ready for breakfast. We got through Karma yoga
and has some time to kill before meditation coaching I used the time to get
some laundry done whilst Ayla took a nap I woke her up for coaching but she was
narco-ed and so stayed in bed we did a activity to help with concentration in
which a candle was placed in front of us and we had to stare at it for as long
as we could until tears were coming then we shut our eyes and imagined the
candle in our minds eye in full detail. I found the image faded quite quickly
and that I had to give myself commentary to remember what it looked like which
defeated the purpose of visualisation somewhat. The lecture this afternoon was
about Ayurverdic medicine the Doctor from the Sivanada institute of health came
and told us about the three Doshas and about imbalances in the body causing illness
it could actually have been really interesting but he was a bit bland and relied
on his slides too much. The whole concept is at once extremely simply and
vastly complicated. In class I found myself feeling a little frustrated as
there is only so far I can physically push myself without the help of props
which for some reason the Ashram is firmly again I want to be seeing
improvements each class but it’s just not happening. In the evening I had an
interesting conversation about positivity and negativity with one of the senior
staff members his view is that every time you have a negative thought you should
chase it away with a prayer or positive affirmation it’s a good idea but I’m
not sure it’s plausible in real life outside the ashram. We were supposed to
have a silent walk up to the dam but again it was raining so instead we just
had a shortened satsang and then headed to bed to do “self-study” in silence.
Thursday 20th June 2013
DAY FIVE ASHRAM: last night I had really bad dreams again
they were really violent and scary which is strange I thought being at an
Ashram would calm my mind… meditation was difficult this morning as I kept
having flashbacks of my dreams so eventually I just stared out at the sky until
it was time to chant. Today in Yoga I was feeling frustrated with my lack of
progress and so sulked a little bit throughout. The morning passed normally
with breakfast and then Karma yoga. About 11.30am we took a walk down to the
lake to see if we could spot any crocodiles we were sitting at the bottom of
the temple and the only wildlife we saw were two beautiful kingfishers and a
local cat. We sat by the lake until it was afternoon tea time. The lecture this
afternoon was a little boring and so I was feeling restless the lecturer had
one of the teacher training students on stage and was demonstrating the
postures and explaining the benefits it was useless information to most of us
though as it was all intermediate and advanced postures. In the afternoon I
again felt frustrated with my lack of progress. After class I left straight
away and had a shower before dinner this evening we were helping with the food service
so had to wait until everyone was finished before we could eat. Annoyingly we were
then rushed to finish our meal by the guys who wanted to clean the dining hall
as their karma yoga. At Satsang chanting cheered me up a little but I still
headed to bed as soon as it was over.
Friday 21st June 2013
DAY SIX ASHRAM: as it was a Friday today was a day off if
you are in the Ashram you still have to attend Satsang so we were up early we
followed the schedule until after breakfast when we had a quick shower and put
on our worldly clothes. Ayla, Katja, Jessamine and I planned to go to the lion
park that is across the lake as we can always hear them roar. We were joined by
Anand and his sons who were also going there. We walked (the long way) across
the dam to the ticket office with Shanti following us the whole way we stopped
and had some salted mango which I wasn’t sure about (but is delicious when it’s
in a pickle) we decided to get tickets to the lion park, the antelope park, the
crocodile rehab centre and a boat ride. We got aboard and sailed across the
lake on the lookout for crocodiles (we didn’t see any) the lion park was first
and was amongst one of the weirdest things I have ever done, we got on board a
school/prison bus and drove through a gate which was locked behind us then the
gate in front of us opened Jurassic park style and we drove into the park the
track around the park was more suited to a four wheel drive then a bus and at
several points it came close to tipping over or getting stuck in the mud (the
driver found accelerating to be the most useful tool in his box) we saw he
lions chilling out in their home in silence it was probably the only time
during our stay at the ashram where we didn’t hear the lions roar. They were
Asiatic lions so slightly smaller than African lions but they look pretty much
the same. We were only in the park for 10mins tops which was disappointing we
were then sheparded back to the boat to see the antelopes they had just eaten
and were taking shelter on the far side of the park under some trees from there
we walked to the “Steve Irwin crocodile rehabilitation centre” whether or not Steve
Irwin knew he had a croc park in India named after him was a hot topic with the
majority ruling that no he had no idea. The crocs here are rescued from the
river if they are injured nursed back to health and then rereleased none of
them were noticeably hurt except for one which was separated from the others
and had half his face missing due to fighting with other crocs. We then went
back to the boat and back across the lake to the start point. We had left
shanti there but she wasn’t around although she did catch up to us along the
road so who knows where she had been. It was still early so we piled into a
couple of rickshaws and went to the closest village for a cup of tea and some
snacks we enjoyed onion bharjis and vadas
which are little doughnut shaped buns made of lentils. We decided to
walk the 3km back to Nayar Dam and then the last 1km uphill to the ashram. We
arrived back with enough time to relax for a bit and then head to dinner. Satsang
was a bit quiet this evening as many people had still not returned to the
ashram after a day out.
Saturday 23rd June 2013
DAY SEVEN ASHRAM: I was pleased with myself this morning as
I managed to sit in the same position for 30mins during Satsang we chanted and
then had some readings. The yoga class and the morning meal went by quickly and
soon it was time for karma yoga after missing just one day the floors in the
dorm were so dusty it was as though they hadn’t seen a broom in ten years. We
all sat about chatting for a while and then I went to meditation coaching we
did some more trata (staring at the candle concentration exercise) and some
more breathing I spoke to the dude about how to get more comfortable in a
crossed legged position but he just said in time it will become more
comfortable. The afternoon snack was a coconut pastry thing which was rather
nice and went perfectly with tea. This afternoon’s lecture was on breathing
some of it was interesting and some I think I missed the point the lecture
overran and so class started late. I got a really good hamstring stretch when
the teacher pushed me into it from behind. We had dinner as usual and then tonight’s
Satsang was once again the talent show. Anand sang a beautiful version of
“wonderful tonight” and there was an
American guy who told a “story of the ghost” which made everyone jump (except
me as I have nerves of steel) there was a Bollywood dance lesson and a Tamil
dance show and Dana read some poetry which was almost not ashram appropriate
but very beautifully worded. Raj led everyone in a few games and then it was
time for Aarti and bed.
Sunday 23rd June 2013
DAY EIGHT ASHRAM: this morning we had a silent walk instead
of Satsang we walked to the dam and watched the sunrise we sat on the wall
overlooking the water (and a fed up looking man who was taking a bath in the
lake) we sat and meditated for about 10mins before singing the daily chant it
was hard to concentrate though as there was a local girl hovering just behind
me asking repeatedly if I would give her a pen (I would have if I’d had one
which is what I said the first time she asked) we sang one more chant and then
headed back to the ashram it was a great start to the day and I felt really awake
by the time we got back for Aarti. Before Asana class this morning we learnt
about neti pots they are one of the six kriyas which are body purifications.
Neti pots are like mini watering cans you fill them with warm salty water and
pour it through one nostril it drains through removing all the gunge that’s in
your nose if you want to take it a (disgusting) step forward then you take a
rubber bandy thing and stick it up one nostril pull the other end out of your
mouth and floss your nasal cavity needless to say there was a lot of gagging
going on by the participants and I don’t think anyone successfully flossed
their nose. Class started a half hour late but we still managed to introduce a
new posture the headstand. After class I rushed to breakfast more hungry then
usual from all the fresh air after Karma yoga we did some asana coaching I
wanted to work on my halasana (the plough where you go from a shoulder stand to
bringing you toes touching the ground behind your head) and my bridge (again
from a shoulder stand to come straight into the bridge) the afternoon lecture was
about positive thinking and mind control (control of your own mind not as I
thought and was excited about controlling someone else’s mind) ironically the
lecturer kept losing his concentration and going off on random tangents. This
afternoons class was really good we tried the headstand and with a little help
I was able to get into the posture. At dinner we had curried peas its bizarre
how my tastes are changing as I loved the peas and have also been enjoying the
beetroot we often have. After dinner I had a Reiki session with one of the
other guests it was really relaxing and peaceful at times she was actually
touching me others just hovering near me but I could always feel where she was.
Afterwards she said I had a blockage in my root chakra (which is what the
astrologer in Varanasi and the crystal man in Goa both said as well) she said
that Reiki will help to unblock it as well as chanting lam which is the mantra
of the root chakra, as well as wearing red (the chakras colour) or using the
crystals that the crystal man gave me. She said a blocked root chakra is often
caused by instability in your life a lack of ‘roots’ as it were. It can also be
caused by a traumatic event in your formative years. After satsang I felt
totally relaxed and mellow and went to bed and crashed.
Monday 24th June 2013
DAY NINE ASHRAM: this morning durning Satsang I was being
plagued by insects so was wishing the time away so I could put some tiger balm
on all my bites. During class it was the same mozzies were attacking me from
every angle. Breakfast and Karma yoga passed by quickly and then I had to do
some laundry but at least I had some good company in Dana who was also
scrubbing her clothes. Then I went to meditation coaching we practiced more of the
concentration exercises we have already covered. This afternoon’s lecture
seemed topic less instead it seemed to be a re-hash of everything we have
already learnt. Afternoon class whizzed by and I was super hungry and super
pleased when I realised we were having the pancake thingy’s. Before Satsang I
sewed the hole in Aylas trousers which was hard as she had still been wearing
them and the hole was huge. Satsang was good we all got our chant on and I got
well into my tambourine drum. The passard tonight was fried banana which was
right up my street so I went to bed happy
Tuesday 25th June 2013
DAY TEN ASHRAM: I was awake super early this morning but
had no idea of the time I thought it was about 5am but in reality it must have
been about 3am I got up as soon as the firs bell rang and headed to the Siva
hall. Anand had a crack at the chanting in Satsang which was cool. I didn’t
really feel like yoga this morning but I actually really enjoyed it and managed
to get into a headstand twice the second time I held it for about 15 seconds
which I was pleased with. Breakfast also made me happy as I have loads of chillies
in my meal. After Karma yoga we headed down to the lake and I did some writing
and took some photos we tried to spot some crocodiles but even splashing around
ankle deep didn’t make any appear. In afternoon class I smashed out the tree
and easily balanced the entire time I can safely say it’s the one posture I
dominate at. I also held my headstand a bit longer this time. We watched a movie about the life of Swami
Vishnu-Devananda he reminds me of Baloo from the jungle book he’s so cute and
smiley. He taught us that boundaries are just manmade he flew his own plane
called the peace plane and although he didn’t have a passport he was never
refuse entry to any country (except France) he even flew over the Berlin wall
as a protest to the divide between the east and the west. As the film was short
we got a bit of an early night.
Wednesday 26th June 2013
DAY ELEVEN ASHRAM: this morning I felt like I was in the
zone with my meditation and felt really peaceful throughout the chanting. The
morning went by as normal I did all the Karma yoga as Ayla took to her bed with
a migraine. Meditation coaching was just me and the teacher it was a different
guy to normal and he made introducing meditation to your normal life so much
more practical which was positive. Coaching was just 30mins today so I had time
to sit in the sunshine but as soon as I got onto the lawn it started to rain so
I went and sat in the hall to do some writing and read about Chakras. The
lecture this afternoon was a film about water and about how it can retain its
chemical composition but can change its substance basically the film was saying
that water had feelings and memory interesting in a hoky kind of way. The
afternoon Asana class was good I made more improvements on my headstand. After
dinner we sat in the hall and sang songs like a pack of hippies which was good
fun. Tonight’s Satsaang was silent walk to the lake. It was to beautiful to
concentrate on meditating as the sky was alight with starts reflecting on the
water the houses on the far side looked like they were in the trees as the
light was shining through the trees from the far side. We walked back for Aarti
and then it was time for bed.
Thursday 27th June 2013
DAY TWELVE ASHRAM: I started off with some solid meditation
this morning but I lost it after I realised I was being mozzied did managed to
stay still though only shifting from half lotus into a cross legged position.
This morning’s Asana class was challenging my headstand was shaky today but I
did manage to get into Halasna (the plough) and feel a bit more stable. Before
breakfast one of the visiting swamis took a liking to me and gave me a card
with a god on it he showed me all his photos and was really sweet apart from
his one really long creepy fingernail. The weather was really good today so we
relaxed on the grass in the sun. Rumour had it that we were getting food in today’s
lecture which was on sattvic diet. Disappointingly they turned out to be only
rumours but the class was still interesting it was all about what foods excite
the mind/body and which ones make it lazy etc. I took it a bit easy in the
Asana class this afternoon as I felt like my hamstrings were over stretched.
After dinner having eaten to much I relaxed in the hall and chatted about
postures with people before Satsang. Satsang was chanting as normal and then it
was time to hit the hay
Friday 28th June 2013
DAY THIRTEEN ASHRAM: Today was another day off but same as
last week we wanted to get the morning class in so we got up for Satsang did
the morning class and then headed to breakfast after which we headed off on a
jolly hike. From the Ashram you can see a temple way up on a hill and that was
our destination we set off with a map drawn from the memory of a lady who once
hiked there five years ago needless to say the map was neither factually
correct or to scale and we did get slightly lost ending up in some jungle folks
back yard. Thankfully they were extremely helpful and friendly and they soon
put us on the correct path. The last 15minutes of the hike is a steep incline
on smooth rock if it had been wet there’s no way we would have made it up even
though someone has kindly installed handrails on the steepest parts. We reached
what we thought was the top only to be confronted by a band of monkeys we
nervously walked past them unsure if they were the friendly kind or the kind
that throw faeces and then eat your face off. To our delight they were pretty
scared of us and scattered as soon as we got to close to our disappointment this
wasn’t even the top just a resting place I guess., so we headed onwards the
steepness was well worth the amazing view awarded to us when we reached the
summit. We sat and took in the 360 degree view of wonder we could see the lake,
the dam, the surrounding villagers and rolling green forests and hills for
miles it was spectacular. We then took a host of photos, mostly of us in
various yoga poses which was good fun we stayed up top for about an hour and
then wandered slowly back down and back to the ashram. We arrived back just in
time for tea which we drank whilst chatting to some newbies and then we
showered and put on our worldly clothes for a trip into town. We all crammed
into a taxi and told him to take us to the best barji shop in town. No sooner
had we sat to eat when Ayla spilt scalding tea all over her arm luckily just
down the road was a random tap and she spent a good long while running her burn
under the water whilst being harassed by school children. In the mean time we
chowed down on barjis and disappointingly gross fried bananas. We then headed
to the pharmacy for some burn cream and next door I was delighted to find the world’s
biggest bag of magic masala (crisps) needless to say they didn’t make it back
to the ashram and just to top myself off I followed them with two fried bananas
and a bounty bar. Feeling stuffed we headed back to the ashram (just in time
for dinner) then we all had to sit in a digestion pose in the hall until
satsang.
Saturday 29th June 2013
DAY FOURTEEN ASHRAM: Today was the last day of the yoga
vacation and so people started to leave today other than that the day was much the
same as always we got up for Satsang and morning class and then went for
breakfast. After Karma yoga we sat in the sunshine soaking up rays for a while
before it was time for tea. At 2pm we were delighted to get raw food snacks in
the lecture there was ‘mock tuna’ on crackers which was made with cashew nuts
with seaweed in it to give it a ‘fishy’ taste the other thing we had was a cheesecake
made again of ground nuts although it didn’t taste anything like nuts both
snacks were entirely vegan which was good. After the lecture was the final
class of the yoga vacation it was really sad as most people were leaving the
following morning. As it was a Saturday it was the weekly talent show. Which was
quite fun during another Bollywood dancing lesson Gobish got his knees out and
was severely embarrassed. Katja did an impromptu dance with Anand on drums and
the bearded old dude who plays guitar on guitar which was amazing! Other than
that the highlight of the night had to be George crawling into the room with a
scarf on his head roaring. After the talent show we all climbed onto the roof
of the dining hall for a spot of star gazing which was absolutely beautiful and
full of treats that the boys smuggled in.
Sunday 30th June 2013
DAY FIFTEEN ASHRAM: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOO! This morning’s
satsang was a silent walk to the dam we sat on the wall and meditated and then
sung the daily chant it was a perfect end to the yoga vacation and a said
goodbye to loads of people as they packed up and left after tea. We did the
morning class which was huge as it was a combined class with the last
stragglers of the old vacation and the newbies that had arrived for the new
course. After class, breakfast and Karma yoga I called Mum to wish her a happy
birthday I spoke to her and Sian for a while which was really good and the
whole convo cost the equivalent of 40 pence! We didn’t have to attend the
afternoon lecture as we had finished the course but we decided to anyway as it
was colonel Niare the lecture was interesting as he was talking about the Bhagavad Gita but he got distracted and
actually forgot to tell us the end. The afternoon
class was also mixed and was good. After dinner we went shopping in the boutique
and go some oranges which was a proper treat. Then it was time for chanting and
bed.
Monday 1st July 2013
DAY SIXTEEN ASHRAM: This morning was same same until we got
to morning class we moved into the intermediate class and so had new teachers
and assistants when I was in the shoulder stand one of the assistants pulled me
up straighter but when she dropped me back down all my weight was on one side
and I felt horrible pain in my shoulder I
tried to come down but she was still holding my feet when she let go I rolled
out and left the room as my shoulder hurt so much I went and put some bio
freeze on it and sat out for a while when I joined back in I couldn’t do
anything that put weight on my shoulder. We went to breakfast and did out Karma
yoga and then decided to sack off the rest of the day and go to the beach we
signed out saying we were going to the lake and jumped in a rickshaw our driver
was called Albert and we haggled hard to get a bargain he drove us there waited
and then brought us back. All for the low low price of 700 Rupees (about £8.50
split between three) it took about an hour to drive to Kovalam and when we got
there we dipped our hinges in the sea and then took a walk along the length of
the board walk before picking somewhere to eat the food was great but the
service was slow so that by the time we finished gorging ourselves we needed to
head back to Albert. He was such a sweetie and drove us to several shops in
search of mangos bananas and chocolate. When we got back to the ashram we paid
him and extra few hundred and he was chuffed. . Luckily our absence went
unnoticed as we slunk back in. Back at the ashram we did what we do best and
went to eat dinner. It was weird in the evening with all the new people about
and all our lot mostly dispersed. In satsang we went nuts on the drums and tambourines
to make up for the quiet chanting of the newbies.
Tuesday 2nd July 2013
DAY SEVENTEEN ASHRAM: today was our last full day in the ashram
I wanted to make the most of it so concentrated hard during meditation and
satsang (this wasn’t easy as someone kept farting loudly and being the mature
person I am it was hard not to laugh.) My shoulder was still hurting so I took
it easy in class it was frustrating as I had been doing so well with my
headstand and had wanted to perfect it before we left. Breakfast this morning
was so good with a strange but delicious pineapple curry in the mix. It was the
last day of Karma yoga and it flew by with a bunch of new peeps to help out. We
did all our settling our final bill and checking out etc. and then we had loads
of free time as we didn’t go to the lecture. Katja and I walked around the
ashram getting loads of photos inside all the halls and temples etc. and then
as it was raining a bit we sat in the hall and chilled out. The afternoon class
was much the same as the morning one with most movements pretty limited. After dinner
we helped Kata clean the dining hall and then it was time to pack. it was sad
to have our last evening satsang but as it was a movie we had already seen we
snuck out after meditation and went and chilled on the roof there wasn’t many
stars as it was a cloudy night but it was peaceful being away from everyone in
the absolute darkness.
Wednesday 3rd
July 2013
DAY EIGHTEEN ASHRAM: Exactly three months ago today we arrived in India and by some crazy
coincidence not only are we leaving today but we are also flying out of Cochin,
the airport we landed in. we woke up for the very last Satsang during which we
led a three way chant and then Katja recited the universal prayer in Dutch then
we had to sneak out and grab our bags we were just leaving as Satsang ended so
said all our goodbyes and then hit the road. We walked down the hill to Nayer
Dam with all our bags and jumped on the bus to Trivandrum. Once there we went
straight to the train station and got sleeper tickets to Kochi. Then the three
of us went and had some breakfast back in me and Aylas favourite joint. We walked
with Katja to the internet café and left her there checking two weeks of emails
whilst we went back to the station it was a sad farewell and it was just
dawning on us that today was our last day in India. We got on our train and
found our seats we were surrounded by friendly interesting people who shared
their food and their stories with us for five hours until we arrived. From there
we jumped in a rickshaw and took our final rickshaw run to the airport to wait
for our flight. We got some food and some munchies and then changed the last of
our rupees into Ringet we were horrified at the exchange my 700 rupees became
just 31 Ringet! Eventually we could check in Aylas hand luggage was to heavy so
we had to put some things in my bag and then it was through to the lounge. I got
a reader’s digest magazine so sat reading that whilst Ayla was on the computer
and then before we knew it, it was time to get on the plane. We were both
excited to go to Malaysia and terribly sad to be leaving India with its amazing
culture, people and food. We got on and tried to sleep for a bit as the flight
was only four hours.
