"you must be a magnet for simple hearts"
I heard this coming out of my mouth and realized that Gabriel Garcia Marquez must be taking over my brain. If you are in any need for an insanely romantic, imaginative, poetic love story read Love in the Time of Cholera. Oh my god is it freakin' beautiful.
Anyways, all of the things in the last post happened, except for the turtle moon lodge, but I took my list if things to let go of and got rid of them at the 5am morning Puja* ceremony for Ganesha at the ashram. Yes, this is my life.
*Puja is the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced. It's a ceremony that you focus into one or two 'wishes'(not the right word here) and usually someone will pay for it, to have a Puja for a sick relative, or someone in need of special energy. It's done in the dark (5am or 7pm) and there's these two men in only their robe bottoms, smeared with sandalwood and white in their bodies and foreheads. They each sit in front of lots of little bottles, gold jars with spoons, and a huge bowl of flower petals. For about an hour they mix theses pastes, liquids, etc. together, throwing water or flower petals into the big fire or over the gold lantern-y thing (I really need to start getting the official names of these things!) sometimes stopping to ding a lovely bell about a million times or chant something in beautiful Malayalam or Sanskrit. Ugh, I'm doing a horrible job and I can't take photos but trust me, everyone go to the nearest Hindu temple and sit in on a Puja! They will welcome you with open arms!
All that being said, the ashram was great, overwhelming and full of Amma devotees, which can feel a little culty at times, but she's kinda like the Hindu pope so I guess it's expected:) I learned a ton and got in gear for my yoga class:)
I'm now sitting in Cafe Coffee Day (the Indian coffeeship you can find one on every block :) after a completely unexpected fun-filled day in Bangalore. I arrived this morning on a sweaty bus at 6am, planning to toss my pack somewhere and read all day til my 10pm train outta here. I asked about 10 people around where the nearest cafe-you-can-sit-and-read-at is (they're all coffee kiosks here!) and after finding a different Cafe Coffee Day (and enjoying half if a French press) was approached by one of the guys I had asked directions from. We started chatting about art among other things and he mentioned there was an art fair in town. I politely declined, already focused on my own art endeavors for the day, also not wanting to have to pick up my pack, when he said, "you can do this any day, the art fair is huge and it's only today." "ugh, you're totally right." :)
He let me put my bag in his car while we wandered off into the streets filled with art. I was blown away at how different everything was. Until this point all I knew about art in India was that it has been stifled for years and years, and then overshadowed by the country's obsession with IT and medical educations. Poetry is taboo, and there are only three government run art schools in the country. (one of which is the one who threw the fest...how does this keep happening to me?!) We wandered, I smiled and told everyone how beautiful their art was, I ate the most amazing raw peanuts with red onion, cilantro, lime, and chili oil (that's more of a note for me:), sat on a rock and people watched, and got into great conversations about art, life, persuing your dreams in the face of financial woes, dealing with making art fir yourself or art for money, with my new friend Sutitra. After the fest and orange Popsicles, Sutitra offered me a ride to the cafe closer to the train station and I discovered he had been blasting Tom Petty when he last turned the car off. Oh. No. I asked for maybe the long way so I could enjoy a little bit of my american girl-ness while driving and he ended up taking us on a serious joyride to the next cow town over :) there is nothing that beats singing break down at the top if your lungs with a stranger and the windows down while honking at painted cows to get out of your way on a dirt road covered in a rainbow of saree-d women and animals. Nothing.
That's all. :)
Anyways, all of the things in the last post happened, except for the turtle moon lodge, but I took my list if things to let go of and got rid of them at the 5am morning Puja* ceremony for Ganesha at the ashram. Yes, this is my life.
*Puja is the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced. It's a ceremony that you focus into one or two 'wishes'(not the right word here) and usually someone will pay for it, to have a Puja for a sick relative, or someone in need of special energy. It's done in the dark (5am or 7pm) and there's these two men in only their robe bottoms, smeared with sandalwood and white in their bodies and foreheads. They each sit in front of lots of little bottles, gold jars with spoons, and a huge bowl of flower petals. For about an hour they mix theses pastes, liquids, etc. together, throwing water or flower petals into the big fire or over the gold lantern-y thing (I really need to start getting the official names of these things!) sometimes stopping to ding a lovely bell about a million times or chant something in beautiful Malayalam or Sanskrit. Ugh, I'm doing a horrible job and I can't take photos but trust me, everyone go to the nearest Hindu temple and sit in on a Puja! They will welcome you with open arms!
All that being said, the ashram was great, overwhelming and full of Amma devotees, which can feel a little culty at times, but she's kinda like the Hindu pope so I guess it's expected:) I learned a ton and got in gear for my yoga class:)
I'm now sitting in Cafe Coffee Day (the Indian coffeeship you can find one on every block :) after a completely unexpected fun-filled day in Bangalore. I arrived this morning on a sweaty bus at 6am, planning to toss my pack somewhere and read all day til my 10pm train outta here. I asked about 10 people around where the nearest cafe-you-can-sit-and-read-at is (they're all coffee kiosks here!) and after finding a different Cafe Coffee Day (and enjoying half if a French press) was approached by one of the guys I had asked directions from. We started chatting about art among other things and he mentioned there was an art fair in town. I politely declined, already focused on my own art endeavors for the day, also not wanting to have to pick up my pack, when he said, "you can do this any day, the art fair is huge and it's only today." "ugh, you're totally right." :)
He let me put my bag in his car while we wandered off into the streets filled with art. I was blown away at how different everything was. Until this point all I knew about art in India was that it has been stifled for years and years, and then overshadowed by the country's obsession with IT and medical educations. Poetry is taboo, and there are only three government run art schools in the country. (one of which is the one who threw the fest...how does this keep happening to me?!) We wandered, I smiled and told everyone how beautiful their art was, I ate the most amazing raw peanuts with red onion, cilantro, lime, and chili oil (that's more of a note for me:), sat on a rock and people watched, and got into great conversations about art, life, persuing your dreams in the face of financial woes, dealing with making art fir yourself or art for money, with my new friend Sutitra. After the fest and orange Popsicles, Sutitra offered me a ride to the cafe closer to the train station and I discovered he had been blasting Tom Petty when he last turned the car off. Oh. No. I asked for maybe the long way so I could enjoy a little bit of my american girl-ness while driving and he ended up taking us on a serious joyride to the next cow town over :) there is nothing that beats singing break down at the top if your lungs with a stranger and the windows down while honking at painted cows to get out of your way on a dirt road covered in a rainbow of saree-d women and animals. Nothing.
That's all. :)
Comments
Post a Comment