So Far and So Familiar
Well, I made it to India! The travel this time was a little grueling, not gonna lie. I will remember that 5+ hour layover in London not so fondly. Have me stuck in a plane going somewhere for any amount of time, but sitting still in limbo is not exactly an adventure. The flights were uneventful and my travel and practice buddy, Jen, and I united at the Mumbai airport for car transit to Pune.
From being a little anxious and nervous about going this far again after a 7 year lag between trips – different body, different time, different age, different life – hitting ground in India is always strangely familiar. Immediately all anxiety melts and there is a part of me that feels so at home. Driving in to Pune also always lights a little flame into my heart, even with the massive growth and change that continues.
The apartment is pretty typical and the landlord took us out to one of the more popular thali (a plate with a myriad of small dishes to choose from) restaurant, Asha Dining Hall, for our first meal…complete with a special treat specific to a holiday happening now. India is well known for having many many holidays to celebrate all aspects of life and all gods and goddesses. Ganapati Miravnuk is a celebration of Ganesh, the elephant god, who also is the specific god that Pune is known to follow. The sweet is called a ukadiche modak and is a rice flour steamed dumpling filled with coconut, cardamom, and jaggery (unrefined sweetener)…yummmm.
After doing a bit of shopping and willing ourselves to stay awake for as long as possible, we crashed around 8:00pm. The morning greeted me with fresh chai (thanks Jen!) and my favorite biscuit, Shrewsbury. Along with brushing up on the Pune Guide which is very handy on any trip here, our landlord is evidently a philosopher and psychologist who wrote a book about the “self”, so started in on that reading as well.
We spent the day doing the “Pune chores” – fruit and veggie buying for the next day or so, endless paperwork to give to the institute and any other place you are staying, a SIM card for Jen, and finalizing the travel to Hampi for our last leg of the trip. As usual, nothing is “smooth” or “quick” and you just have to settle into the rhythm of the place.
FINALLY, we made it to “the institute”, RIMYI, the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute for registration and classes in the afternoon. The new renovations are pretty amazing – new first floor all around including new bathrooms and an actual official office!! Greeted Abhijata and other familiar faces on first entrance, and we were able to observe medical class and take later class with a regular RIMYI teacher, Rajlaxmi.
Standing poses got me feeling like a human again after traveling so far, and the familiar feel of the practice hall settles me in. I am so looking forward to this time here. I usually have little to no expectation on what might happen, but after so long a wait and at such a time in my life, I have to admit I am extra excited to be here and open to all it might bring!
Thanks for traveling along with me…
