Yogis go clubbing

No posts for 2 days, sorry about that but Mysore life can get quite busy sometimes!! I am alive and well, thanks for the concerned emails!

Friday consisted mostly of tabla class and then Ayurveda class (which is brilliant btw). In the evening I went to a little jam session organised by 2 guitarists. They called themselves "The innocence", it was a nice setting, someone's garden with candles, and flowers everywhere. A gang of little indian kids sat on the wall of the garden and cheered and wooped, which disturbed the ambience so they got told off a few times, and cleared off the wall, but they kept coming back. They were really sweet and seemed to really enjoy themselves as well. I think that they were great entertainement :)

After that we went to Planet X which is Mysore's only nightclub as far as I know. It is really cheesy, it was great. It has an egyptian theme, so all the waiters have egyptian costumes, hilarious. The serice was good though! The music was quite good and we all had a good boogie, it was refreshing actually, I also had a little beer as well, which was nice. Nothing over the top. But I am aware that some yogis got rather drunk! The indian kids there danced really well, a set of typical indian dances, it was very cool to watch, and made my jumping up and down nonsense seem rather lame! Still it was fun.

I'd love to DJ here, it would be such a lot of fun, there isn't any DJing going on in Mysore and it would give a little alternative to the other styles of music available such as kirtan, guitar solos, and those things. Don't get me wrong, I love going to those concerts, it's such a lot of fun and there are a lot of talented people around, especially Rew! I just think a little funky house, and some uplifting chillout wouldn't go amiss. Next time I'm bringing some records. My tabla teacher said he could arrange for decks and speakers and stuff to be rented for me and he can give me a practice place too. It'd be good to have the percussionists join in.

We left at 11pm and got home at 12. It felt like I'd been out untill 4am and drunk a shed load of beer. I had to get up at 6am to go to the tibetan settlements. I was pretty tired, I think I'm either getting very old or the yogic way of life here has done away with my ability to party a little. The settlements were beautifuk, we also went to the buddhist university and saw monks chanting and taking part in debates which involved a special set of hand movements as well. It was nice to get out of Mysore for a bit and get some fresh air. We went for a long walk round a big park and saw elephants, and nice wood carvings. The sceneray was green and very nice. We went to the Golden Temple which had some golden Buddhas inside and some very cool wall paintings. It's quite a long drive, about 2-3 hours each way. I slept for most of it because of my wild night out.

I've got a good group of friends here, good fun, non-pretentious down to earth people, who come from different places around the world, but we all have something in common other than just the Ashtanga. We've had a good time hanging out, I will miss them very much. With my planned move to the States though it is probable that I will see some of them again, and there are a few brits amongst us too. I was warned about pretentious yogis who are show-offs and like to feel important here, and I have to say that I have come accross a few, but there are a lot of nice people here. Everyone looks after each other. If you come here alone (or not for that matter) you won't have much trouble fitting in and meeting people.

I give the children chocolate from time to time instead of the money that they ask for, and now they come up to me and say "Chocolate please?". I have to keep stocking up, they're very sweet. The flower boy who hangs out near Anu's walks me home if I am walking alone and it's getting dark, he must be about 11. He likes Mars bars best.

Today led paractice was great, it's the first time in a week that I could do full primary because of my shoulder. It's much better now thanks to Alex's massages. I had a bit of a giggle with C who was practising next to me though, in Gaba Pindasana I knocked her over with my knee as she was getting her arms though her lotus, and then she wacked my thigh by accident which sent me spinning. Saraswathi looked over and shook her head. Guruji was on form today, it was a really good practice and he didn't have a micro-sleep during the count either! I can touch my hands in Supta Kurmasana, so it has come a long way since I first arrived and was about 20cm off.

There's conference later today and I'm off to the pool this afternoon for a well deserved rest, well by Mysore standards I have been very very busy. I got bitten by a dog on the way home from practice, nothing serious, just a scratch thanks to my jumper but he broke the skin. I was pretty suprised though it grabbed my arm and started biting down and I just thought "Oh no...it's biting me", not a very useful reaction, I didn't bat it off or anything, I'm rubbish!

(The picture is of the coconut stand which is the meeting point for everyone.)

Tune of the Day: "Beer drinkers and Hellraisers" - Motorhead (suggested by Jeff)