over the rainbow

... is a land called oooooty.

after 2 months of being solely in mysore, i started to feel a bit stagnant and antsy. i needed to get out, even if it was just for a couple of days... so a few of my new-found friends and i decided to venture into the mountains to a city called ooty.

ooty is about a five-hour bus ride through one of india's lush national forests... up, up, up into a british hill station surrounded by a bajillion curves, turns and bends... where a cool breeze and clean air were waiting for me.

the drive up there was exhilarating. we were on a standard indian bus with wide open windows and no shock absorption. i hung my head out the window the whole time like a car-ride-loving dog... though i did manage to keep my tongue in my mouth for the most part.

the time in ooty was uneventful other than the fact that i finally got to see another part of india and my butt didn't sweat for the first time since i've been in this country.

we stayed at the ywca, and i got suckered into sleeping on the concrete floor... of course the story is a bit different depending who you ask, but this is my blog, so we'll go with my version... i woke up very stiff and sore... and vowed the next time i go camping, i'm bringing an air mattress...

instead of trying to fight the indian crowd at the bus station, we decided to get our return bus tickets from the ywca reception desk... now i know when someone offers a smaller bus that will get us home faster, i'll think twice about it and say "um, no".

we were told that the bus would arrive from 3:30 to 4, so being the very punctual virgo that i am, we were there by 3... the bus finally pulled up at 4:30. the "bus" turned out to be a small airport shuttle... "small" being the key word here... i've only been in an airport shuttle for a 20 minute ride to the actual airport, so i had no idea what to expect on an airport shuttle flying down a mountain for 5 hours...

the four of us were the only ones getting onto the bus, so i figured this wouldn't be as bad as i initially thought. we each took a row of seats to ourselves and settled in for the "shorter" ride home.


















the bus drove us into the center of ooty to the main office... apparently, we were picking up more passengers. the director of the expedition made the four of us cram in next to each other while 20 more people squeezed onto the bus. i was sitting as close as i possibly could to my new friend natalie... aka the mexican, but not really a mexican... and my left butt-cheek was still hanging off the seat into the aisle. as my luck would have it, two big-boned indians and their 6-year-old spastic son took up the seats next to me.

the ywca was right about one thing... the bus was faster. i've never seen a vehicle fly so fast down a mountain before. the driver had no awareness of anything else on the road. we almost killed a few pedestrians, took out a few trees and natalie almost lost her head from oncoming traffic. after about 20 minutes of whipping around hairpin curves, the bus pulls over... the 6-year-old has to pee... in moments, he is whisked back onto the bus, the driver slams on the gas and we were off again... most of us suffering from minor whiplash... another 20 minutes later, the bus pulls over again... a woman in the front has to get sick... i wish i could say it was the only time.

after 6 and a half hours of bouncing all over the road, stopping and going at top speeds, dodging speed bumps and potholes and listening to the constant sound of indian ring tones... and i mean constant... we finally pull into mysore, exhausted, but smiling. i've discovered that the journey to the destination is always my favorite part... whether by scooter, rickshaw or bus... and no matter how ridiculous the situation seems to get, it's part of my adventure... and i laugh the whole time.

mischief and mayhem

for the people i had to leave back in the states... i thought you would like to meet the riffraff i've been hanging out with...

for my new friends i found here... if you have not made my list of riffraff... do not think you have escaped... it just means that (a.) you will be featured in a different blog... i gotta keep these things readable, ya know... or (b.) you're still here (or you just left)... and i have plenty of time to make stuff up about you.


















this is my british friend alice (finally shown here)... she taught me how to eat in this country... she was my first friend in india as well as the reason i gained weight in india... i'm sure my mom thanks you girl. she also taught me how to play the "indian game" and how to laugh at myself (even more than i do already)... nice one, yeah?... you should sing a song about that.














these are the canadians... they taught me words like gunt and swass... they tried to show me how to be canadian, but there's no hiding the fact that i'm completely not... they gave me the biggest gift of them all... the cake man. i found joy in them. they gave me a name and reminded me how to be truly happy.














gigi is my new german friend from LA... she is a healer... even though she would never admit it. she has a great laugh and will scare the crap out of any indian... especially the kids. ella, ella!














this is alex... she is also my new german friend, but she actually lives in germany. she taught me how to let go and reminded me that i can heal myself... she showed me that unrestrained laughter is a huge healer and coffee is even more delicious than i ever knew... wow, those are really big glasses!














these are the swedes. they showed me that i should learn a foreign language just so i can mess with people who don't understand the language. mutter something and insert name here... hahaha.














this is david from toronto. we connected as soon as we met. he thinks i'm funnier than i do... i didn't even know that was possible. he's the first to put a stipulation on my couch-surfing north american tour... three days max... always keepin' it real, yo.

i feel so lucky to meet so many fascinating people from all over the world. it's nice to discover that you can connect so deeply with people in such a short amount of time... and find so many who will let me sleep on their couches.

auspicious ambiguity...

or... things that are "very indian"

i learn something new about the indian culture every day, so i thought it would be fun to enlighten you on some of the things i'm learning... like the fact that indians use the word "auspicious" for everything. i don't even know what that word means... but i know that it's not very auspicious to wear my shawl upside-down and inside-out... so my british friend alice (again, not shown here) sent me this definition...

Aus.pi.cious. adj.
1. promising success; propitious; opportune; favorable: an auspicious occasion.
2. favored by fortune; prosperous; fortunate.

it seems pretty vague, but i take it as super lucky, especially in the "blessed by the gods" kind of way.

first and foremost... there is this head-bobbing thing i've been trying to understand ever since i arrived here. it's not a yes nod or a no nod... it's kind of in between... sort of like a bobble head really... i've come to the conclusion that it doesn't mean yes or no, but rather "maybe, if i feel like it"... or "yes for now, but that could change in a minute"... or sometimes even "i'm not going to tell you, it's more fun to watch you guess". even though the meaning is very ambiguous to me, i have found that i've picked up this mannerism for the occasions that i don't really understand something or if i don't want to give a straight answer.


















indian queuing... waiting in line in an indian post office can be pretty exasperating. indians have their own way of queuing... basically, they just think that they should be next. i'm working on being more aggressive.

indian electricity... the electrical power in this city goes out at least once a day. i find this very amusing for some reason. it's very india to me... i like to think it's the universe's way to force everyone to stop what they're doing and chill out for a minute... but really, it's probably because the city lights up the whole palace every sunday with a bajillion tiny white bulbs and they need to save up energy a little bit at a time throughout the week.

the electrical wiring is a mess here (my german friends would be horrified). there is no order or any caution taken when dealing with electricity. i once saw a random indian man walk up to a power box, snip a wire with a pair of honkin' scissors and the house in front of him went dark. i'm guessing he was the power company.

indian driving... the driving in this country is loud, fast, spastic and dangerous... i love it. i'm too scared to drive myself, but one of my favorite things here is to ride on the back of a scooter, zipping in and out of traffic, bouncing from one side of the road to the other, dodging cars, buses, rickshaws and food vendors... nearly getting killed and laughing the whole time.

most indians drive a scooter or an enfield... and they carry their whole family of five and all their belongings with them... literally. recently, i saw two men precariously balanced on a bike, one driving and the other holding a full-size computer screen under one arm and a large suitcase under the other.


















every day i see loads of things that make me smile and every day shines new light. i feel that my mind... and my soul for that matter... opens more each day. i love this country. i love its people... and i love its food (obviously). i sweat constantly and i'm completely okay with that. i like bucket baths and bucket laundry. i like smiling all the time. smiling is my favorite.

being peace

i live at the bottom of a rather steep hill... and at 4 o'clock every morning, i climb up this hill to the yoga shala.

the only sounds i hear are the flip flopping of my birks... which seem to echo in the stillness of the early morning. the rustling of a bush from some unknown creature or the creaking of a house gate sound a lot louder than they should... and for a brief moment, a b-rated horror flick flashes through my mind.

far off, i see the silhouettes of other yoga students also walking in the quiet darkness. as i get closer to the top of the hill, i find that i'm breathing a little heavier and my heart is beating a little faster.

when i arrive at the shala, some of the yogis have already started their practice. the air is filled with the rhythmic humming of their collective breath. everyone flows to their own pace... their own rhythm. inhale... arms float over head. exhale... the torso falls gracefully forward, nose touching the knees. some people float through the air, light as a feather. others are a bit heavier in their mind... and it reflects in their practice.

the energy here is tangible.

i lay out my mat and step to the front. standing with my feet together, i feel the balance of my body. i bring my hands to my heart and close my eyes. inside, i pray for the peace and strength to let go so i can heal. deepening my breath, i melt into the meditative rhythm.

for the next two hours, i am lost in breath and movement. i feel a calming peace wash over me. for a short time, my mind is free from thought. here, i feel complete happiness, complete truth. this is what i've come for. to be able to let go of everything... if only for a moment. "Being in the now"... step four.

indian spice

a lot of people have been asking me what i do all day... so i thought i'd fill you in on a day in my indian life... first, i have to actually think about what i do all day.

because the pace is so much slower here than it is in the west, there is so much more time to absorb each moment to just be. it's a foreign idea to most of us, but i'm allowing myself to sit still long enough to listen and absorb the things around me... i've actually found that i'm learning so much... about myself and the world...

i wake up super early to absorb the silence before going to practice. my practice starts at 6 now... so i'm moving around by 4:30-ish... which means i'm usually in bed by 9...

after practice, i take a two hour breakfast... come to think of it, i pretty much eat all day. i might take a nap or read a bit here and there, but if i were to sum up my day, it would be pretty much... eating.

before i left for india, i got a lot of sarcastic jokes like "well, i hope you like indian food."... to which i always replied, "duh, of course i do." it didn't really occur to me until after i landed here that i realized that i've never actually had indian food. this really isn't such a good position to be in when you have a very sensitive "that's an unfamiliar texture gag reflex"... especially since i am now immersed in a foreign country that has no cocoa puffs or 5 guys burgers.

to put it mildly, my first indian meal was a bust. when i finally found a place to eat, i perused the menu and realized with great shock that i had no idea what i was looking at. for some reason i didn't even think about this predicament before i left the states. being a planner... as you all well know me to be... i would of expected to have thought this through... maybe i would of done some research so my first meal wouldn't involve me randomly ordering something off the menu by pointing to it and grunting to the waiter... unfortunately, this is exactly what happened.

i ended up pointing to the special of the day... which i soon found out that i should never do. what i got was a bowl of mushed up corn bits mixed up with some mash or porridge of some sort... i don't actually know what it was... i just know that my gag reflex was definitely kicking in. most of you know that i don't do well with chunky or slimy or mushy... or raw or lumpy or... well you get the point.

i knew that i needed to activate my jedi-mind trick if i was ever going to get through this. praying that my probiotic system would kick in at the appropriate moment, i started with baby bites. this only worked for a short period of time. i gave up after choking down a few spoonfuls and accepted the fact that i'd probably starve to death within a couple of days.

the day after this dreadful experience, i was of course hungry again. i realized i couldn't avoid food for the next 5 months, so i decided i would look to see what everybody else was eating and then just point to that... this worked fine for a while, but it got pretty boring. i knew there had to be a better way.

then i met alice (not shown here). alice is my new british friend who has shown me how to eat in india... and now i can't stop eating. i think i am the only girl in the world that goes to india and actually gains weight. my mother is thrilled. i've actually put myself on a diet... in india... it's really the funniest thing ever. who does that?














besides for stuffing my face, my day also consists of meditation and chanting classes and a lot of wandering around. i've met a lot of cool people from all over the world... so i've been doing a lot of talking and laughing. india is good and i'm starting to blend... well, as much as a white girl from florida can.

the darjeeling hum

i've had many odd encounters with cows and monkeys, but chickens seem hard to come by. week one has passed and i finally found my chicken. unfortunately i wasn't sitting next to it on a bus, but i figured this was close enough.

as each day goes by, it gets easier and easier living in india... i don't think i'll ever really blend, but at least i'm not just wandering around looking lost anymore. i am getting pretty comfortable with the constant noise, the dusty air and the foreign food... and being stared at everywhere i go.

my yoga practice starts at 7 a.m. during the week. i wake up at 5 a.m. just so i can absorb the silence. it's not too often that india is actually quiet. i wake up slowly... i'm doing everything slowly these days... that's just how it's done here. i stretch out a bit on my bed and play a song on my ipod before my feet even touch the ground. This never fails to bring a huge smile to my face. It's nice to lay there in the dark and just smile for a few minutes.

softly, in the distance... i hear a street vendor pushing a cart through the neighborhood, calling for pineapple, watermelon and papaya... soon after, Kellashrani, the elder in the house calls upstairs to wake the family. the birds start chirping. a horn sounds. a car drives by. a gate creaks open. the old man coughs up a loogie. a bike bell chimes. a conversation in hindi is being mumbled in the next room.

slowly these sounds start to merge into one giant clash of sounds. one car has turned into a bajillion cars, all honking at the same time. they honk for everything here. when they're turning, when they're passing... when they're going to hit something... when they pass a temple... sometimes i think they honk just to honk. each horn seems to have a different sound, so it sounds like a symphony of chaos. i'm still laying in bed and notice, this is very india... it was completely silent five minutes ago.

i find that my senses are amplified here... i wonder if it's because i'm in a foreign land or if it's because i'm starting to quiet myself... or maybe i just cleaned my ears.

The Griswolds Go To India

i decided to do the tourist thing the other day to try to get my head around the fact that i'm in india and i'm not taking it by storm... so instead of trying to blend, i decided to be the blatant tourist... except i forgot my camera... Mandy's camera actually (thanks girl)... so i had to photoshop a visual reference for my fans. Hopefully, i won't forget it again or you're going to see this image a lot.

i ended up taking a rickshaw ride to the maharajah's palace (side note: a rickshaw is not a little asian man pulling white americans around on a two wheel cart, but a miniture automobile americans stuff themselves into if they don't want to walk) because my Rough Guide To India says it's the biggest tourist attraction in mysore... why go small really? if you're gonna do it, then do it...

being the only single white female in this joint, it's safe to say i got a lot of looks... actually, it was like i was in a zoo... except there was no glass. i learned that indians travel in packs for the most part, so i really looked alone... kind of like that little red fish in a see of blue fish. a lot of people goggled at me, some even asked for my picture... i felt like a famous polar bear in the desert. a group of woman were laughing at me as i walked into a temple. one of them even followed me in there, grabbed my arm and pulled me back out to the group so they could laugh some more. apparently my sunglasses were funny. i laughed with them.

the people in india seem lighter than americans. they don't carry the weight of their problems on their shoulders... and they smile easily. the children are my favorite. they are so excited and sincerely curious about me. what is your name? what is your country? and if i see them again, they run by screaming "Elisabet! Elisabet!" and laugh the whole way.

i'm slowly getting adjusted and more comfortable being in india. i started my yoga practice yesterday and it was absolutely amazing. i've never felt such a tangible energy before.

i haven't sat next to a live chicken yet (or dead)... sorry Kristen... but i did get swooped by a family of monkeys. Cows are everywhere except for my dinner plate and i haven't got the delhi belly yet... knocking on wood.