Starting a Routine

Not the Arc-de-triomphe

My wake-up time every morning seems to coincide with the Muslim call to prayer. There must be a mosque around here somewhere, but I have not found it yet. The call to prayer is such a gentle sound and it lulls me gently out of my sleep.  On alternate days, I also hear harmonic chanting in Sanskrit coming from somewhere nearby.You would think that the call to prayer and the chanting might produce a cacophonous din, but the two sounds somehow blend together in a pleasant way. I find myself trying to pull out the sounds and identify which are coming from what source. To state the obvious, India has a complicated religious and political history: Hindus and Muslims have very frequently been at odds with each other throughout the centuries. It is reassuring that the devotional sounds from the two faiths can come together through the Mysore streets and into my bedroom window and to find harmony in this Hindutheran's ear.

Shala Spider

I am slowly finding a routine here in Mysore. Today was my second mysore class in the shala. When I arrived around 7:45, there were no students waiting in the entry hall. Sharath called "one more" just a few seconds after I arrived. The open spot was in the back left corner under the photograph of Krishnamacharya. It was tight spot. I spent a lot of mental energy trying to do make sure I did not bang into the wall. My practice was not as fluid, light or strong as yesterday. I received an assist in utthita hasta pandangustasana (both sides) from a very tall American teacher. Receiving an assist in this posture feels like cheating. There is no work when someone is holding up your leg. My back drop assist came from a Korean (I think) woman. She made me clasp my shoulders before doing halfbacks.  I have never really thought about that before. She was waiting for me after my first drop back. I usually do five dropbacks, but after my fourth today, she told me that three was enough, In my final assisted dropback, I crawled into my feet. It felt like the assisting teacher was holding me up really high but I was able to breathe fairly deeply. When I came up, she told me: "First week is easy; no catching!" By the time I went into the changing room to do my closing, the shala was clearing out. I think that Sharath changed a lot of students' start times. He changed a lot of 9:00 students to 8:30 today. I finished up in the changing room, which I find somewhat unpleasant. There is a spider living in one of the bathrooms. It has become fun to see her (him?) everyday. After practice, I had my usual coconut. Yet another pleasurable aspect of the being here in Mysore.

Clever cow

In the Study Abroad world, we talk a lot about culture shock and intercultural development. Culture shock is often described as a curved progression with ups and downs; the initial stage is often referred to as the honeymoon stage.  I am definitely in the honeymoon stage here in India. The climate right now is so pleasant, the colors, smells and sounds are all so vivid, and all the people are gorgeous. The women all wear brightly colored saris and take such care and pride in their appearance, no matter how rich or how poor. I am enjoying really looking at people and closely at their faces. Apparently staring at people is not considered rude here because I am being stared at all the time. I am noticing a surprising lack of aggression among people here--especially the men. I know that everything is new to me, and there is a great deal of social and cultural context that I am missing, but people simply do not seem as angry. I want to think about this and observe this more while I am here. Men in the States seem like they are constantly jockeying for power and trying to show others how strong and important they are. I have never been comfortable with all the machismo and constant expressions of dominance and power that males exhibit in the States. I have never understand the rules of the American Male Playbook, and I have preferred, often to my detriment, simply to avoid the game entirely. In any case, I am not seeing that attitude here in India among the males. Certainly, patriarchy and male power are alive and well in India, and I recognize that I what I am seeing here is filtered through white, male eyes, but it is refreshing to be outside of my own system for a few days. I have always enjoyed cultural disorientation--trying to figure out what is going on and why. (Granted, what I mean by cultural disorientation is being in a relatively safe place with money in my pocket and way out, if necessary, and not a prison in South America or something like that.)