Jeremy's Mysore Journey: A Visit to Sandhya's Kitchen

The good times continue, although, I think that I might be loosing my mind. India has made me horribly absent-minded and clumsy. All that I do is bump into things, trip, lose my keys, lose my wallet, lose my hat, lose my shala card....lose my mind. I think that I have spent at least an hour everyday looking for things that I have misplaced. I need to be more aware and mindful. My clumsiness came to a climax in the shala this morning. I was in the back left corner of the shala right by the door to Usha's office. It is a nice space to practice because there is lots of extra room. Nevertheless, during garba pindasana, I was trying to avoid rolling into the giant man next to me (who was very conscientious about his practice and staying on his mat), I slammed my head back into the door frame of Usha's office. It made a horrible noise and everyone turned to look at me. I felt like a class A moron. Sharath was very concerned and he came over to check on me. My head made a horrible thump against the door frame and it rattled the whole door. I am really lucky that I hit the door frame instead of the door itself because the door is glass. I would have been horribly injured. My head hurts a little bit, but I do not think that I have a concussion. Perhaps it knocked some sense into me, but probably not because I was frantically looking for my misplaced wallet after I got home and was ready to head out again.

There have been no big revelations in the shala regarding asana. I have a habit of raising my head on the inhale in prasarita b and c (when you put your hands on your hips in b or after your clasp your hands in c--between dwe and trini). Sharath called several of us out on that unnecessary move. There is no need to raise the head--just inhaling and looking forward is enough. Since we are in the second week of the month, people do second series (if Sharath has given them second series postures during past visits) and it seems that everyone does drop backs, whether they want to or not. Sharath seems to be very interested in who is catching or not catching. Since this is my first month and my first visit to Mysore, I will only be doing first series.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to a fun restaurant in the city center called RRR Hotel. It specializes in the cuisine of Andra Pradesh which is another region in southern India that borders Karnataka. The food was served on banana leaves again. The restaurant was mobbed, and we had to fight for a table. We were the only westerners in the place. I am not sure what the food was, other than super spicy, but there was some kind of chick pea and beet vegetable dish that I am still salivating over. After lunch, we wandered around the city center a little bit, and explored the Deveraja Market. The Deveraja Market is the central, semi-open air, market in Mysore. You can buy spices, fruits, vegetables, incense, cookware, flowers, essential oils, ingredients of all kinds, and probably most everything that you could imagine. The produce was beautiful--but I am not sure how you pick the best vendor.There are stalls after stalls of produce, and they all seem to sell the same things. The city center in Mysore is somewhat more chaotic and noisy than the part of town where I am staying. To be honest, I welcomed the noise and the chaos. I am used to constant noise and stimulus, and Gokulam is very peaceful. Furthermore, I am not watching tv here or listening to my music. The pandemonium of the market was an nice escape from all this yogic peace and serenity. The market was a lot of fun, but there are many annoying vendors who target the tourists with their crap wares--cheap bracelets and flutes. They are relentless and won't allow you to look around in "peace."

Saba, Julie and Franco at the RRR Hotel

Khan, the essential oil and incense man at Devaraja Market

Everyone takes this picture at Deveraja Market.

Stall after stall of flower vendors.

The famous Sandhya, my culinary heroine.

Yesterday, I was able to fulfill a dream that I have had for many years. There is a wonderful woman named Sandhya who operates a small restaurant for yoga students in another neighborhood of Mysore. This is where Pattabhi Jois used to have his yoga studio many years ago before moving to Gokulam. In any case, Sandhya makes delicious, clean (sattvic) food in the South Indian Brahmin style. She uses little oil and no onions or garlic. I have studied Sandhya's cookbook and her recipes for many years and I could not wait to eat her food. I was not disappointed. It exceeded all my expectations. I made almost all the dishes that Sandhya served us yesterday, but they have never turned out as good as what I ate yesterday. It was like eating at your Indian grandmother's house. There was a carrot salad, a cucumber salad, a ridge gourd dish, tomato gojju, a jicama(?) and mung bean dish, sambhar, rice tempered with peanuts, and of course, lots of chappatis. All that I can say is that I hope to go back again before I leave Mysore. Sandhya is no spring chicken and who knows when I might make it back here again.