Essentialyogastudio's Blog

There must have been about 300 hundred people in class today.  Geeta was teaching.  Her humor was sharp and so was her tongue  and her teaching is always brilliant.

On my last trip to India I tried every new fruit I could find.  Now I have found some new fruits!  I don’t know what this orange one is called but it smells incredible.  I tasted a little and it doesn’t taste as good as it smells.  I asked a neighbor and the apartment guard what it is and neither of them knew, so they told me not to eat it.  Oh well, too late for that.

Here are some of the other fruits growing on the trees near my apartment.

According to my neighbor, the little yellow ones are goose berries.   They taste a little like star fruit.  My housekeeper told me I should eat them with salt, and I did.  Very good!

I can’t remember what the brown ones are called.  When you pick them they squirt a thick white, sticky, glue-like liquid at you.  No surprise I was covered with it. My neighbor told me I have to wait until it ripens before I taste it.  It’s supposed to be delicious.

I’ll have to wait and see.

I hear the alarm,

I get up,

take a shower,

put my makeup on,

blowdry my hair

get dressed.

I check the clock to see how much time I have before my 7:00 AM class.

It’s 12:30 AM.

I take off my makeup

get undressed,

put my pajamas on,

and go back to bed….ugh

Suddenly children surround us.

What is your name?  They ask in unison.

What is your Mother’s name?

What is your Father’s name?

What is your brother’s name?

We answer, thrilled to help them practice their English.

Then we ask questions.

What is your name?

What is your Mother’s name?

They laugh, they answer.

I pull out my camera, shrieks of laughter and they rush to pose.

I took these photos of Guruji as I peeked around a corner.  I didn’t want to disturb him and I wanted a photo. I accomplished both of these goals.

I got up and left my room for breakfast and decided to take the stairs, giving only a passing thought to the lock on the door.  I continue down the stairs to find all the doors are locked.  Yes, it’s 7:00 AM and I am locked in the stairwell.  No one is ever going to find me.

I hear voices…I’m saved!  They are coming from behind a red metal louvered wall.  I stick an eyeball through the slat.  Suniye! Suniye! (listen please) Help!

First they ignore me, but my knocks on the metal wall are distracting and they cannot continue to work.  So they all come over to peer into the slat to meet my eye.  They are talking to me; I am talking to them, no one is understanding.

Finally one of the gentleman from the front desk comes through the door.  You’re not supposed to be here.  Apparently, I say.  He smiles.   He starts to open the door but I tell him I need to take photos of my brief imprisonment.  He laughs and gives me the keycode to all the doors.

The feeling is different this time.  Not the unfocused anticipation, not excitement, more of a feeling of neutral ambivalence.  A pondering of why I would leave my kids again for such a long time.  They are much more self-sufficient this time around.  My son drives, my daughter is in her first year of high  school. Their days will be filled with daily routines that come with the school year.  My daughter will be getting her braces removed while I’m away – I won’t be the first one to see her new smile.  My son’s college acceptances are rolling in and I won’t be there to read them with him.

But India calls to me one more time.  The warm weather, the noise, colors and cows that only India can bring me awaits.  I look forward to spying Guruji’s practice and listening to Prashantji’s esoteric views on ‘yog’.   I look forward to learning from the little fiery one, Abhijita as Guruji interjects from the sidelines.

Om shanti