Road To Mysore

Last Wednesday marked my second month here in Mysore. I can't believe it's already been two months. I paid Guruji last Thurday for my third month at the shala. There's a lot of confusion on how much it is. Sharath told me its 17,600 ruppees but Guruji says it's 17,900 ruppees. I'm not going to worry about 300 ruppees.

Since Friday was a moonday and Thursday was Thanksgiving, there has been a lot of parties. There was a huge Thankgiving lunch at the Southern Star which was pretty sweet. It was hosted by a longtime yoga student. They say he does this every year. On Friday, I attended a concert and two parties in the evening. It's hard to go to parties in the evenings since we're so used to sleeping by 8 or 9PM. Last night I was in bed at 12AM and I woke up around 7AM still exhausted. I don't know if it's because I'm just getting older or that Mysore has a way of slowing you down. I've been taking naps in the mornings too.

This morning I followed John(from the UK) with my scooter to the city. John told me that I should just get it over with and drive to the city. I've been dreading this day but John seems to have a lot of confidence in me so I took the plunge. John promised he would go slow but I think he lied because I was passing cars and buses. The city was just flat out chaotic. There were so many scooters, cars and buses going in every direction. It was systematic chaos. There seems to be a natural flow to the chaos. Driving through the city is nerve wrecking. You have to be aware of everything around you. My right hand was completely numb by the time I got back to Gokulam. For my first trip to the city, I made it back in one piece. I'm actually very proud of myself. A few weeks ago, I could be described as a person who could barely ride a bicycle and today I drove a scooter in an Indian city. I don't think I'm going to be driving back to the city anytime soon.

Sara once told me, "Life is like an Indian intersection. If you hesitate, life will pass you by"