I bought a plane ticket this morning. Lufthansa Airlines, 21h30m of fly time, taking me through Frankfurt, GE and into Bangalore, the silicon valley of India. I’ll spend the day there, hopefully after sleeping on the plane, then heading to Mysore on a 5pm express train to stay at a hotel. $15 a night, 4 stars, I guess we’ll see how that goes.
I was waiting to buy tickets for a month and a half, because I was waiting for acceptance from the Ashtanga Institute where Patthabi Jois taught the Ashtanga method and Sharath, his grandson, and Saraswathi, his daughter, continue in his footsteps. I applied for Sharath’s class and got rejected in October for January first (there is a 3 month advance registration required to practice at the institute). I didn’t get the rejection letter until October 28th, so I am not willing to wait that long again. I figure I will take Saraswathi’s class at first and then maybe my second trip I can practice with Sharath. I am open to whatever needs to happen, but obviously would prefer to practice under Sharath because of his experience with the advanced series of Ashtanga. I am also open to practicing at a different studio, but I think that the Institute is the place to be.
I bought my ticket today, one way. I don’t know how I’m getting back, don’t care right now. I can figure that out when I’m ready to leave. So I will probably be gone for a while. I applied for my visa appointment today, but no worries, the appointment is six weeks before my flight. Plenty of time for 5-10 business day delivery, or whatever visa delivery speed is. Worst case, I can always pay a little extra to get it expedited.
Bangalore sounds awesome, I can’t wait to explore over there. The first couple of days will be very intense, then I will probably start to learn the language after the first week or so. I will need to find lodging for the three months, but I think it is supposed to cost around $150 a month. No problemo. Food should be around another $100 or $200 a month, hopefully the former, though how can I complain. So 3 months in Mysore, until the end of April. Then maybe Cambodia and Thailand. We’ll have to see what I can swing by then with my language/negotiation skills.
So by the end of April, I should be finishing up with Saraswathi, Sharath is apparently traveling in April. I’m so excited to practice over there, just to feel myself in the ancient space. Its going to be so fucking epic.
I’ll probably check out some other Ashrams as I leave too, to see if there is anywhere I want to spend some time. I also want to spend a week in the Himilayas and see how I like it, but maybe that will happen in the end of April instead. Then I will head over to Germany in May to see my sisters so I spend the end of May and beginning of June in Berlin, hopefully Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Munich, and maybe Zurich with my family. We don’t have the trip fully mapped out yet, but that is going to be a nice tour through history that I’ve never seen.
I think I’ll spend a week or two or three in Paris after that. My second family lives in Nandy, which is near Sauvigny le Temple, if you know the Parisien metropolitan area at all. 45 minutes via RER (public train) from Paris, no biggie at all. I first went over there when I was sixteen, it will be a blast from the past because I have a second family over there. Plus, I haven’t been back since I was 21 and in a very different place in life.
I want to say that I will also spend some time in London, but for some reason, it just sounds dreadfully expensive. But I have so many friends there and have never been! Ugh, maybe, I don’t know. I will probably be very broke by then.
So maybe I will be back by June? No idea if I will come back to Auburn either.
Anyways, I am really hoping I don’t get sick or anything over there, that would be awful. But hopefully I can soak up the Ayurveda, Yoga, chanting, philosophy, and everything that India can offer. Wish me luck!