Searchings of a Kiwi lass

March 1st it was and I arrive in the state of Kerala after almost two full days on various trains from Hampi... and it is HOT!! As I wait in the Ko Chin train station for my train to Trivandrum I hope I'll grow accustomed to the mugginess...
The train comes and it's a local one.. I crowd into the women's carriage with 200 other hopefuls and manage to somwhow find a seat as well as stow my pack on the precarious ledge above. It's four hours of cramped, knee-to-knee travel, although there are beautiful views and a lovely newly wed modern Indian girl, Remya, to talk to. Just before we reach Trivandrum she writes her email in my little travel book, as well as the following words:
'you are a very aprpoachable person I think so... I won't forget your name because I have a friend she is also Sharon. I think we will meet again. I am wishing you all the best for your future. And you will get a nice partner.'
he he he.. this constant romanticism so ingrained in the Indian psyche... at Trivandrum station Remya introduces me to her husband briefly, before I bid them farewell and rickshaw it over to Neyyar Dam, home of the Sivananda ashram.

I arrive to the sounds of 200 or so yellow t-shirted beings chanting outside the ashram entrance - it seems they are on their weekly silent meditative walk, as I have come at 8pm or so. I am fed a delicious wholesome dinner and shown my bed in the dorm so I prepare myself for my ashram routine, which begins at 5.30 the next morning...

SCHEDULE
5.30 Morning bell
(another warning bell will sound at 5.50)
6.00 Meditation / Satsang in the Satsang Hall
7.30 Tea outside under what will be known as the 'tea tree'.
8.00 First asana class
10.00 Brunch
11.00 Lecture
12.30 Karma yoga (selfless service, done for one hour per day)
2.00 Optional asana coaching class
3.30 Second asana class
6.00 Dinner
8.00 Meditation / Satsang
10.30 Lights out!!!

I manage to sleep fitfully on my first night and am up like a trooper the next morning for my first meditation... the hall is beautiful, and five orange clad Swami's sit onstage meditating. The actual meditation is short - maybe twenty minutes - and then Swami Mahadevananda, head of all Sivananda ashrams around the world, leads us in various chants. We begin every day with 'Jaya Ganesha', a chant you (hopefully) grow to love (we sing it twice a day so its better to love it rather than not...), also a chant which I wake up singing inside my head for the next week or so...
Yoga class is peaceful but sweaty, as I'm beginning to realise how it's much more muggier here than in Ko Chin, even next to the beautiful crocodile infested glassy lake that we do our asana's beside.
At ten o'clock we file like dutiful little yogi's into the lunch hall chanting 'Hare Rama, Hare Krishna' which is very beautiful actually - I love it at least... our meals for the next week pretty much consist of various combinations of rice / chapati / papadam / samba (south indian vegetable stew) / dosa (south indian bread) / idli (south indian rice patties)/ korma (veges) / salad / and about a teaspoon of sweet rice dessert... as well as ayurvedic water, which tastes musky and dusky and herbal and health giving.

Over the next week or so I hate to admit it but I find myself falling asleep sitting upright during the 11.00 lectures quite often - it's not that I'm not interested!! But it's just such a good chance to catch up on sleep... such a cool and breezy room and the Swami's peaceful voice sends me drifting...off...

All of the Sivananda ashrams around the world are big on karma yoga... but instead of at 12.30, I do mine from 6.30 - 7.30 at the 'Health Hut' - a canteen where I make fruit salads / juices / toast for those who are missing the fruit or Western food in their diets... I actually love this job and it doesn't feel like karma yoga at all. I quickly become part of the Health Hut crew - there is Balla-ji, a beautiful Keralan man if ever I met one - he kind of runs the show here, has gallons of patience, the best haircut in India ( a stylish bob I've never seen before) and puts up with our plotting to find him a good wife... Ange from Canada and I quickly name ourselves the 'Health Hut Hussies' and plan to co-ordinate our clothes and sing eighties songs while we work... well, the clothes co-ordination never actually happened, but it was fun to think about it anyway... and it's here I meet Levik, my crazy wonderful Mexican brother who also teaches some of the asana classes - the ones that leave us crying with both pain and laughter...

Soon, soon the days in the ashram all blend into a wonderful yogic holiday... lots of good times, Jaya Ganesha'a and bananas...the ashram itself is situated in a stunning area, surrounded by coconut and banana trees, loads of grass and twittering birds, unwelcome mosquito's and beautiful fragrant white blossoms... apparently some guy came face to face with a cobra near the lake side as well, though I was never privy to such a sight. In the few free afternoon hours every day I take my guitar either to the Health Hut, the lake or the communal lawn which results in many a sing-along... Levik and Ambika practise their acrobatics on the purple human rope which is tied to a tall tree while Mahendra and Sam entertain us all with their ways... it's a good life...

When the time comes closer to leave there is talk about our little gang (me, Ange, Levik, Ambika, Sam in particular) meeting in Varkala.. so one afternoon Sam, Levik and I trace a huge OM sign onto a white dhoti and set about making an OM flag with which we can mark our spot on the beach.. it takes about three hours in the Health Hut and is pretty damn magnificent if I do say so myself!

Leaving the ashram is strange... after two weeks of pretty much pure yogic living (no intoxicants, garlic or onions allowed!) it's a bit wierd to be back in the city (Trivandrum) until I catch another crowded as anything train to Varkala.. and I won't deny it, the sight of that beach with all its touristic commodities leaves me like an excited kid... I run into Sam and Angel (Levik's bro) as soon as I arrive and we race into the sea... drink cocktails and eat choco-banana cake... overindulge pretty much, although stil manage to get up for yoga on the beach the next morning.. but I think this story has already been told so I shall move on, move on and try to catch myself up in this travel blog...