I have to apologize. I promised to write more, I promised to try and post photos. I've done neither. Suffice it to say, I view writing extensively as a special ritual - I have to have a desk and a cup of caffeinated something and quiet time. My quiet time up til now has been spent horizontal recovering from an intense morning of yoga practice and a delicious thali (indian lunch). I want to write, I want to share, I walk to class with a head full of thoughts and even some paragraphs but then I find a moment and my arms are needing to lay flat against a moldy smelling bed that I've grown used to. I let the breeze in and hear the cackles of outrageous birds and hear the flutter of pigeon wings whack my window screens and then I'm off, drifting into a nap. If you're reading this and craving the same, I highly recommend it.
I have yet to write about my initial week in Dharamsala, in the foothills of the Himalayas in the region of Himachal Pradesh. I spent the entire time on the run (not with the runs, thank goodness!). We were up and out of the nunnery where my friend Carolyn and I were staying by 6: 45 am and into a taxi drive up the hill for teachings with the Dalai Lama that started at 8:40 am every day. Time for lunch, time for a short stroll, time to meet friends and give gifts but no time to digest it all before heading back to Delhi and then onto Pune where I write from now.
I'm safe, it's not hotter than a match head - in fact it's cool and breezy and incredibly pleasant. I haven't seen one mosquito down here and Pune is a civil place...as I will explain in that well anticipated entry I plan to write...if I have to resort to instant coffee to get it all to you, I will. I am staying in a really nice apartment, marble floors, my own private bathroom with western toilet. I'm sharing it with my friend Carolyn from New York and another woman from Berkeley who is here studying sanskrit (on a summer study program). We walk to the yoga institute and I've now attended a full week of classes. Tomorrow we have the day off. Some are going off to Sunday brunch at the Meridien Hotel. I've vowed to stay behind and write, okay? We'll see - I might just be tempted by the scrumptious array of nourishment my body might desire...
Since this is the second time around in India, insights are of course different. Diffused, rather. There is a familiarity and the sharpness of experiencing something new is worn. There is not the need to see every sight and buy all the goodies. I sit and read more about this yoga practice. Questions arise about the purpose of the practice, how it can turn the mind. The intricacies.
but alas, I must sign off for now and get in an auto rickshaw, travel to other side of town to the 'german bakery' where one can find strudel, cappucino and salad.
again, I promise to write so please don't give up checking in...
