Namaskar! Hello! Welcome to Mumbai. Taxi? Hotel? My friend. Tell me, do you have ticket?
India. Wow. I finally made it. And by finally, I am not referring to the 14-1/2 hour plane ride over two oceans. I mean more in the karmic, life’s journey, ahhh, India, kind of way.
I’ve always been curious what it would be like here, and in a positive way, I’m not the least bit surprised by what I’ve found. This is not a country easy to describe, and having been here for only 29 hours, I’m reasonably unfit to try. I will say this, however: The people are delightful, and the iconic Indian head-bob-swivel-nod-shake will require some practice to perfect. At first glance I feel there are at the very least, nuances to the orbit of one’s head that have yet to be fully discerned. For now I find it utterly charming.
My only experience with long journeys like this one are my annual trips to China where I go to stoke the fires of enthusiasm and perfection in the factories that make my Eggs. The food is delicious and the traffic a non-stop nail-biting hair-raising series of manic momentum. India is as busy or worse, but somehow it feels different. Lighter. Easier to suffer. Palatable. And most of all, not scary. In China there is a feeling of aggression to the roads and the incessant honking of horns. Here the people are just as anxious to fill the tiniest of gaps in the road, but they share the intimacy of thoracic thruways with a grace and weave and flow and acceptance, from which I think a lot can be learned.
I’d never been in a Rickshaw before today, and today I was in one most of the day. My driver, Nana, has taken excellent care of all my needs, including a better apartment I’ll be moving into tomorrow, as well as mobile WiFi, a power adapter, lunch, toilet paper, and Chai. Perhaps the most important thing to have if you come to a place like India is a man like Nana. Indiana Jones had one in the Temple of Doom. He has made my plunge into this world comfortable, effortless and efficient. He wears a smile, everybody loves him, and he knows where to go and how to get there with a view of rush-hour traffic from clear lanes across the valley.
I feel like I’ve already gained insight into 2 of the yogic virtues: Patience, when I waited outside the airport over 5 hours for Joan [White] to exit the baggage claim with her luggage; and Acceptance, because things here simply happen when/how they happen. I can tell that already, and it’s all somewhat magically okay.
Alright, it’s late. More to come. I’m scheduled for 6 classes per week at the Iyengar Institute and one of them is tomorrow, so I need to get my rest.
Namastegg everyone!
Jason