Yoga, Cultural Dance, Ayurvedic Massage, Bollywood

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  Jaipur, India
Friday, March 18, 2005

(Nicole) We finally found an ashram! The ashram had mainly Indians and a few foreigners. We tried one hour of a breathing/meditation, then we did another hour of physical yoga. Compared to the yoga center that we go to in Pasadena, the physical part is very similar, but this ashram does not stress sweating ourselves to death. Somehow, yoga transformed into a rigorous exercise in the U.S., leaving out the spiritual, meditative part.

We also saw a cultural show rehearsal dance at a temple. The girls wore outfits that were so beautiful and colorful. We felt like we were part of the culture for witnessing such a magnificent event.

Later that day, I tried an Ayurvedic massage. My body was rubbed in a warm massage oil that was filled with herbs. The massage was light, not like a deep tissue massage, or a Thai stretching massage. I am beginning to enjoy the way of life here. If I was not a pharmacist in the U.S., I think I would like to study Ayurvedic medicine, as it concentrates on plant/herbal remedies. Ayurvedic medicine is thousands of years old and it's still being used today, so there must be some healing effect.

Peter really wanted to see a Bollywood movie. I was hesistant because it would be in Hindi; I thought it would be a waste of time since we would not be able to understand a single word. When we got to the ticket booth, there were two separate lines, one for females and one for males. I thought maybe the theatre would be segregated by sex too, then we can ditch the movie and do something else because Peter would not let me sit by myself (we don't feel that safe/comfortable here). But to my disappointment, we had to see the movie since we can sit together.

The movie theatre was grand! We sat in the best seats, which were balcony seats because it had a full view of the BIG, BIG screen. People were staring at us, wondering what we were doing here. I tried to be nonchalant about it, as I'm getting used to eyes constantly staring at me. "Bawafaa" was the title of the movie--a love story that had death, heartaches, babies, just like soap operas in the U.S. But there was a musical aspect also. The characters would break out into a song and dance in the middle of a scene. It was cheesy, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.