In search of The Yoga.
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2007
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7
23
Trip End
Dec 30, 2008
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Pondicherry,
India
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Age: 42
Family status: Married. Two girls
Job: Yoga teacher
Religion: Hindu
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Everyone comes to India for a reason. Some people come with hopes to find spirituality and enlightenment. Some come for the party. Some come here to escape from something back home. There is a place for all of them in India. It is the kind of place that brings out deep emotions - from deep resentment one day to utter admiration the very next. Just when you think you have made your mind about it, something happens.
I am not entirely sure why I came to India. Perhaps I am curious to discover if there is anything spiritual about me at all, while in search of the true yoga experience. Finding yoga teacher is not as easy as you might think in the country where yoga was discovered. There isn't exactly a yoga schools directory at the Mumbai airport. There are so many styles and variations of yoga, you can get dizzy without having to stand on your head. By the time I made it to Pondicherry, a French colonial town on the South East coast, I had almost given up on finding either my spirituality or a yoga teacher. Then I met Lalitha.
Effortlessly, almost unaware and for a brief week, I stepped into Lalitha's gentle world of deities, gurus, music and wisdom. Lalitha is a yoga teacher in Ananda Ashram, and a pretty cool chick too. I don't know how else to describe this beautiful woman, buzzing around on her scooter in a stunning aquamarine sari. More than the appearance, my yoga teacher is very observant, caring, and wise in a very matter-of-fact, casual and non-patronizing way.
B Lalitha
When I ask her if it is okay to write a story about her, she says - of course, but I have one request only - for my name to not be mentioned without mentioning the name of my teacher Dr. Swami Gitananda, the founder of Ananda Ashram and his wife Shrimati Meenakshi Devi, who is managing the Ashram since the Guru passed away. I have all this knowledge, Lalitha says, because of my teachers. It will be wrong to write about me without acknowledging my gurus. She says this with such an ease and genuine concern that I am stunned. I've never been in a place where teachers are given as much respect as they are in India. There are 6 am yoga classes on Saturday and Wednesday for working women, and there are 10 am classes on Tuesday and Thursday for house wives. Trying to squeeze in as many classes as possible during the week I am in Pondicherry, I attend them all. There is not a single westerner in either group. It is as Indian as it gets. Lalitha introduces me right away to both groups and the ladies look at me with curiosity. Some are making a small talk after class. There is a stark difference in the appearance of both groups. The working ladies are generally younger and slimmer. The stay home moms all have a thin golden bracelet on each hand and calluses on their ankles - from sitting cross-legged all their life - I assume. As we move through the vinyasas, my mind wonders. Lalitha's voice brings me back - now Viktoria will demonstrate the scale pose. I am a bit baffled - me, the foreigner to show to the locals?! It is official then - you don't need to be Indian to be yogi. And it is the attitude that makes you accepted, not the nationality.
Later that day, I take up Lalitha on her open invitation to join her to the classical Tamel music concert that is being held in offering to her diseased singing guru in one of the Hindu temples in town. She said - try to make it if you can. Guru Rangantanthan was a very holly man. He taught many people how to sing.
Many people show up to pay their respect and sing on the 6th anniversary of Guru Rangantanthan death. The room is buzzing with people. Women are sitting on the left, men are sitting on the right. Everyone is dressed to the occasion. The men are wearing light colored button down shirts that are hanging lose over the traditional for Tamil Nadu dhotti. I personally find the dhotti outfit hilarious. Dhotti is a wide scarf that guys wrap around as a skirt. If the weather is too hot, they just fold it in two, so it looks like they are wearing a mini skirt. For extra chick, there is a little matching scarf that the guys wear around their necks. Here in the Hindu temple, the outfit looks strangely appropriate. All women are beautiful in their brightly colored silk saries and elaborate jewelry. Fresh flowers are adjourning their long, thick, perfectly black pleats. I mentally congratulate myself for remembering to bring a red and black Indian scarf to spice up my scruffy traveler's t-shirt/Capri outfit. I am a bit self-conscious, because my ¾ pants barely cover my knees. I don't want to be disrespectful by showing too much skin in a traditional setting like this. No one seems to notice. Instead, Lalitha takes me around the temple, introducing me to everyone and explaining the meaning of the different statues of deities and gurus. There seem to be a whole lot of gurus, so I ask Lalitha how many gurus can one have. As always, she is very wise and down to the point - Only one, otherwise you may get confused. It is fine to go and see what other gurus teach, just like you are going around the world to see how other people live, but at the end you have to pick one [guru / one way]. I think I'm beginning to understand what the hype about India is all about. And I'm still learning.
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If you happened to be in Pondicherry, definitely stop by Yoganjali Natyalayam Yoga Ashram and say hi from me. www.yoganjali-natyalayam.com
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Hugs & Kisses, Vik
