Monthly Archives: August 2017

Alandi to Pune – View from the Rickshaw

Above – My lunch today consisting of reheated homemade dal and chapati our cook, Anita, made yesterday. Anita cooks for us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The meals feed us lunch on those days with enough left over to have for lunch the next day. She always makes dal, chapati and rice along with a main dish which I wasn’t hungry for today. I mixed some of the rice in the dal to make it a bit heartier. Lunch is my main meal here. For dinner I usually have dahi (yogurt) and fruit (oranges, bananas, papayas) with Muesli.

You might wonder what could I possibly see on the way back from Alandi I didn’t see on the way there. Well wonder no more.

We took a detour to visit one more temple and were surprised to find this agricultural oasis.

And, of course, cows.

This is the temple we visited. It’s very small and I only took this one photo.

Here’s another small temple we did not visit.

Within this oasis is this huge apartment construction site.

And a small school.

Back on the road to Pune.

These next three photos are of a a roadside marketplace along the highway. There’s a lot of very fertile farmland here.

Here are some beauties.

I caught this boy-cow mid yawn.

Back in Pune.

Anybody for a Sweet trEat?

Who needs a jack?

SURPRISE! A camel!!

Prashant’s class this morning was typical except we did a lot more Bharadvajasana than usual. Then out of the blue he called out Purvottanasana which we must’ve done a million times – for the back, for the spine, for the stomach, for the arms, for the shoulders, for the mind, for the neck, and so on. This was followed by Parivrtta Upavistha Konasana which was remarkable.

On the days we attend Prashant’s 7am classes (Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays), we have practice following class from 9-noon. This morning Dr. Knight conducted another led practice from 10-noon. These optional led practices are new. They didn’t offer them when I was here in 2013 or 2015. It’s a great addition to the schedule. Those who don’t want to participate can do their own practice in the back of the room. This morning Dr. Knight led us through all sorts of twists, from the very basic (Dandasana turning to the side) to more advanced twists such as Marichyasana 4 and everything in between, plus a long Parsva Sirsasana (headstand twisting to the side), Salamba Sarvangasana (shoulder stand) and Parsva Halasana (plow pose turned to the side – feet in line with the head!). He went on to talk about how the revolved poses “wring” out the organic body (the abdominal region where all the organs are) to cleanse out toxins. It was a strenuous class but also a lot of fun. This was the fourth led practice this month.

Tomorrow we have practice from 9-noon then Pranayama from 6-7:30 pm, most likely taught by Nawaz.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!

Alandi Part 2

Above – Me (aka warcari) and one of my many new friends.

Below – a man selling hats and things.

As soon as I walked up to this book seller the man selling books tossed the blue one in the middle on top of the stack. It’s the only book in English.

Thumbs up!

I had to pay this man 10 Rs ($0.16 US) to take his picture. It was worth it.

I finally bought some of these skillet roasted peanuts. The peanuts were pretty good, although different than you’d expect. The shell was blackened but the peanut inside was still rather raw tasting. Not bad, but not necessarily good either.

Walking across the bridge on the way back to the rickshaw.

Another look up the river from the bridge.

And a final look at Alandi, also from the bridge.

This guy is washing his motorcycle in the river.

No trip to Alandi is complete without cow sightings.

On the way out we stopped at another temple. These ladies arrived just as we got there.

The temple in the background is under construction. Nana said he thinks it’ll be done by next year.

Tractor hauling away dirt from a construction site.

Cobbler.

Class with Sunita this morning was a surprise – inversions, working on hip actions. We did a 20 minute Sirsasana broken down into 4 parts (about 5 minutes each). We came down in between each of these versions – Sirsasana with Parsva Sirsasana and came down, then we went up again and redid Parsva Sirsasana, then we came down and went back up for Parivrtta Ekaipada Sirsasana, then we came down again and went back up for Ekaipada Sirsasana. For those of you not knowing Sanskrit, that’s four different versions of headstand.

To answer Edith’s question, Geetaji has not taught any classes this month. I’ve seen her only one time this month sitting on the porch with Sunita but haven’t seen her since. As sad as I am to not have any classes with Geeta, I feel very fortunate to have Sunita teaching.

I’m off to bed now. I’ve got 7am class tomorrow with Prashant followed by another led practice after class.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!

Alandi

Above – A dog’s (closed) eye view. This happy, healthy and very content dog enjoyed a Samadhi in Alandi.

The people of Alandi are among the most beautiful and nicest people I’ve ever met. They come here from all around to pay homage to the site where Saint Dnyaneshwar took his last Samadhi. It’s a very holy pilgrimage village where it’s common to see people praying, meditating and reading the Bhagavad Gita on the temple grounds. Photos aren’t allowed on the temple grounds, but there are plenty of photo opportunities everywhere else.

I think it’s important to say most of the people in Alandi aren’t accustomed to seeing westerners so we get a lot of attention in the friendliest of ways.

The banks of the Indriyani River where people swim, bathe, wash clothes and many other things.

I took a photo of some men on a wall which turned into a dominos effect.

You’ve gotta love these two characters.

These two were more interested in me photographing their food and them eating it. They wouldn’t let me take the photo until they were all set to take a bite.

Such a sweet boy.

There’s Jill taking a selfie.

A me selfie.

Then of course a great big group photo.

Here’s looking down the river.

The opposite view up the river.

It’s really not hard to get a photo of this many people. All it takes is two Westerners holding a cell phone taking photos. Next thing you know, the object of the photo multiplies.

This man spoke very good English and stuck around to translate while Nana went to the toilet.

Beautiful kids …

Beautiful women.

Young family.

Here’s the marketplace on the walk to the temple.

Offerings to place at the altars.

We each became a “warcari.” In 2015 two boys put the paint on our brow. This year it was two holy men.

When we arrived at the river people were setting up a stage for some sort of celebration, which may have been for Independence Day. I took a video to capture the moment.

Today is Independence Day. It’s 10:15pm, live music is still playing loudly somewhere nearby and there have been fireworks going off the past couple hours that we can see from the window in our flat. I’m guessing it will be quite a while before the noise settles down and I’ll be able to go to sleep.

Because there were no classes today my flatmates and I left the house early for a walk to Ferguson College where we took a hike to the top of a small mountain and where I took a ton of photos (go figure). The campus is beautiful and the people there are very friendly, but you’ll have to wait until I get through my Alandi photos before I share those.

Tomorrow class doesn’t start until 9:30am so I get to sleep in, whatever that means since the birds in the park wake me up around 4:45am every morning.

btw, Bruce brought to my attention that my featured image (“Women carrying their laundry to wash in the Indrayani River…” ) yesterday was missing. I fixed that so if you scroll down just a bit to yesterday’s post you will see it. I think it’s one of the best photos of my trip so you don’t want to miss it.

Also, if you’re a new subscriber to my blog and you receive emails notifying you when a new post is published, you’ll want to click on the caption in your email to view the blog online. Otherwise you’ll miss the featured images which are typically the best photo of the post.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!

The Road to Alandi Part 2

Above – Women carrying their laundry to wash in the Indrayani River which runs through Alandi.

We stopped at another temple along the way. I’d tell you the name of the temple if I could read this signage.

This sweet dog came out and made itself comfortable at the temple entrance. Someone’s been feeding this one and I was pleased to see he had been neutered. I choose not to take and share photos of the dogs here. There are a lot of them. I’ll leave it at that.

Stairs on the way up to the temple door.

A large pillar in front of the temple.

Inside the temple.

Hanuman.

This man is selling a hot item.

Remember this truck … You’ll see why farther down in this post …

There’s major road construction close to Alandi.

There are many goats grazing at the top of this cliff.

New construction.

Goods carrier.

This small economy car is packed with people. This is ok here.

Statues are made here. I had to take a second look at that man who isn’t really a man at all.

More laundry.

Here’s a sneak peek at the river.

About that truck photo you saw a minute ago … Take a close look here (& I’m sorry it’s not very clear) at the number of people packed into and getting out of this large truck.

A view from the bridge over the river.

Chai with Nana before walking into Alandi.

Ron – These next three photos are for you.

See, there is a sink with real soap and running water, but it’s outside the bathroom.

Something I haven’t mentioned is that we’ve had bees in our flat, mostly in ManYee’s room. This morning during Prashant’s class we were instructed to close all the windows in the practice hall because of the bees. As it turns out, the bee hive was on the terrace of OUR building, one story up from our flat! No wonder we’ve had bees.

Here is the bee worker in his bee suit holding up a honeycomb with his protective gloves.

Tomorrow is Independence Day in India and a holiday. No classes. My flat mates and I are heading out around 8am for a walk to Ferguson College and then out to lunch. Ferguson College is a beautiful campus about a mile away from the flat.

This morning’s class with Prashant was intense backbends followed by a 2-hour practice where I worked on hip openers. Prashant’s talks the last few classes have been about evacuation. Something has to be evacuated in order to let something in, and what can be evacuated and what can be let in? Of course, this has led to some serious considerations as to what kind of evacuations are required or necessary.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!

The Road to Alandi

Above – Datta, the 3-headed deity. The three heads representing (in this order) Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Photo taken at Saibaba Temple on the way to Alandi.

Below, sights from the rickshaw along the road to Alandi (aka Alandi Road).

Part of the trip goes the same route I’ve taken to Ayurjoti. I’ve passed this granite mart several times. Behind this wall is a lot of granite.

The next two photos are of a military complex along the way.

Camel.

Oh look. A cow.

This is a very typical sight. People hang their laundry to dry … wherever. This happens to be a very busy street. Laundry hanging to dry and no one around. Odd. I think …

You can’t see this very well, but this vendor cart with two people on it is being pushed by the foot of a guy riding a motorcycle (see lower left hand corner). This is ok to do in India.

Here’s another one. See the motorcycle driver’s foot? Again, very ok here.

Ganesh Chaturthi, a Hindu festival and holiday (August 25 this year) is coming up so these Ganesh statues are being sold everywhere. A lot of preparations are made prior to the event.

This banyan tree has many long roots reaching down toward the ground.

When your car stalls in the middle of the road, find some tree branches and stick them into your windows and boot (trunk) so others will be aware that this car is going nowhere. This method, Nana tells me, works well for when buses come along.

Yes, I have a fascination with cows, ok? These are some beauties.

This apartment building and those around it stand out like a pretty good sized sore thumb.

Nana said the building at the top of this hill is a ballistics building where the military launches firearms.

Water tower with a whole lot of stairs spiraling up to the top. I reckon someone could get a bit dizzy here (not to mention some pretty sore quadriceps).

I’m not sure what this guy was doing here but I gave him 10 rupees to take his picture.

Here we are just inside the grounds of the Saibaba Temple where we stopped along the way to Alandi. Cows are sacred in India and cow statues like this one are seen in every temple.

Inside one of the many temples on the grounds.

(Saint) Shirdi Sai Baba (9/28/1835-10/15/1918) an Indian spiritual master.

Here is Datta again (see featured image at the top of this post) taken through a glass window. The cow (bottom center) is a symbol of making complete your expectations and the four dogs you can’t really see represent the four vedas.

Women inside the temple grounds.

Nana takes time to say a prayer.

We had a fantastic day. The photos in this post only represent most of the drive to Alandi so there are many more to look forward to.

How blessed we are to have Nana as our friend, driver and guide.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!

The Drive to Ayurveda

Above – The Ayurveda treatment room and table. It’s not quite what you would expect in the US. The table is made of wood and the only thing separating me and the wood table top is a very thin mat and a linen sheet. It’s not the most comfortable massage table but the quality of the abhyanga and massage makes it well worth it, not to mention the price – 18,000 rupees which converts to $28.80 US dollars!

Here are some of the sights along the way. It’s about a 20 minute drive, keeping in mind traffic is unpredictable and people don’t drive that fast here because of the amount of people on the road. Then there are obstacles along the way, mostly in the form of cows and water buffalo.

Here is a guy walking with his flowers for sale and a tractor pulling a trailer full of bricks and the brick layers.

Buffalo – The next two were taken through the very dirty windshield which is why they’re a bit blurry and gray.

These two were taken from the side window. They were close enough to touch. They’re really icky dirty so I didn’t dare …

More cows. They’re everywhere.

Here’s something familiar.

This is the walkway to the Ayurveda clinic.

View from the opposite direction.

I’m being treated for tendonitis and bursitis at both hamstring attachments and the meniscus problem in my knee. The Ayurveda treatments are very good and I believe it’s helping.

Sunita taught the women’s class again this morning. It was all about hip openers. She’s been a breath of fresh air. Her instruction is precise, incorporating stories, humor and compassion.

Last night’s digital Pranayama class was taught by Nawaz who is very thorough and takes the time to make sure all instructions are understood clearly. She has a vast knowledge of Guruji’s teachings and weaves them into her classes.

Tomorrow, Sunday, no classes. I plan on observing the kids’ class in the morning and then going with Jill and Nana to Alandi. Alandi is a rural pilgrimage town about 40 minutes via rickshaw. I went there in 2013 and 2015.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!

More Pune in Pictures

Above- The Om symbol on the front of Nana’s rickshaw

Now my dongle isn’t picking up wifi. Go figure.

It’s 6am and the birds in the park are going wild. They’re my alarm clock every morning without fail. As I sit in the dining area in this early morning darkness, small birds come and perch on the grill outside the window bobbing their heads and chirping at their reflection. I keep the lights low so they don’t get scared away. It’s a highlight of my trip and my every morning. Class (pranayama) isn’t until this evening and practice doesn’t begin until 9am so I have a bit of leisure time to enjoy this.

Below – Another outing with Nana which always leads to more photos.

The children here are beautiful. Many times they run up to us and say hi and stare at us just like this boy. They have a fascination with westerners. Of course, they’re always happy when I ask if I can take their picture.

This building like many others looks run down and uninhabitable but there is life inside.

There’s life inside the back of this tuck-truck also … (I just made that name up – “tuck-truck”)

I have to say that some of the best photos I’ve taken are those with people riding motorcycles and motor scooters. They’re usually also very happy to see westerners and wiling to smile when they see I’d like to take their photo.

India scaffolding made of bamboo. Scary. Oh, and look, they sell Levi’s.

Here is a deity on the front of one of the small temples we came across.

Selling “stuff” you can’t live without.

People People everywhere.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for … Cows!

Men at work. Look closely in the lower right hand corner. There’s a worker in the hole. This is a typical site around town – men working on the road or sidewalk. No cones, no traffic control, no safety gear.

Commuting …

If you need your ingin repaired, go to My Ingin.

Yesterday the institute offered a workshop on the rope wall. Three of the younger teachers demonstrated and gave all the students turns at the ropes for each pose demonstrated. Because there were three of them, we were watched closely and given adjustments when needed. What made this even more special was Sunita watched on from her practice in the corner where Guruji used to practice and she pitched in just as Guruji used to do. Sunita has had a great presence in the practice hall this visit. It’s wonderful to see her there and to be the recipient of her beautiful, genuine smile.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone from iNdia with LOVE!

About Town in Pune

Above – Out to lunch with ManYee at South & more, a new restaurant since I was here in 2015.

This is what I had – Bisibelebath. I ate the whole thing. Yummy.

Here’s what I saw on my walk back to the flat. I’m not sure what this lady’s carrying on her head, but she can play the drum at the same time.

Another temple.

Cool courtyard.

School yard and boys playing cricket.

This statue is in the middle of a chowk. A chowk is what Indians call a round-about.

More things seen from the rickshaw.

Buffalo on the drive to Ayurveda treatment.

The item hanging in the middle is a gourd. The others are tablas.

These five photos were taken from the top floor of a building looking down at a very busy street (180) degrees.

The stairway down.

View from the Rickshaw

Above – This woman works at Dimpex hand designing batiked t-shirts. This is where I took my t-shirts to be batiked with my custom logo on the back.

Here are photos I took while out on a rickshaw ride with Nana. They pretty much speak for themselves so I’ll keep quiet except to say the weather here has been mostly overcast with some rain but warm and humid. The cloud cover keeps the shadows down and makes for great photos.

About the rickshaw … I realize some people call these tuck tucks, but here in Pune they’re called rickshaws (short for auto rickshaw).

This sweet girl came running up to me when I returned back to the apartment building to say hi. She was very happy when I asked if I could take her photo.

Hey Bruce, this Mercedes was parked in our driveway. I’ve seen quite a few Mercedes around town.

The wifi in our flat is working again and so is the phone. I now have a dongle so I’ll have a back up. 4GB for 1,700 rupees +200 rental (that’s $30.40 US dollars). I figure with 24 days remaining, that comes to $1.27 per day. My cell phone is locked and it wouldn’t take the SIM but the dongle is just as good for my purpose.

Special note to Mom (& anyone else who doesn’t know what a dongle is) – A dongle is a small device that serves as a hot spot that allows me to access emails and internet on my phone and computer. It’s this little device that will help to keep my blog up and running. My phone and computer connect to it just like your computer links to the wifi at your house. Now when the wifi in the flat is poor to none, I have this little device as a back up.

Even when the wifi is up and running, the access in my bedroom is very poor so the dongle will come in handy when I want to get online in my room.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!

No Wifi … Again

Above – Anita cooking our lunch Friday.

Below – Chapati. Nice pan, eh?

Our wifi connection yesterday lasted mere hours. We are now without internet again. Right now I am sitting in the Hotel Chetak lobby using its wifi. Oh, and our phone still isn’t working…

We had a big day today with Nana in the rickshaw. There was a lot of traffic and people everywhere. It seems there are a lot more people here now than there was in 2015. It’s really quite crazy. How can this many people comingle with this amount of traffic without any order and no one gets run over? It’s another one of those questions my inquiring mind wants to know.

Yesterday I walked to the Dimpex store to arrange to have the 30 t-shirts I brought to be batiked. On the way back I walked along the sidewalk only to find myself dodging motorcycles and scooters. Traffic was so bad they were driving on the sidewalk, headed right toward me. What’s worse is they were honking at me! Seriously.

Enjoy these photos, mostly of the country where it’s not as congested.