Where in the world can you get good indian food including fresh juice, rice, your choice of curry and maybe even a naan bread for a whopping 1 dollar ! yes 50 rupees ! Every day I go and eat at the local hang out for my fellow Yogis, Mahesh Prasads Hotel. Here in Mysore every restaurant is called a hotel, not sure why. Anyhow this hotel is quite yummy and I am there at 11:30 for breakfast/ lunch which includes idli sambar and vada and ofcourse some garam garam chai (full of sugar) and then I am there again at 1pm for a thali plate which includes a little bit of everything, a complete meal. Then again at 730 for dinner I am there with the other students ordering my meal. Each time it is 50 rupees or less...thats equivalent to 1 US dollar ! I eat 3 full meals for 3 dollars!!!! This is definitely not a place that caters to westerners and seems to be quite popular with the locals as it is jam packed every day at every meal. Mysore itself is a nice town that is by no means a tourist spot so everything is priced for locals and people dont hassle you too much. I seem to be good eye candy for people here, not by american defintion though, more because I look indian and walk around with all the foreigners and everyone is confused ! Its quite interesting, the looks i get. I have learned to appreciate this uniqueness and have taken advantage of my broken hindi skills to build relationships with some of the locals, thats where traveling and tourism stops and adventure and experiences start.
Today is Monday and apparently an auspicious day as every temple had a puja going on for the god Ganesh here known as Ganjanana . When I say every temple I really mean it. There are small shrines in front of peoples houses, by trees on the sidewalks, and ofcourse traditional buildings. Everyone one of the sites had small gatherings. I too paid my respects to the, overcomer of obstacles, as I walked home from class.
Oh yes class , must mention class. Class is about 6 hours a day starting at 7:15 am with a primary serious that builds heat fast and brings you to your deepest depths. Vinay, my teacher, is amazing and definitely is a teacher at heart , pushing each one to their OWN edge. 9am starts Pranayama practice , sitting and breathing for and hour and then followed by chanting class. For my personal development I am learning the harmonium at 1pm and then head to 5pm backbending class ... yes LOTS AND LOTS of backbends among other things. Vinay noticed my challenging spot right away and has been working my hamstrings to the ground ...literally! Its been amazing so far and each day is a new day.
As always, no expectations , no disappointments, a free mind and only experiences ... with the path is created.
peace
