As we all lay on mats and cushions on the floor of the main yoga shala, a Russian man sat down in front of us, said a few humble words that also happened to be funny, and then he got right down to business. He put his fingers to the strings of an electric-ish spanish guitar and did not stop making music out of it until an hour-an-a-half later. He didn't sing or stop to rest his fingers or tell us a little joke, he just went straight Carlos Santana on that thing the whole time; one seamless song. His only other "gimmick" was his Indian friend who sat down next to him in the beginning and a couple of minutes in, started to feel the music and move around, eventually getting up and dancing around the room. This got some of my classmates up, including Ashley, who is Indian as well and actually owns a dance studio in Mumbai and is well-known as a Bollywood choreographer. As you might imagine, the whole things was beautiful to be witness to.
To add to how beautiful and refreshing this different kind of concert was, when we all went to clap at the end, he asked us to stop and to please just let it be in silence. His ego didn't need the applause or requests for CDs. He just wanted to come share his instrument with us. I got up in silence and then was when I finally remembered that I was in pain...
Earlier today I'd had another hour-and-a-half long experience that was also beautiful but equally painful: my very first Thai massage. I got up from the massage, looked at Steve (a tall British masseuse at Ashiyana) and only said, "Wow, I feel like you just performed an exorcism on me." He hand found a spot in my lower back that felt like it needed some work and so he'd basically beaten the snot out of it. Other than a brief dog fight, that's really the most violent thing I know of happening since I've been in India. I'll take it. I'll even sign up for another before I leave, but I think I'll wear yoga pants next time instead of shorts. I have learned a valuable lesson about appropriate dress code for a Thai massage after Steve had me basically tied up in a pretzel. Luckily he was really professional about it, but you might want to learn from my mistake if you've never had one before.
Yesterday was pretty interesting as well. For those of you who know me as "Stranger Danger," I want you to know I was all over it. We have half-days on Wednesdays and I'd talked to some of the girls about meeting in Aranbol, a bigger town about a 40 minute walk down the beach from where we are in Mandrem. As you get closer to Aranbol, the language becomes significantly more Russian and the people look much more bohemian.
I wandered into town and had an eye out for the girls as I also checked out the shops and tried to find a good place to eat. As I wandered, I came across a nice looking older man playing a drum in front of a music shop. I stopped to listen and look since I'm thinking about bringing my brother back some sort of instrument and he offered to teach me how to play. That poor guy had no idea what he was getting himself into. The chaos I created for the next 20-30 minutes on the drum drew other shop keepers away from their posts and it wasn't long before I had a mini crowd... my first concert! If I can make a generalization about the people of India based on just that experience alone, it is that they are very patient people who are kind enough to humor a curious and silly person like me. If I ever choose to pursue a music career, I know who my target audience will be. It's all about the fans, baby.
I was even more famished than before after my big concert, so I resumed my mission to find a decent meal. The trick to finding a good restaurant in India that won't make a western stomach sick is to seek out places that other westerners are eating in. The problem though is that it wasn't really lunch or dinner time, so almost everywhere was empty or people were just drinking. I did find a german bakery that several people were sitting in and i proceeded to stare helplessly into the glass case in the front, deliberating between the chocolate or the nutella croissant. So similar, and yet, so different.
"Tough choice, huh?" I turned around and an Indian guy about my age was standing next to me. We got to talking about my eating options and he offered to take me somewhere on his motor bike. Feeling Stranger Dangerous, I got on the bike and we zipped between pedestrians and other vehicles in search of sustenance. He stopped the bike at a jewelry store that turned out to belong to his family, sat in office chairs... and that's when I started to wonder if maybe I was in a sketchy situation. He waved across the street and a teenage boy came over and took our drink orders and then reappeared a few minutes later with some juices. I sat for about 45 minutes and got to know my new friend Shane. We talked mostly about India and traveling and exchanged some "cultural" jokes that had us both laughing. It was a totally harmless, fun and random time. Maybe slightly sketchy, too. He invited me to a big Indian wedding before I leave and I hated to turn him down because that's a bucket-list item, but it would mean skipping some important time in my yoga training.
I was probably walking home with a stupid grin on my face because nearly everyone said "hi" to me. At one point I passed a man in purple pants who I eventually "felt" following me. He introduced myself once I turned around and became my new, strange, Hungarian friend. He mentioned that he was influential in the fashion industry and when I probed further he said "you know white shirts with graphics in the middle? I was the first guy to do that." Oh. My. Gosh. Wow. What a character. What an interesting walk home.
So that is just a taste of some of my time here in India. It's just the past two days! I do want to write more about what has happened in the past 2.5 weeks and what daily life in yoga training is like, but I'll have to save it for another post.
Namaste :)
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