Om Namo Narayan beautiful beings

So some impression after 3 months in India :) 

What is so different?

Shop:

-We take off our shoes to enter the shop and really love this sensation of walking barefoot; it is quite funny to try to remember where you have left your “Chappal” (shoes) after doing shopping. Even we lost Lhasa’s sandals for days and found them when we came back to one shop.

-There is incense in every shop and there are quite clean for most of them and well organized, i did not know that so much could fit in such small shop and I still wonder how they can remember where they put all articles but actually they do and pull out what you need in a second. It was ever so funny to go to Pondy to find a swimming costume for Lhasa, we laugh so much to see the style of the costume, anyway we found a great one for 300 rupees (4.5 €).

-What is not so nice is to ask for the prices when you know you will have to discuss 30 minutes to get the real prices. As they say here they know the price of each article the moment you enter in the shop. Anyway now the local know us and i start to know the prices.

-I love love love when I ask for a vegetables or fruit and they answer that “it is not the season for this”, it is so nice to eat fresh, not imported fruits and veggies.

-I find it great that on a packaging there is the manufacture date and not the date that the expiry date.

-It is funny when there is power cut and they all have their candle ready to light and they carry on talking like nothing is happening.

-I enjoy going to ask for new shoes to the local maker. He opens is notebook you put your foot on it and it draw the lines out, then you shoes the material you want and the color, and he ask you to come the day after to pick them up. All this for 350 rupees (5 € approx)

Restaurant:

-Breakfast is my favorite: Idly or Dosaï with coconut sauce and dhal...Miaaaaam

-Masala tea is a must; mix with black tea leaves, milk, cardamom, cloves, ginger and sugar.

-The Thali is amazing, mix between different sauce, chapatti and rice.

-You eat with your hands (don’t forget to clean it before) and you don’t use with your left hand. You try this experience: Eat your yogurt after mixing with your right hand and you will see why we are totally ridiculous trying to do it... This is one of the things that Lhasa can giggle about for hours after food :)

My friend Marjolaine eat a Thali

-The great thing and difference with France or Spain: The restaurants are mainly vegetarian. About 90% of the food is vegetarian anyway. It is making it easy for me. Lhasa is loving it and dream of chicken sometimes which she eat in some occasion (but sometimes a little spicy :S)

-Alcohol is rare in restaurant. 

The rhythm:

-Up at 6am and in bed by 9pm. I feel in great form and love this rhythm. Anyway it is too hot to stay in bed and the birdies are too loud in the morning. At night it is dark at 6.30 pm so it make it easy to be in bed early. Especially that the there is every day power cut at the same time.

Transport:

-No need for a car here there is THE Moped and you can transport anything on it. When you see indian family on one you know that everything is possible,

-Buses are really amazing you can go anywhere at pretty much anytime.

Actually it is not rare that I forget to put petrol and i have to walk a road side :)

Animals:

-Dogs and cats are well treated and respected by the people but have serious illness and live in the street. Anyway here they will never harm them on purpose and they will not be on leash or attach to a tree.

-My friend the cow: Well i have a special love story with the cow.They are everywhere of course and they are the queen of India. They do pretty much do what they like and if anyone will try to harm it they will go straight to jail. The cow who attacked me did not go to jail so. I was going to work but my moped decided to make it difficult and stopped, of course i did not put petrol since few days which did not work. I decided to start walking to the village which was about 1 km away. I went took petrol and start to walk back when miss Cow came just in front of me. I looked at her, she looked at me, she looked at me ...Put her head down and start running, she was at about 5 meters away from me so i screamed and staring running to the side, it is then that my foot got trapped into a stone and i fall over like i probably did not do after 6 years old.  Petrol flew away and the cow went away probably laughing ( she was part of the laughing cow society for sure) i got up trying to act “cool” as all the shop owner saw the battle between the cow and me and started to walk back. I did not hurt myself just few brues.. Anyway since this day you will understand that cows are a little scary to me..lol...

-The birds are my friends so. When I get up to do yoga I am surrounding by a family of green parrots and many different species of birds. There are beautiful and colorful. Sometimes i wish there were not making any noise but anyway i am not using an alarm clock since i live here and this is such a wonderful way to wake up. Thank you little birdies.

...Well so much changing but anyway the world is such a wonderful place. Lhasa is changing and growing and we are learning so much here. 

Namaste amazing beings

I have just lived one of the most wonderful experiences during 3 days. Marjolaine my friend from Spain has arrived since one week approx. and we really are having a good time. We have decided to take few days together as well as Isabelle (another friend) to go and visit the city of Tirunavanamalai.

Friday afternoon after food, we took a taxi to the bus stand in Pondicherry and in 5 mns we found a bus to Tiru, it was about 3 hours in bus and I really enjoyed being part of real Indian life style.

So we arrived at Tiru around 4 pm and found a rickshaw to the ashram where we stayed. It was amazing because nobody knew where the Ashram were, I just had the number for this place so I told the rickshaw to stop to make a phone call and where he stops and talk on the phone, we realize that he parked just where the place was, this was the beginning of the magic.

A woman told us to enter the temple and said nothing to us just sat us all 3 on the sofa, we really wanted to laugh as the situation was comical.

She finally showed us the room and I took a single room for 250 rupees, Marjolaine and Isabelle a double room there were really simple and great room. The swami looking after the ashram was funny and loud.

After putting our bag in the room we went to visit Sri Ramana Maharashi Ashram. Many people there were meditating and chanting it was so beautiful and vibrating. The population there was mix between people and monkeys.

I took some time to meditate there, it was so vibrant. We went into a restaurant called the “five element” after this which was a little to continental to our test but anyhow it was very pretty. :)

In the next morning we went to visit the temple of Arunachalwsar When we gave our shoes to the entry of the temple we ask a man there if he knew of any guide. This man was called Kumar and he became our great guide for the rest of the day.

Kumar was probably born near this temple and not only he knew the temple but also everyone inside the temple. We had special “Puja” inside the temple. When we should have waited 2 to 2 .30 hours we just walk through straight to the main place with Kumar. Later on, Marjolaine had the benediction of the elephant at the entry of the temple. After the temple which I could only describe if you could read my impressions, thought and inside visions, we went to Sri Ramana Maharishi Ashram to walk the mountain path which leads to the cave where Ramana Maharishi meditate for 40 years. On the way there was a Swami who told us to sit because it was a long walk. After a little time Marjolaine, Isabelle and Kumar decided to carry on and I stayed a little. I spoke with the Swami and I asked him: “Please how could I learn more? Is there any advice you could give more something or anything”, and he answered: “Stop learning to put into practice what you know” and he gave me a picture of the Maharashi as a gift. This moment was really emotional. The forest and the mountain were really vibrant and I just could not believe I was there living this.

Kumar our guide of the day is on the right side :)

I then met again with the friends, they stopped at a place where you could see the all city of Tiru and I just sat to meditate on the rock, it was such a big present of life to experience all this.

When we went down Kumar took us to a very great restaurant where we had breakfast (testy breakfast!!!) and we went back to the room to have a little rest. At 4 o clock I went back to the ashram to be there and buy some books. Marjolaine and Isabelle went walking to the temple. We wanting to have a good look again as the morning went really fast. I met them at a little bar and off we went again to the magic temple. Kumar took us everywhere. He showed us the cows in the back of the temple and how they make the flowers.

Finally he took me in a special meditation room and teaches me some breathing technique. It was great. I then went out and met the girls and after a look around we went to eat again in this great Indian restaurant.

We went back to the hotel room with the heads full of amazing thoughts and wake up the next morning direction Gingee to discover the beautiful forts of the queen and the king.

In the morning we took the bus from Tiru and arrive at Gingee at around 8.30. We then started to look for breakfast. We walked about 500 meters and find ourselves in front of a big house on the side of the road with loud music. There were lots of people so we asked if they knew where we could find breakfast. They invited us in. It was so funny; we didn’t know where we were going. We arrive in this place where there were tables set with breakfast on banana leaves. We ask how much the breakfast was and they told us that it was free. They said it was a wedding and they were so honored with our visit that the only thing we could do for them was to visit the couple who got married and take some pictures with them. It was really stunning. We went away and they gave us a coconut.

We had afterwards a masala chai on the side of the road, we went off to see the monkey and walk the queen fort and the king fort (about 5 hours walk in the sunshine all steps). It was mind blowing nature and manmade fort. The monkeys were everywhere.

We finally headed to Gingee city to have a meal and took the bus back to Pondy.

This few days has been some of the most mind opening days than I have had.

Words of the day: There are so many people out there who will tell you that you can’t. What you’ve got to do is to turn round and say “Watch me “:)

Love ... :)