Friday 28 February 2014

Festival of Maha Shivratri

Blog number one - by Sherren!

I am not sure that I can write with as much finesse as Glen, he has set the bar high, but I'm going to subject you to my ramblings and see if the viewing figures drop, according to the stats Glen has captured the interest of one person in the UAE and five in Nigeria.


Festival of Maha Shivaratri



I'm going to wow you all with a video of the small procession coming past the apartment this morning, reading of puranas and offerings of Bhiksha or Alms in celebration of Maha Shivaratri. (produced by Glen Scott).






Yoga Practice

We are here for the yoga so that's where I will start.  Although I've been going to yoga classes for some years, I have only really been practicing Ashtanga for the last 10 months or so, dipping my feet into the waters of lots of different classes before then.  
I have always been the sort to throw myself head first into things, some times successfully and sometimes not ... Thinking of the UrHu in mums loft.  If you are going to throw yourself into Ashtanga Yoga Mysore has to be the place to visit!  So I find myself here thanks to the like minded man I share my life with :-)
Breaking ourselves into the practice at the main shala we have begun at Mystic Yoga with a quiet teacher called Jai Prakash and a very civilised practice start time of 7.30am.  I was massively anxious the night before class so much so that I didn't sleep finding Glen in the same boat, we slept in, going instead the following morning. We started at the front of class fearful of forgetting the order of the asanas.  Some 6 practices on we find ourselves at the back of class, myself being squished to bind in Supta Kurmasana and being told to ease off with my struggle in Marachyasana D and just twist and breath. We aren't stopped but allowed to continue the primary series to the end, I know that will be different when we get to the main shala. The group is small so far between 3 and 8 so we receive lots of attention.
I like the formality and the strict nature of the practice, I like that it is making me physically and mentally stronger, that I can see progress and feel graceful (mostly) I've learnt that it doesn't matter if I look graceful or not.


Pop Up Shops

I was hoping to have a photograph or two to help convey the colourful addition these make to the streets of Mysore however the festival and fasting has kept these away for the last two days, i will do my best to describe them.
The mornings are started with familiar cries of “eeyyhiii” as the rag and bone man comes up the road with his two wheel variety, overtaken by the chap on the Enfield motorbike chucking newspapers over people gates.
They then start appearing at the roadside, they have either 4 wheels (taken from an old large bicycle) or two wheels (taken from a penny farthing), size doesn't matter so much other than they all need to be matching.  The two wheeled are more mobile and are pushed along the roads.  
Although in Surrey we would call them ‘pop up shops’ here they are best described as carts.
There are coconut ones, fruit and veg ones, ones mounted with popcorn makers, others mounted with giant cogs and wringers for making sugar cane juice, mini doughnut making thingies and roadside takeaways cooking curries and doss’s.  
Then yesterday we spied every busy mothers dream, a two wheeled one mounted with a fire heated hearth and heavy flat bottomed round cast iron clothes press, complete with Auntie doing peoples ironing, i am sure this would take off in Surrey! 


The wildlife has surprised me .... MONKEY!

We have seen fat cows, emaciated cows, a healthy horse and two emaciated horses.
Fat shiny feathered chickens, chicks and cockerels, big goats, little goats and nanny goats. 
Manky dogs, skinny dogs, flourishing dogs. 
Playful chipmunks and a variety of birds. 
Massive bats and a Rhesus monkey hanging right outside our window. 
Ironically looking in through the bars with amusement at our surprised faces. 
For all those creatures we have seen a person who find themselves in the same situation. 
I would consider that we are perhaps the chipmunks.

Thursday 27 February 2014

Spare a Though for Food! Or is it Food for Thought?

Food!

It’s probably the first thing you’ll think of when you head abroad (and yes beer is food). Where are we going to get it? How much will it cost? How much will we get and how are we going to store it? After all, we usually eat three meals a day.

Big issue number 1. We’ve both been sticking to a strict plant based diet since October 2013. Sherren much longer. For the folks out there who still think fish, eggs, milk and cheese grow on trees. We don’t eat that either (“Where do you get your vitamins from then?” was one comment I had to endure courteous of John McCarthy). So what is actually in the meals we are buying out? India may have the highest proportion of vegetarians per capita in the world but they have an undying love affair with ghee (clarified butter) and do they add milk or eggs? You can always ask but you’ll probably be met with a stare like you just shown your best card trick to a dog (You’ll get that stare everywhere else in the world too). We may have to just bite the bullet and pretend it’s not in there.

Big issue number 2. For the last four years, I’ve primarily been eating a whole foods high protein diet. I learnt the hard way you don’t get one of these (See Fig 1.0.0) sinking 6 pints a day and eating GBK 8 times a week.

 
Fig 1.0.0 (Disclaimer: I never look like this through the winter months)

Even though I’ve given up meat and dairy and ultimately had to reintroduce those once thought evil carbohydrates, I’ve stuck to my guns when it comes to eliminating the refined carbohydrates, high GI foods and pretty much all processed foods. The one weakness, especially in the winter months is booze. And eating out, no matter where you are in the world it will usually consist of all of those ingredients.

Big issue number 3. This is India. They eat a lot of curry. I love curry. I eat it at home. And when I do………………… I fart! How the hell are we going to attempt to bind in the Marichyasana poses with a belly full of gas?

Eating Out

We arrived at our apartment (Urban Oasis) at 14:00 on a Tuesday. Despite being utterly exhausted from the trek. We opted against going straight to bed (better to wait and sync yourself to the local clock) and proceeded to unpack then dig out the notes on the local restaurant scene.
One eatery most yogi’s seem to frequent is Tina’s on Gokulam Rd. This one seemed perfect as it was only 5 minutes walk away.
It’s a small establishment will about 8 tables of varying size. Self service, as in, you go to the counter yourself, tell them what you want from the small selection displayed on the counter top, take a seat and when it’s ready, they’ll ring a bell and you go pick it up. We reckon we can order, eat and settle the bill within 10 minutes. So if you’re in a hurry it’s perfect and to top things off the food is lovely.
When ordering at a restaurant for the first time, one concern is always, how big are the portions and how much should you order? This time and probably the only time, we got it right. We shared a Veg birihyani (Rs100 of £1), a dal (Rs40 of 40p) and an aloo (Rs40 of 40p). Total bill £1.80. Can’t argue with that.
Now the reason Indian’s are not farting and shitting all over the place like we do after curry night is they exercise portion control, novel idea. The curry dishes are about the size of a small fist and then they have a rice or dosa (rice bread/cake) on the side. We were so impressed with Tina’s we went back the next 3 nights before attempting to cook that epic failure you’ve already heard of.
Tina’s being closed on a Sunday we decided to try ‘Amina’ on Kaladisa Rd. This one coming off as the preferred when compared to ‘Rasa Dhatu’, an organic place with vegan dishes we were keen on. Up on the second floor, you’re met by a waiter who kindly asks you to remove your shoes and waves you in. This place will also only fit about 30 heads. Only difference being you are seated on the floor (a bit like Japanese). Amina’s serves organic food ‘a la carte’ and made to order. That being the case I naturally assumed it would be slightly more expensive than Tina’s so we proceeded to order a soup to start each and then a platter of dosa to share. The platter came with 5 dosa. Well that’s what we were told. When the waiter brought out the dosa. He brought 5 plates of different dosas. Each with two or four dosa and two bowls of curry or yoghurt mint. In total 12 dosa, 5 small bowls of curry and 5 bowls of yoghurt mint. What was I just saying about gas? Oh well. The total bill here came to £3.35p. We couldn’t move and we couldn’t finish what we ordered either. Guess it’s not more expensive.
All this eating out is great but starting to long for some simple meals cooked at home to avoid the refined carbs and high GI breads and white rice grains. So it may now be time to re-attempt to nuke a dinner. See figure (See Fig 1.0.1) for the re-attempt. Fatboy’s is the double portion.
 
Fig 1.0.1 (Brown rice and Large yellow split peas/Dal seasoned with masala spices, served with cucumber, and bell peppers – Cooking time 30Min)

Breakfasts

We’ve been eating the complimentary breakfast at Urban Oasis each day. They put on a different local dish each day which I have (spice millet, ground chick peas, dosa’s and various soups) and Sherren has been eating fresh fruit and oats. I don’t eat the oats because they don’t have jumbo oats here and yes, size does matter.
When we move in a few weeks and have to get our own breakfast, I’ll probably just suck it up and have the little oats and fruit tooL.
Interesting note: We were in the supermarket today and found ‘Curry Flavour Oat’. Do I or don’t I?

Fruit and Vegetables

On our first full day here, we were wondering through the streets of Gokulam just trying to find our bearings and see where everything was. Once we’d had our fill of the heat and dust of the day and constantly sounding horns, we headed back to the room. Seeing across the street a couple of other yoga travellers purchasing some fruit from a stall. We decided we’d stock the fridge back home with a few of these local delights. Not wanting to be overcharged and not being skilled in the art of the barter system, Sherren asked the other two what they’d just paid for their spoils and was met with 2 answers. “I got these 4 tomatoes for Rs4” (4p or 1p each) and the other answered “Oh it doesn’t matter, I don’t care if they overcharge me, it’s nothing to us”. Well she is obviously not travelling on a budget for 2 years or she is extremely wealthy. So being no better off for information we threw caution into the wind and decided to buy a small bunch of mini bananas and a small water melon parting with the enormous sum of Rs80 or 80p. Now that doesn’t seem like a lot but two days later we were in the supermarket and saw the very same fruits at half the price. I found this to be a bit of a shame as I’d rather put the money in the hands of small private stall owners than large supermarket conglomerates but if they are going to charge double, I’m not.
Note: India doesn’t have the advanced logistics we do and the fruit and vegetables you find in the supermarket come from similar if not the same local source as the market stall traders.

Prices for comparison:
Water Melon: Rs10 or 10p per kilo
Musk Melon: 40p each
Mini bananas: 12 for 40p
Nagpur Mandarin: 8 for 60p
Apple come in at about the same as the do in England. They’re not very nice either. Imported and cool stored.
Tomatoes: About 1p each
Bell Peppers: 2 for 40p
Cucumber: 5 for 40p
Mushrooms: 40p for 300g


Oh That's Right, Smile!




Sunday 23 February 2014

Sherren's Lost Her Mojo For Blogging!

So Sherren's lost her mojo for blogging and decided to do the dishes instead. Does this mean we're adopting some traditional roles? However I did do the laundry last night. I'm especially skilled (using brute force) at wringing everything out until it's almost dry.

Just to point out in advance. We've both been a bit grumpy the last few days, myself more so. I'm fine either here or there but usually take a bit of time settling down from the travels in between. That said, here's my thoughts from the past few days.

20/02/2014

Interesting point on possessions: I may not have many left in the world but seriously, what do the have not's think of us?

Heading through security at Delhi domestic, after everything has been through the scanner, one of the guards asks “do you have a laptop in the bag”. I answer “yes" and he requests I remove all electronic devices for inspection.

01, Macbook Pro
02, iPad - Sherren’s
03, iPad - Glen’s
04, iPod - Sherren’s
05, iPod - Glen’s
06, iPhone - Sherren’s
07, iPhone - Glen’s

(Despite the fact that Apple have been moving further and further toward the unstable platform on which their inferior competitors are based, we still have more than our share of the fruits of their labour)

08, Nikon Water Proof Camera (for New Zealand hiking)
09, Garmin GPS (for New Zealand hiking)
10, Audio Technica Studio Headphones (Cause I’m a wanna be rock star)
11, Chargers and Leads for All
12, Solar Monkey Solar Battery Charger (for New Zealand hiking)


They didn’t bother checking anything again, only asking I explain what the solar charger was. It’s a good thing I put the Audio Technica Studio Mic (Cause I’m a wanna be rock star) in the checked luggage! I might have ended up doing my best Bollywood karaoke impression to explain what is was.

21/02/2014

A story of my pessimism and Indian corporate efficacy!

ICICI Bank India

In trying to figure out how Sherren and I would access our funds while on this trip we came across something called an ‘Indian Rupee Travel Card’ provided by ICICI Bank India (According to the operative on the phone they are as big as Barclays). You basically transfer funds from your UK account to ICICI UK account and they make the money available in India with a Visa debit card fee free. Sounded fantastic so we signed up.
We went in to their branch in Knightsbridge on the 6th of February to submit the forms and were told they would be active in a week and we could then top them up online. Well after not hearing anything, we requested a callback for Sherren as her application had some bureaucratic hurdles to begin with (Name change after marriage being that said hurdle). About 2 days later we got the call to say they would rush through the application and by that evening she received her confirmation email. Woo ha!
Well I didn’t think to chase them about mine as we were assured they would authorise in good time. We arrive in India and my card still not functioning, I decided to try top it up with £1 anyway just to see if I get the confirmation email. Still no email, I decide to email customer service for and update. I promptly receive a reply stating “Just go ahead and top up your card and use it at an ATM”.
After popping down to the ATM, I find the card is working. Hurrah! But who is getting my emails? They're not too worried about it so why should I be. At least it's working!

Airtel

A note for anyone wishing to purchase a SIM card to use in India:

Just stop into the corrugated iron shack shop on the side of the road and tell the man in there you would like a ‘pay as you go’ SIM. “Rs100" (£1). Can’t complain at that. “Passport photo, copy of passport, copy of visa, full name, UK address and phone number, India address and phone number and fathers full name. It will take 24 hours to activate and then you must confirm all your details with the service provider before you can use your phone”. Whew!

Well Sherren’s works and mine doesn’t. Am I being singled out here?

Pop back to see the man and he enters a load of random numbers in my phone and wallah! Phone works and Rs80 credit. He's rewarded with another top up.


Mystic Yoga

Had our first yoga class today. We managed to get up in time and didn’t feel too rough. I forgot Purvottanasana (which I do every time anyway) my least favourite but was swiftly reminded, damn! Other than that a really nice class. had some great assists and looking forward to the next. Think my grumpy jet lagged self is starting to chill. Not sure if Sherren will agree though.

22/02/2014

Getting Organised.

Led class today and ran out of steam at Bujapidasana. The arms just went on me. Somehow managed to the end by easing up on all the vinyasa.
Recovery was a lot quicker and generally starting to feel a bit livelier. Think the combination of jet lag, lack of sleep and adjusting to the heat was turning me into a bit of a whinging git!

We’ve completed all our missions for the next two weeks, with accommodation for the next five months sorted, deposits paid, classes and deposits paid where needed. Money sorted! Sherren then pulled the budget out. £500 each a month which covers accommodation, tuition, travel and food (tuition is the big expense followed by accommodation). Then she counted out our living money for every week cutting into my ‘walking around money’ fund. Might have to dip into my private stash.

Had a small disaster at the local market. Dropped a bag of peanuts and they went everywhere. They were quick to come clean it all up and when I found a store attendant who spoke good English and explained I intended to pay (43p) for the nuts, she insisted it wasn’t necessary. Then after leaving the security was chasing us down the road. Apparently the checkout clerk didn’t charge us for one of the bottles of water. Really didn’t do me any favours considering I was wearing shorts (Only lower caste folk wear shorts over here). Might have to go shopping for a pair of trousers to raise my standing in this community.

23/02/2014

Epic failure in the kitchen.

A couple of days ago we decided to cook our own meal in the apartment kitchenette. It’s pretty basic and only has a microwave. The idea is not to save money (as we can eat out for about Rs.200 or £2) but just so we have something constructive to do in the evening given the amount of time we will be here.

Firstly we went for a walk to the large supermarket to get some groceries. My advice here would be to take enough money to purchase what you put in the basket. We got a few dirty looks when we had to credit one item back to settle the bill. Embarrassment over, we walked away with kidney beans (Ramja China), Brown Rice, yellow split peas (dal), some spices, stock and a bowl for the microwave.

We knew it was going to be a labourious task cooking the beans before adding the other ingredients but when they weren’t done after 3 hours (and yes we did soak them for over 12 hours) and the both us starving, tired and having to get up early for yoga we gave up and poured some boiling water over a packet of instant noodles and got stuck in to our stash of fruit and salad veg in the fridge.

I did stubbornly eat some of it, picking out the beans (a job in itself) and it was delicious. Next time no beans. At least not until we move to our next apartment which has a hot plate for cooking.

                      
This young heifer seems to have developed a taste for ash and burnt cans over the lush green vegetation it's fellow cow kind indulge in

Sherren mistook the no PDA (public displays of affection) rule as Personal Distance Advised!

Not sure if either of these chooks where destined for the pot but they were happy hanging around.

 A shanty town in Gokulam. They seem to enjoy life there more than most.

Our local supermarket where I'm quite possible banned now.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

A day and a half of travels and observations with a few first time experiences to make it all worth while (will do my best not to focus on the stereotypes)

So Sherren (The principle blogger) and I (Glen) have a wee blog for these travels. Personally I don’t write very often but I’ll do my best to throw in a few words here and there. And just how long we’ll keep it up is anyones guess.

After a hectic weekend of moving out the flat and into Woking’s finest travellers establishment (The Travelodge), it was suffice to say we were already feeling a little worn come Monday morning. With a 6am start to get us in the mood, we set off with hours to spare on the airport bus down the M25 expecting the usual delays. However this time, the powers that be were kind in seeing us depart this Great Britain for the best part of the next two winters and got us there in record time. So we managed to kill 4 hours in T4 with a combination of coffee (2 doubles in a row got me buzzing), tea, the meagre pickings of vegetarian delights an airport has to offer, some sitting and pacing, sitting and pacing. We made it to the gates just in time.

Well I’d have to say, having travelled fairly extensively though-out all continents of the world but the antarctic. I’ve been on my fair share of flights. Only this is the first time I’ve been on a flight where I was a minority to be precise. I found it quite charming and reassuring we weren’t just following the usual trail of tourists. The only unsettling thing was the average age of passenger was at least 70. Someone was bound to keel over at some point.

After a few hours of working my way through the soundtracks of Bollywood (it’s a bit like Metallica represented slightly less rhythmically and slightly more melodically - perhaps only Sherren will get that joke), the passenger directly behind Sherren fell ill and the call went out “Is there a doctor on board”. My first thought was ‘I hope we don’t have to land (we were flying over Bagdad at the time)'. Second thought ‘Sherren trained as a nurse, is she going to step up to the plate'? Well I’m glad she didn’t, because the next thing we knew there was a junior intern on the scene, who was promptly outranked by a pharmacist, who in turn was trumped by a GP, then an A & E surgeon, followed by a senior consultant. And when a nurse did turn up, she was rudely dismissed and the consultant decided the A & E surgeon was the best person on board to handle the situation from there on in. Funny thing is though, when we did land that woman was up like a shot along with all the rest of the elderly who were wheeled on board only hours before and was out of there. I’m guessing she was just suffering from the need for attention.

Welcome to Delhi (for the record, it was 10 degrees. 1 less than London when we left. Glad I kept my jumper).  Customs was painless, picking up the bags almost had me worried as all my possession in the world (excluding the 7 guitars stashed at the parents) are in those bags and we were just about the last ones waiting and the sign having had long clicked over to another flight. Low and behold they popped out. Sherren was right. First to check in, last to get your bags. Off to recheck the bags for the domestic leg and a few more hours to kill in another airport. For the record, Delhi domestic airport will make you feel right at home. They have, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Mark and Spencer, WH Smith, Sunglasses Hut, Mango, Costa Coffee and every other high street conglomerate you could think of. Did we book a ticket to the correct Delhi? There isn’t another one tucked away in another former commonwealth colony is there? Well seems we must be in the right one cause a few hours later we were touching down in Bangalore. No dramas there only I must have looked in desperate need of a taxi. While Sherren was off getting a bottle of water I had the task of fending off every authorised taxi driver in the airport. I stopped counting at 10 then we promptly left the terminal to find the taxi we had pre booked.

Our driver led us out into the car park and got us to wait on the side of the road while he fetched the car. And when he pulled up, quite the car is was (a Tata - must be a local brand). You could describe it as a mock Fiat Panda, which was not much bigger than our suitcases. Although it did come with a roof rack. He managed to get 2 of our bags in the trunk, threw the big bag on the roof, piled us in the back and we were off (suitcase on top unsecured). I was a little worried about that given the all my possessions in the world tag on that bag but at this point was too tired and decided to go with the flow.

I’ve also taken a few hairy rides in various third world countries before or is it developing nations now? So I knew what to expect. If I had to describe Bangalore, I’d have to say it’s a lot like Havana. There’s a load of half built things, a load of half fallen down things, few things in between and a lot of people about that don’t really seem to be up to much. To be fair you could probably say it’s a cheaper version of London. Then after about an hour of heavy traffic we made it to the Mysore road and we were off. This part of the journey was more like Vietnam. Whereby the driver sits on his horn, weaving in and out of traffic while bulling anything in the road smaller (bikes and pedestrians), while be subjected to bulling by every other vehicle on the road. I.e. biggest bully owns the road. 3 hours later, 24 hours without sleep (due mostly to the fact India uses speed bumps every Km on the highways to control speed) we arrived in Mysore. Home for the next 5 months and ready to do anything but yoga till we’ve slept for a couple of days.

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