Flying Squirrel, Yoga Prison

After RASTA, we made our way to Kochi, a historic trading city on the coast of central Kerala. It was quaint and friendly and also possibly the most humid place in the world. When we were there two weeks ago, it was 95 degrees Fahrenheit, with 85% humidity. Our room had no AC, a doddering ceiling fan and hot hot showers (since the water was stored on the roof). We melted.

There's a wonderful mishmash of cultures in Kochi, from the 400-year-old enormous Chinese fishing nets by the beach, to the Portuguese houses in Fort Cochin, to the synagogue (built in 1662) in "Jew Town." The fish market was especially bustling.

Chinese fishing nets, Kochi.

Poor hammerhead sharks in the market in Kochi.
  

Squid.

Weighing fish in the market. Note the lungis (traditional South Indian skirt-like garment for men).

A beautiful beach in Kochi! With.... so much trash. Sadly, this is a very common scene here.

Use him!

Kerala is religiously diverse, with Hindus, Muslims and Christians all living harmoniously.

Our most enjoyable day was spent on a boat on Kerala's backwaters, powered by two stringy Indian men wielding huge bamboo poles. The boat was made from coconut fiber, bamboo and woven banana leaves.

Backwaters, Kerala.

Boatman guiding us through the backwaters.

Bamboo struts with coconut fiber rope.

This guy lives in a little village in the backwaters; his house is actually neon green.

The included lunch was epic, served traditional Kerala-style on a banana leaf. There was a coconut, carrot and cabbage salad that was unbelievable, along with sweetly-spiced vermicelli and cashew pudding. We also sampled toddy ("coconut beer") served warm and yeasty in a reused water bottle. It wasn't the best (actually it was fucking horrible), so we donated most of ours to the boatmen, who appreciated it.

The most delicious lunch.

From Kochi, we spent a few days in Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Western Ghats. We didn't realize before arriving that the government has a racket on all entrances to the park, and the only way to enter is to pay the exorbitant rate for an organized tour. We opted for a day of walking and  rafting. They claim there's a 95% chance of seeing wild elephants, but it was an especially hot day so most animals were hiding. We saw a few dried-up husks of frogs and a wild boar from a half-mile away. There were a number of interesting skulls, including a baby elephant and a cow. The most exciting (living) animal was a flying squirrel we spotted at the end of the walk. As we squinted at the tree, trying to get a better view of the flappy skin under his arms and his scrunched face, we felt long globules of saliva drip on us. Either he was asleep and drooling, or awake and spitting mad. Either way we got wet. It was exhilarating.

The next day, we indulged in ayurvedic massages and a kathalaki show. The massages were interesting, starting with several punches to the head and ending with a homemade steam bath involving a kettle, a hose, and a wooden box with a head-sized circle cut out. 

Kathalaki is a traditional Keralan dance/mime show which Hamish fell asleep in, until one of the actors fake-stabbed the other and ear-piercing wailing ensued.

Kathalaki. This basically sums it up.

Proud grandfather and baby in Kumily, the town right outside Periyar.

India is having its general election right now; it's taking place from April 7 to May 12 (LAUREN'S BIRTHDAY) and it's the longest in India's history. There are nine phases of the election, and it's for the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament). All 543 parliamentary constituencies are voting. Over the past few weeks, we've seen several demonstrations and a bunch of interesting political posters. It seems to be a requirement for candidates to have really bushy mustaches.

That 'stache!

This guy's is pretty good, too (though the rooster doesn't seem to think so).

Life-size cardboard cutouts... probably the best campaign effort we've seen so far.

Next stop was the Sivananda Ashram near Madurai, in Tamil Nadu. To preface, this is a place that we'd seen referred to as "yoga prison" in a particularly scathing TripAdvisor review. The schedule was indeed very rigorous, perhaps even more than prison (though we haven't been).

The hardest part wasn't the daily four hours of yoga; it was sitting cross-legged for upwards of six hours each day (for chanting, meditating, lecture, and eating). Meals were silent, and there were only two a day, which Lauren struggled with (she's prone to getting hangry), but the food was excellent and all-you-can-eat. We met some great people, but there wasn't enough time to chat due to the packed schedule. We liked the yoga and noticed improvement even after a week.

Good old Swami Sivananda. We did yoga in this room.

Here's the daily schedule at the ashram:

5:30: Day kicks off with incessant bell-ringing from one of the teachers (a persistent French-Canadian dude who went by the name of "Demudra")

6-7:30: Satsang (meditation/chanting). We weren't the best at chanting, and sometimes felt it dragged on a bit.... but enjoyed banging on drums nonetheless. The best morning satsangs were the ones in which we took "silent meditative walks" (walks).

7:30: Tea break (chai or "red water," which was basically hot water with bark)

8-10: Asana class (yoga!). This was the best part. There were two classes (beginner and intermediate). We started in the beginner's class and dabbled with intermediate by the end. We really enjoyed classes with a Japanese woman named Yamuna (Full Moon) and Daniella, a German woman who had the best yoga-teacher voice and would elongate most of her words ("and streeeeeeeetch")

10: Brunch. Generally included rice, sambar, one or two types of vegetables, papadams, and sometimes fruit. There was also a bowl of buttermilk, which is basically the watery part of curds that we typically throw out. Downing a whole bowl of it was difficult. Also note that no garlic or onions were allowed in the food, as they're believed to be aphrodisiacs.

11-12: Karma yoga. Mopping, sweeping, raking, etc etc.

1:30: Tea break. 

2-3:30: "Lecture." In which we learned about the history of Sivananda, as well as the basic theories of yoga. After the first one, most people skipped the next day's lecture, and then we were instructed that if we didn't attend, we couldn't do yoga, either. Everyone showed up for the third class.

4-6: Asana class.

6: Dinner. By this point we were usually ravenous and ate SO MUCH FOOD.

8-9:30: Satsang. Sometimes this was under the stars and that was nice. Also, they handed out prasad (basically, blessed snacks--usually fruit) after satsang, which was a major incentive for going and also further lent to the general summer camp/kindergarten vibe.

10: Lights out.

The washing up area; it was impressive.

Chai cups!

Shhh

We never quite got the pronunciation right with this one.

Cleaning supplies-- we spent an hour each day doing "karma yoga," which basically meant they didn't have to employ staff to do maintenance work. A lot of the cleaning supplies were really colorful and strangely beautiful though.

Many buckets.

Baby mangoes-- the ashram had several mango trees and even more sneaky langur monkeys who lived in them.

"Be Good, Do Good," says Swami Sivananda

Here are a few photos from a town near the ashram, where we escaped to on Friday (Friday being the only day you're technically allowed to leave the property...):

These girls were the daughters of a fruit seller

We stumbled upon a temple that was having its grand opening; the nice people inside gave us rice and fruit, and we got to watch their crazy dance party!

Brand new temple.

Flowers to give as an offering.

Check out those lights!

You have to remove your shoes when you enter the temple; most people did not take advantage of this handy shoe rack.

We happened upon a chaotic, deafening parade on the way back. Not sure what they were celebrating, but everyone was pretty excited. There were even fireworks in the street.

Our friends Martin and Samantha on an epic banyan tree at a nearby farm. Monkeys in this tree peed on us when we sat under it.

Instructor Shivadev ("Shivadev" being his "spiritual name"; we called him Shiva Dave in private) doing the scorpion pose.

Some of our yogi friends!

We'd planned to stay for two weeks, but we were part of a mass exodus following a dramatic incident. There was tension between one of the staff members (who was very gung-ho about enforcing the already-strict schedule) and several of us. Even though the students all got along, the atmosphere soured a bit and many people left. We got some cake on the bus ride out.
 

Best cake box.

Box o' cake. Each "flavor" tasted exactly the same.

Now we're back in the Western Ghats at a Zen Buddhist center; we're loving the brilliant flowers and cooler air here. More on that next time!

PS-- Racoon is sad to report that he ate no cookies at the ashram, and was restricted to two meals a day like us. He did indulge in some peanuts and cashews, though. 

"This place is nuts!"

PPS-- We've also finally figured out how you can receive these posts in your email inbox, if you're so inclined-- just add your email address to the box below!