Darshan Found

So, it's over a year since I posted on this blog. I had considered resurrecting it, but I really only wrote it to keep record of my trip to India, and help communicate with friends and family while I was away. It certainly served that purpose, I'd thoroughly recommend it as a good way to stay in touch (though sometimes taking up a little too much time and effort).

It looks like I've lost some of the photo links due to changes with Buzzboard, and also I never quite got around to filling in the blanks like I thought I would. However times have changed (very much for me), so you'll all forgive me for being "too busy". A wee while ago, a direct result of my experiences in India, I found the courage to stand on my own two feet and live life the way I want, not the way I've been "used to". So I handed in my notice, left my job of 12 years as a police officer, and set off on my own as a full-time Yoga teacher.

A big step when you consider how little money and job security I now have, but I have this strong feeling, faith you might call it, that things are going to work out exactly as they're supposed to. As if that wasn't enough at the end of May I also got married to the beautiful Maureen, and off we went on honeymoon to the Maldives (ah, life is hard!!!).

You can keep in touch with my ongoing exploits through my website at and also at my new blog at http://scottsthotts.blogspot.com

I think I found a little Darshan on my journey. I'm looking forward to all the rest I might find along the way...

Linda's Yoga Journey

While I thrash about here trying to find a spare minute to update my blog, you should have a look at Linda's Yoga Journey. Linda is going on the KYM course starting in September and we've been chatting by email. She liked this blog so much she went out and bought the company - well, no actually, she only started her own blog along similar lines but I just thought I'd let you all know since it's looking good already.

Trial by Peer

So that you don't think it's all doom and gloom at Darshan Heights, I thought I'd tell you what a great weekend I've been having (despite the previous posts).

In August last year I started a yoga teacher training course with CYS Scotland in Glasgow. It's based around the Ashtanga Vinyasa Primary Series, which kind of put me off at first - I practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa for about 18 months before realising how 'wrong' it was for me (on many levels). But after discussing the course with the course director, June Mitchell, I was more than happy to join in. Although using the Primary Series as a framework for teaching, this course is centred around general Hatha Yoga techniques, so teaches much more than the narrow focus of that sequence.

More than that, June (and her Co-Principal, Julie Hanson)have a really great and open attitude to yoga. This course is far more than a simple 'learn to teach asana' type course that is so popular these days. June takes it upon herself to really develop and nurture the teacher within all of her students - not focusing merely on the fine details of each techniquee, but on empowering the individual to become a teacher in their own right.

This Friday night everyone started taking turns to teach the class, doing a 10 minute stint each this time. Having been in India, of curse, I didn't know of this homework assignment when I turned up. June kindly offered to let me think it through overnight and do my piece on Saturday morning, but I felt prepared enough from my India trip to give it a go that night. I was last up, so was given the opportunity to present a sequence I really enjoy that would also start winding down the pace of the class - a prostration sequence I had some really great expereinces with, from the 'Viniyoga' approach.

It seemed to go well, not perfection but I learned many good lessons from the experience so I think it achieved its aim. Most surprising was how quickly the ten minutes passed, I had planned a whole lot more practice for everyone, but found myself having to cut it short as 8 minutes had slipped past by the time we had finished the first round of the sequence.

So. my first group teaching experience has slipped by without incident. It was made so easy by June and the other students in the class, and I now feel that future teaching experiences will only get easier/better. I am enjoying the trip so much, and find that the more time I spend learning from June, the more impressed I am at her approach.

From bad to worse...

Someone up there is sending me a big message to stay away from the Internet! Got my pc back from the wonderful Medion (more than a hint of sarcasm their BTW) to find that for some strange reason whilst replacing the motherboard they found it necessary to reinstall Windows, thereby overwriting all the files on my hard drive!

Yes, I should have taken backups, but the Medion system DID have a backup system - unfortunately that system was on the same drive as the one with the operating system, so when they reinstalled that, guess what also got overwritten!!! They could easily have secured those files for me, or offered me the chance to do so. So I'm piecing my computer back together again from whatever bits and pieces I happen to have lying about. Needless to say I've lost quite a few files (from the past couple of months).

My Outlook address book is probably lost, so if I stop emailing any of you please do drop me an email to let me recapture your email addy. And bear with me, after I sort out this mess (I feel a complaint letter coming on) I'll sort out this blog for sure.

A Deafening Silence

Apologies if anyone has been tuning in hoping for some updates, but I'm experiencing serious technical difficulties at this end.

Just before I left for India my brand new Medion PC crashed and it's been with them for repair ever since - a bit annoying that they haven't managed to fix it within 4 weeks as promised, but I'll give them a chance and leave that rant for another day. As fate would have it the day I returned I plugged in my dad's laptop to connect up to the net and it conked out after 2 seconds - looks like the power cable is knackered!

So I'm temporarily without Net access, except at work which is not a conducive climate for blogging. Bear with me and all will be revealed...

Camera Citi Revisited

Well it was inevitable - our friends want copies of all our photo's, so Colin and I returned today to have CD's burned from our flash cards. Can I say that our expectations were low, and as we passed from number one salesman to number two it all seemed to be going the same way.

The CD's were burned, and then on to number 3, and it appeared we were going to escape lightly. Then in an amazing fit of hyper-bureaucracy we had to pay "an advance" of Rs 200. Which was amazing, as 30 seconds later we had to pay (to the same man) the balance of Rs 131. We simply smiled.

So, here we are, waiting for the flight home. I've posted a total of 9 kgs of books home - at about Rs 250 a book they are excellent value. And the book post, even though it takes 3 months, is also a steal at Rs 300 for the lot.

I am hoping that both me and my luggage arrive home before the books, but that is in the hands of British Airways and the Gods!

Bon Soir a Pondi

Well, Tiruvannamali didn't work out quite as I'd hoped. To be honest the place is a tip, and the only thing worth going there for is Ramanasramam (which was amazing). Every 100 yards or so along the Giripradakshina (circumnambulation of holy Mount Arunachala) we were accosted by a beggar of one form or another (old woman, young child, "sadhu"-type) - which is fine every now and then, but not every few minutes of a 3+ hour walk!!! Even Chennai was easier than that place!

So we decided to escape into the lap of luxury and ended up here. What a fortunate wind that was, eh?! Pondicherry is quite nice, a welcome relief from the hustle and hustle (no typo there) of Tiruvannamalai. Strolling down the Promenade at sundown, sitting around eaiting spinach and tofu croissants and sipping cool pineapple lassi's - we may well find it difficult to make it back to Chennai tomorrow as planned! Only 2 sleeps to go (Tuesday will be a no-sleep night) so watch this space for the final intrepid adventure of the Wild Rovers...

It's over!

:-(

I am so sad, the course is over - we chanted for Desikachar tonight, which went excellent. But now it's just some sad goodbyes, then a trip to Tiruvannamalai for me and Colin. Still, we have 5 full days so it's time to blow some rupees on prezzies. It is unlikely I will have any updates for the next few days, and then it's time to head back to the snows of Ol' Blighty, but on my return I'll sort this blog into shape and post about all those things I haven't had time for.

International Contact Scott Day

I've been doing all this work on my blog and had very little contact from most of you who are giving my site about 20-30 hits a day. So I've deignated today "International Contact Scott Day" - which means exactly what it says on the tin.

If you check up on the site today, you have to either leave a message on the tagboard, leave a comment on a post, or even send me an email (especially if it's something private that you don't want to share). After all, it's only fair...

Siva's Dance

Ana's birthday party was excellent, a nice easy-going (and sober) affair, thanks in general to the Latin contingent. There was music, Salsa dancing (yes I did disprove the theory that white men can't Salsa) and lots of singing. This was mostly down to the skills of Edgar, who had us all singing along to Cuban songs about cats creeping about looking for rats and other such stories. He's doing a 'storytelling' show on Tuesday night which we're all looking forward to.

But still, as we enter the last week of the course there is a sense of closure creeping in. Unlike most "holidays" (as I told my dad the other day, it's been a strange 'holiday', more like working except with a higher fun quota), I don't feel so sad that it will be over. This is largely due to how much I miss everyone back home, so I think when it's time to go I will do so happily, knowing that I am moving towards people I love as much as I am moving away from something I enjoy.

Although I can see Nataraja (Siva) putting on his ankle bells to prepare for his dance, now it is so obvious that Bramha is waiting round the corner to start it all over again. Or to start again anway - what "it" will be is anyone's guess, though mine is it will be something quite different. Watch this space!

Lunchtime

We have about 3 hours for lunch, but all of the Confundito's are taking the Vedic Chanting course, and 3 of us are also doing an extra Yoga Sutra chanting class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Usually we would arrange for Suresh to take us back to the hotel, but on those days we don't have time, so we need a local place for food.

Originally we went to a place called Melaa - which was very, how can I put it, 'authentic'. It was cheap, but quite soon the dubious food and hygiene put us off in there (though I must say nobody got sick). Others have been going to Sangeetha's (part of a local chain of restuarants), but it's in the wrong direction and I've also been warned off it in terms of hygiene and poor service.

Luckily we found a new place near to the flats of some of our classmates, SR Foods (address to follow). It's an interesting walk there from Vedavani (the Vedic Chanting school of KYM), through some real Indian streets, narrow and bustling with life of all sorts. It also passes a sort of slum area, sarcastically named "Guru Street" according to the sign.

But SR Foods itself is excellent (above photo shows Daphna and Baxter eating there). It's only been opened a few weeks, everything is shiny and new and the food is great. Even better, the manager speaks good English and is eager to please, offering to cook to your specifications. It's clean in here, so even the salad is safe to eat (falling sick here is a big worry, especially when you could so easily miss a big chunk of the amazing yoga course). The occasional plain cheese and salad sandwich works wonders when you just can't face another curry dish stoked full of chillis. A recommendation from me is the banana lassi, and I'm sure the other fruit lassi are excellent too. The thali here is excellent - very light compared to others, with light spicing and low on the chilli factor, such that I can even pour the whole sambar thali onto the rice without fear. Dishes are often freshly chopped vegetables, a delight when you're used to fried foods. Even the tea is very nice, with a hint of cardamom to settle the stomach.

To finish it all off, the food here is very cheap - usually about 70 RS (less than a pound) for the whole meal. If you're nearby, go and try it, you won't be disappointed.

New Photo Gallery

I've uploaded loads of photo's (from my photo CD) to my gallery, but now it won't let me post more so I've set up a new one.

Flash! Aaa-aaaaah! Saviour of the Universe!

So, you may have noticed technical difficulties of late. These started acouple of nights ago when the card reader in here kept crashing, so I could only upload 3 of the 100+ photo's I took last weekend. I thought nothing of it, a mere technical fault in the cafe, no biggie.

Then yesterday I got out my camera in class to show Edgar his photo from Ciao Bella. Immediately the thing starts pinging like a WWII Submarine flick, and the message "format error" keeps flashing. It was then I realised that something had gone wrong with the Sony Memory Stick. The sickening thought that all my 223 photo's might be gone was my food that afternoon, and it was worsened by the fact that I knew I couldn't do anything about it for a couple of days.

Last night I checked in here, and to my relief I could access at least 100 of my photo's (the first lot). But for some reason it couldn't read all the ones I did since I last updated the photo gallery. So I'm thinking they've been corrupted by the system crash in here. But what can you do?

Well, off to Camera Citi tonight, on nearby Radhakrishnan Salai - a photo shop that doubles as a money-changing place. And there the fun begins.

I walk up to the counter with the Memory Stick and show it to one of the sales assistants. It says I can transfer to CD for a mere 60 Rs (80p), but I know better than to assume this. I ask one of the many sales assistants.

He head-wobbles, then walks away out of sight.

I wait a few minutes, customers being served all around. Another moustachioed assistant comes up and sees the Stick, asks me what I think is "Do you want to transfer that to CD?", though in not so many words.

I tell him, "Yes."

He walks away and disappears.

Now, we're used to this by now. The words piss-up (UK parliance for a drinking session for you International readers) and brewery never come together in India for sure. As Colin later reminds me, it is a worry that this country have nuclear weapons - not that I think they'd use them intentionally, but...

So eventually Moustache comes back and leads us to another sales counter with a computer, where we stand for a few minutes before number 3 comes along. Within a minute he has transferred the images to CD and Praise ! the images are all intact!!!

So that's it, we're done, time to pay and get out of here, right? WRONG!

Having crashed through the 110m hurdles of obtaining desired services, it's time to approach the pole vault that is the bureaucratic process of retrieving goods from salesperson and paying for same.

First I stand about a bit as the Moustache has disappeared again. Still, no probs as Colin is now getting his card burned to CD. And a few minutes more. Colin is now finished, and a fourth salesman is waving an unmarked blank CD at me and asking me if it is mine.

I consider my possible responses:

a) surrender to a higher power, hoping that it is in fact my CD, and say, "Yes"

b) unleash the full extent of my sarcastic powers and ask him to turn it over so that I can read the CD with my laser vision

c) politely explain that it's really not that simple a question to asnwer, and could he pop it into a computer to check.

So, I decide to go with the flow and say, "Well I guess so".

After all, how many blank CD's can be getting burned in the shop at one time? Of course I'm forgetting Colin's, but no biggie if we have swapped disks. Number 4 runs about with his CD and eventually finds Moustache, who chastises him in Tamil over some infringement that sounds along the lines of, "You moved my cheese".

Then I must fill out my name on an envelope, and after I tell him I don't have a phone number he disappears for another few minutes. Salesman 5 then bar-code scans the envelope, which I suspect contains my CD by now. Number 4 asks me to pay the 66 RS (10.2% tax added) and I give him a 100 RS note. He looks aghast and hands it back, asking, "No change?"

To quickly explain, having no change here can be a big problem as shopkeepers pretend to have none in the hope you won't care about the paltry amount of change and leave it for their retirement fund. So you keep as much small change as possible. I have about 70 Rs in change in my pockets. So I lie.

He then points to number 6, standing at a computerised till. He hands me the stub from my envelope, gives the envelope to 6 and walks away. 6 then adds my bill and Colin's together and asks for 132 RS. We point out we are separate (a frequent restaurant battle-cry is "bill separate") and he head-wobbles. He takes our 100 Rs notes and hands over our envelopes with CD's.

Colin's has a Tamil name written on it, nothing like his name at all. "Excuse me, that's not my name," he says. Number 6 looks puzzled, then takes out the blank CD inside. "Is that yours?" he asks.

By now we are about wetting ourselves in laughter. The options are presented again, but Colin chooses option C, and the guy seems to realise how dumb his question is. He finds number 4, who wrote the name, and points out the problem. 4 has a classic(ally Indian) solution.

He takes a pen, scores out the Tamil name, asks Colin his name and writes in a close approximation. He hands the envelope to Colin, and 6 gives us our change. We can only stop ourselves bursting into laughter as we leave, resigned to the probability that we have CD's of a Madras graduation and a Bombay wedding in our clutches. Which of course we don't, as fine detail and precision are not the problem in India.

Bureaucracy, on the other hand, is a fish that is yet to be fried.

The (Multi) Talented Mister Edgar

As the sun sinks down into the western sky, with a final flurry of tout activity our bus drives us away from Mahaballipuram. A short while along the road we stop the bus to take this photo. The sun is fading too fast to really capture the scene, but maybe you can get some sense of how beautiful (say it all together now, "Beeee-aaauuuuuuuu-ti-fuuuuul") it was. The eagle-eyed amongst you may even spot the men in the middle playing cricket.

It was time to go back to Chennai, but not time to part - the day needed a suitable venue for closure, so we stopped at Bella Ciao Italian restaurant at Krishna Enclave, Valmiki Nagar (just off New Beach Road). This place is run by an Italian couple, and although prices are quite high for Chennai (maybe 300 or 400 Rupees per meal, without any alcohol) the setting is nice and the food is good and reliably safe.

And then the fun really began! Edgar, from Costa Rica, is not only a yoga teacher but also a storyteller, singer, dancer, juggler, all-round performer. He starts with some Salsa dancing with Vanessa, and then joins the band to sing us a couple of Cuban songs to dance to. The atmosphere was amazing, even the pale-blue Scottish blokes are dancing, and the tiredness of a full day trip seems to melt away.

Eventually though even Edgar's amazing talents cannot keep us awake and it's time for a bit of mad bus driving back to our hotels, where bed never seemed so comfy (and safe).

Low Tide near Shore Temple

Low Tide near Shore Temple

I am early in getting to the meeting place and go down to the beach to look for the others, but still no-one to be seen. We didn't realise when we went to Mahabhallipuram that it was a holiday that day, and the place was teeming with people, mostly Indians. The atmosphere at the beach is quite enrgetic, with people (mostly children) running in and out of the crashing waves. Then it is time to leave and somehow we all met up, returning to Chennai with a beautiful sunset to accompany us.

Rather than head home at a reasonable hour we go to the Ciao Bella Italian resaurant in Valmiki Nagar (address to follow), which is great. We eat pizza, enjoy the music, dance a bit of salsa and Edgar joins the band for a song or three. All this in one fun-crammed day, but boy did we suffer for it!

Time for a Siesta

The streets between Arjuna's Penance and the Pancha Ratha's are lined with dozens of statue workshops, with the buzz of circular saws and the crack of hammers filling the air. Some of them are massive, like this Reclining Ganesha statue - I didn't even bother to ask how much it cost (and am sure that at least one of you will be delighted to know that ;-).

Pancha Ratha's

I wandered about the other sites near to the Penance, then went to the Pancha Ratha's. No sign of Pedro and CLaudia, but I did find these 5 temples in the shape of chariots.

Patanjali again

We had breakfast at Tina Blue's Rooftop Terrace, which was reasonable enough. After so much Indian food it was nice to have some western dshes, but a word of warning. I decided on the Masala Ommelette, not wanting to go too far west in my thoughts. Now Masala means a mixture of spices, so I imagined something "interesting". WHAT I got was quite simply a green chilli ommelette - which wasn't a problem, but if you try hard you can imagine just how HOT my mouth got. If you're having difficulty, just stick a lit blowtorch in your mouth.

Still, it didn't damp my enthusiasm for some bananan fritters, followed by some chai. The others arrived, along with the "guide" you had followed them to the restaurant and pointed at it insisting, "You eat me!" They decided for a few rupees they could do so.

We waited there a couple of hours to avoid the worst of the sun, and soon we filled the whole place. I was watching the street life, and must admit there are so many westerners in Mahabs that it looks like I imagine Goa to be (or perhaps Goa a few years ago). I reckon I saw a western guy walking down the street toking on a joint, which is quite disappointing.

I also saw a couple of young girls who had pestered us for ten minutes on the way to Tina Blue begging for money. It was interesting to watch them run into shops and buy things like bottles of Coke and suchlike, then hide them as they ran up to Westerners to beg more money. Maybe I'm making assumptions here, but I don't reckon if you're starving you go buy a Coke, even if it is "The Real Thing!"

We then headed back to Arjuna's Penance, but I stopped to buy a pair of yogapants. Claudia and Pedro headed on as I waited to get them altered and we never managed to collide again. On the way over to the Pancha Ratha's I found this statue of Patanjali, and decided it was the one for me.

Hmmm, that looks good...

This is little Rosa from Portugal, who has been travelling for several months with her parents Ana (on the KYM course) and Gonzalo. She's a bundle of fun, always smiling and laughing, seems to have missed all the moody bits that 3-year-olds usually do. It is often great to have her around when I am missing Beth, but at other times it just makes me sad that my own little angel isn't here with me.

The ice-cream here will be kind of familiar to UK readers, but the spelling of the "Kwality Walls" brand is decidedly Indian. It was just right for the blistering heat in Mahabs.

Arjuna's Penance

Second stop was a series of carvings and old temples, including Krishna's Butterball and Arjuna's Penance itself. I seem to have taken a lot more video than stills, so apologies for the lack of coverage. Here, we desperately needed to get something to eat. Funny thing is the others stayed here and hired a gui, who it then transpired couldn't speak English - LOL.

The frieze in this picture represents the story of how the sacred river Ganga was created. The cleft in the left middle used to have water running down it, representing the river itself. To its centre left you can see a sage performing yoga, I think his name is Bhagotra or similar.