Yay! Ngoce and I said in unison as the electricity came back on in our little room at Bheemashakti Yoga Center. (Since our arrival, it's happened a few times where the electricity and the water is shut off for maybe 5-10 minutes at a time. No big deal!) Yesterday after our two hour session and dinner, we came back to our room to rest, shower, read. Instead we had no power and no water so we went out for a quick stroll instead. We came back and the electricity was still not back on and so we waited. Our usual 5-10 minute wait was more like 30-40 minutes this time around!
When it did finally come back on, we both cheered! Happy we felt for this little simple thing that we so easily take for granted back home. And here, you just never know... as it is pretty common and quick to return. You just have to wait and see. Ahh the simple things...
The other thought I had was that in countries where poverty is prevalent, social morale is interesting. To me, I feel that the people here are content - at least from a visitor's view from afar. It seems that every night there is some sort of celebration. Hindu chants and drumming fills the night air. Firecrackers bursting and jolting life into me. Seriously every time those suckers go off, I literally jump out of my skin! Song and dance in the streets. Nights filled with raging sound speakers with an array of Michael Jackson, old school new wave, and your favorite local karaoke super stars busting some Indian inspired track. Merriment is bursting at the seam.
Seriously, the days are rich here... in the mornings as we sit in meditation and the streets are quiet, I can feel Mysore waking to the sunrise. The motorbikes and car horns begin to sound, smoke from chimneys are coloring the skies, and the buzz of people leaving their homes to start their day fills my lungs as we breathe. This buzz continues throughout the day and grows stronger, always constant. Pleasure is manifested as people interact over chai or fresh young coconuts at the well known coconut stand (that is used as a directional reference point). The common and ambiguous head wobble is exchanged between friends and strangers alike.
Then as the sun sets, we begin to hear the chanting, the drumming. In good tidings for their Hindu deities like Ganesh, protector god of new beginnings and all things auspicious. The town comes into full life at night. People line the small stalls selling its goods, snacks like puri are eaten at the street corners as its being prepared, ladies dressed in pretty saris visit temples and make offereings. People of all ages are out and about every night. This is just not the same back home where people retire to their homes, tucked away in their quiet corners. Blanketed by television and the world wide web. Effortless isolation.
This city of Mysore, Gokulam to be exact - even though just my first city in India to visit, I feel, is SO alive. Its heart beating. Soft and slow beats as the sun rises. Full and robust as the sun falls and the moon shines upon its liveliest state, where there is no work just play. Then in the late hours it will rest and again it rises the next day with the same gusto. Bustling along with no desire to be any different from the day before. This city, its heart beats steadily.
Like Suresh said in one of his teachings, our bodies has a rhythm - we rise with the sun and rest as it sets. As we are learning to find our own rhythm, this city already knows its rhythm intimately... confidently. This is its way of life. Understood. Accepted. Bountiful.
[Photo caption: Aerial of 9th Cross Road on a Thursday night at 8pm. A temporary stage is built for tonight's performances right on the street. People are sitting and standing nearby to watch as cars and motorbikes drive past. This will probably continue until 10pm or so.]
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