Sivananda Ashram - before the TTC

As the actual TTC (Teachers Training) will start tomorrow I take the chance to post a few lines today and tell you about my impressions here. The Sivananda Ashram is huge and accommodates up to 350 guests / students which is way more than I had expected. The ratio between women and men is 90 to 10, which gives this place a more smooth and warm energy. I met a very funny guy from the US -- he is actually a globe trotter, his suit case is his home ;) -- and we decided to have a good time here no matter how hard the training might get. With a smile on your face everything becomes more easy, no?
Yesterday we sneaked out of the Ashram -- which is not really according to the rather strict and well structured rules here -- and went to the near by lake. There we had the opportunity to observe some Indians wash an elephant. The animal really seemed to enjoy this part, I doubt that it enjoyed much wearing the heavy chains around its legs. In the Ashram we were told that there were alligators, but as the local people told us that there were none at this time of the year and I consider myself rather dangerous too I decided to risk a small bath. My 2 colleagues and and I walked for a bit to explore the next two settlements near by and find a place to have a Chai with milk and sugar like it should be here in India.
Back to the Ashram we could see the same elephant once as part of some kind of show off to some official from Thailand and I was think of setting up a conspiracy in order to free the animal.
The intermediate classes here are rather intense, especially as I am a bit out of practice right now. My headstand was rather wobbly, so the teacher´s assistant did not dare to leave me alone, as my feet seamed to be suffering a heavy hang over ;) So today in the morning I decided to take it easy and go to the beginner´s class. I am sure that within a month I will be fit like a sports-shoe. I uploaded a few impressions of the Ashram to give you an idea of my 1 month home… big hug to everybody.

Trivendrum - An Odysse

It feels strange to come to new places but having the feeling that you already know how to move there only after having looked through the guidebook a bit. When leaving Kolkatta I toke a cab to the airport, which was lazy, as already knew how to travel part of the way by metro. The flight to Trivendrum via Chennai was rather unexciting, which is good, as I tend to live some adventures at airports with delays and not arriving luggage ;)
Leaving the arrival airport I was determined not to take a taxi, but find my way to the city with public transport. I toke a local bus and somehow managed to communicate myself with some local passengers to find out, where I had to get of. Eventually I jumped off the bus, walked for a bit and got on an other bus for a few hundred meters, shouting to make the bus stop near by a Guest house mentioned in the "Lonly Planet". For some reason the guy at the reception was had serious problems articulating himself and got desperate and a bit mad at me as I did not understand a word of what he intended to say in what he held for English. I moved on, thinking that I would find a different place without any problems… what a miss perception. Apparently some swami (spiritual teacher) is in town right now and that´s why almost all budget hotels and guest houses were booked out. I walked almost through the whole town with all my luggage, taking a tuck tuck every now and then to find myself in front of an other booked out place. How ever, I was very motivated and optimistic to find an affordable place (in Indian terms, of course there were hotels available with European prices) to spend the night. After 3 hours of the authentic backpacker-spirit I finally found a room at the place right next to the first guest house I went to, so I guess this explains the title of this post ;)))
In the evening I went out to have dinner -- eating al the forbidden stuff which I would be missing in the Ashram I planned to go the next day -- and on my way back I had my first vegetable juice… made of cucumber, carrots, ginger and some really bitter fruit …arrrggg, it tasted so awkward, it must have been very healthy …at least that´s what the guy at the store told me.

Still healthy and with an optimistic traveler enthusiasm I got up the next day in order to visit the huge main temple of Trivendrum, already sure, that I would leave this rather loud and ugly town right afterwards. The temple was nice from outside, I can not tell you much about the inside, as not Hindus were not allowed to enter ;)
I moved on to find out about the bus connections and asked my way through the town, "visiting" unexpected places like the train station, the police station, two bus terminals which were not the ones I needed, a nice Chai place…
With patience I found the place were my bus was supposed to leave, harvesting un-understanding looks, why a supposingly rich western guy would not take a taxi for the 30 km to the Sivananda Ashram in Neyar Dam. Now I am sitting on my bed and writing this post in a text document, so that I can publish it, when the Internet place here is opened during one hour in the evening. I am lucky I brought my own lap top, as like this it is easier to get a free spot (cable). I am not sure how often I will be able to post during this month, as the training will be very intense and strict, but I will do my best to keep you informed. All the best from the Ashram, big hug.

Kolkatta - Sylvester at the old capital

As I told you in my last post, I was pretty sure, I would come back to this city once more in order to explore it a bit more. Tired form the spiritual trip to Guwahati and Rampurhat I reached Kolkatta on the 31st and found a room at the rather trashy Paragorn Guesthouse. As I needed some more space to recover and feel comfortable I decided not to take one of the prison like single rooms but toke a double room with the bathroom some 30 meters away. You can imagine how often I walked this way back and forth only to brush my teeth ;)
Happy to be in the civilized world again -- which means internet, a mobil signal and the chance to wash my laundry -- I went to a rather funny internet cafe -- the owner was a very nice guy who even came to talk to some of my sisters and brothers in Australia over Skype, while outside there was already going on some kind of pre-sylvester party. So I spent some time talking to my siblings and friends before I went to my room in order to prepare myself for the new year. How ever exhaustion beamed me of into the astral world even before my head reached the pillow, so I did not "slip" over to 2011 as the Austrians would say, I slept over ;)
The next day the other guests and me became vitness of a tragic finding. A guy living a few doors next to mine died in the morning of the 1st of a drug overdose and left some people I met and me in doubt, if he would have had a chance of survival if the ambulance and police had taken less time to come. According to the Indian law no one except the police is allowed to legally break in a locked door, so the hotel staff did not open the door for more than an hour, which might have kept this young swiss from loosing his life in such an unnecessary and stupid way ;(

With Johanna and Kem, two very nice room neighbors I went once more to conquer this city which I believe is much more of a metropolis as Delhi. We entered the "Victoria Memorial" this time and strolled around the "Maiden" park watching people playing cricket. I got hit by a ball on my back head. Kem saw it, but hoped for some kind of miracle which would keep the ball from hitting me. Hard ball-on-head-training during my childhood saved me from any kind of injury ;)

We continued with visiting the flower market next to the Hoogly river, crossed the famous bridge and toke a ferry back. The next day we went by metro to the "Kali temple", a burning ghat next to it and strolled around a beautiful district in colonial style. The way back we toke a bicycle rickshah the three of us, so we chose a very strong guy who would be able to do that. So the days passed by until I had decided how to continue my journey and booked the tickets.

I will do a Yoga Teachers Training at the Sivananda Ashram near Neyar Dam (South India) for a month starting in 2 days? I am really looking forward to it, as this will give me a strong foundation for my Yoga practice and an international certificate which allows me to teach where ever on the planet. My intention is to move on with graphic design, but who knows, maybe I can combine the two or even found my own business one day ;)