Good Morning, Gangaji

This is the view from my room every morning:


Not too shabby. It's hot here, all the time. I'm just getting accustomed to being sweaty. I shower in the evenings because there's no point in the morning; all you do is sweat, even just walking around. Today I joined the morning meditation. I don't have a real meditation practice of my own, so by the end of 45 minutes sitting lotus-style, I couldn't feel my left leg. Tomorrow morning I'm going to try to start the day with a combination of yoga and meditation instead. The yoga room is amazing. It's all windows and overlooks the Ganges. In fact, tomorrow morning I am also going to be leading a yoga session with four of the boys, aged 9 and 10. There is no yoga teacher at the ashram currently, but there has been in the past. Really studied Indian yoga teachers, heavy into the spiritual side of things. So I'm just going to focus on breath awareness and posture. The mere thought of teaching yoga in India is intimidating, but I just have to remember that we all have something to offer. Also, Kamla has a way of making suggestions that makes it nearly impossible to say no. "You will do yoga with the children in the mornings while they are on holiday. I think it will be good for them." All of this said in her beautiful Italian accent. So, yes, I will do yoga with the children.

Kamla studied Indian culture at university and so is very knowledgeable. It's a vast subject area. I learned a lot from her today as we were all repairing some of the children's clothes. (Yes, Mom, I'm sewing, can you believe it?!) There is also a young Italian woman here named Cecilia, the c sounding like ch in Italian. And a young American man comes to the ashram every day to do seva, or selfless service. He's here through a program with Princeton. One of the main ideas behind this place is seva. You're expected to do something every day. Today I also helped wash the exterior walls and worked with two of the boys on their English. It's funny, for someone who is trying to take a break from teaching, I keep getting pulled in that direction. Maybe it's a sign. It was actually really fun today. Deepak and Samyak wanted to start out working from their grammar book. Grammar? Really? Now you're talkin'! :) We also read some stories and I got them to write for me a little bit. Their English is quite good. Apparently the teaching method in this country is rote memorization, however, so I'm doing a lot of checking for comprehension and trying to get them to think outside the box.

I've been picking up quite a few Hindi words. The script seems difficult, but the pronunciation is pretty easy. And it seems to me that most words are only two or three syllables long. I can usually tell where the verbs are when people are talking, although I have no idea what those verbs mean. Today I learned that "ji" is often added to the end of words as a sign of respect, hence Gangaji, in reverence to the river. Also, my name is Melanie didi, or sometimes they just call me didi, which means sister. It's a pretty spiritual place and has quite a calming effect on you. Even just from the first day I already feel more relaxed. Kamla has loaned me a pair of flowy pants until I can get some of my own at a shop in town. The travel pants are great because they wick away moisture, but in this heat they also seem to create moisture. Basically I feel like I'm wearing pajamas around all day. It's great. And I haven't really worn shoes since I got here. I could get used to this.


Laundry drying in the sun. I've stepped it up a notch from my New Mexico days and actually hand-washed my clothes today. There's someone who comes and will do your laundry if you like, but there's plenty of time in the day to do your own.


Every afternoon the cook comes around with chai, milk and sugar all mixed in. Yummy.