Just another day

Today I led a yoga class for four of the boys here at the ashram, which was fun. Then I had an English lesson with two of them; I will see the other two tomorrow. Cecilia and I are on a rotating schedule for English lessons while the boys are on a 10-day holiday from school. After this we went to help Lokenat, Kamla's husband, sift through and process the compost for planting flowers. Everything is done by hand here, which is great because it really helps you to focus and remain present.

It was a pretty peaceful afternoon after that and I managed to take a nap. In fact, last night was the first night I was able to get a normal night's sleep since arriving in India. It felt good. After my nap Cecilia and I went into town. Given the shock value of my first ride through the city, I felt like I was preparing to enter a war zone upon leaving the ashram. It was not what I expected, however. Dusty, noisy, and chaotic, yes, but not unmanageable. We went to Asi Ghat, which is a pretty well touristed area. There were lots of Westerners walking around, in fact. We went to one shop and I bought two pairs of loose-fitting cotton pants, some toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, face wash, and hand sanitizer. All of this came to about $13. I keep forgetting that everywhere you're supposed to offer half the asking price because the prices are just so ridiculously reasonable to begin with. I didn't take as many pictures as I might normally. The people are probably the most interesting sight, but I don't want to photograph them unless it feels respectful. I haven't taken many pictures of the people at the ashram either for that same reason.

I learned that there are many, many ashrams in Varanasi. A lot of them are dedicated to yoga, but this one is dedicated to seva and has its own unique rituals and traditions. There is, however, room for improvisation. The food here is delicious, and vegetarian. But tonight for dinner Kamla (Camilla) and Loknath (Lorenzo) cooked up a wonderful meal of pasta al tonno, pasta with tuna. Nothing like eating Italian food made by Italians. This was followed up by some cookies (Hob Knobs, from England) that I bought today. There is no dessert here at the ashram, so I need to get my sugar fix somehow. :)


Men bathing in the Ganges, a daily ritual for folks who live here. Not a good idea for tourists, however, due to the high level of pollution.


The small packages on the left of the display are called "paan," basically the Indian form of chew, only red.


We took one of these rickshaws into town. Most of the drivers are quite thin and I'm amazed that they can pull the weight of two or more people around.