Breathing, Meditations, and Sun Salutations: From Bangalore to Mysore

 We greeted the day with an early morning yoga class on the sprawling lawn of the school’s garden. The brisk morning air felt renewing as Satish, the yoga teacher at DPS, led us through a private session of breathing, meditation, and sun salutations. It was probably the most surreal experience that we have had in India thus far. (We do realize that we have only been here a few days, but this was really quite incredible.)

Before departing Bangalore, we met Manju and her family at a posh Euro-Indian, eatery – think Upper East Side, New Yorkers. Although we felt quite underdressed next to Manju, in her colorful Indian garb, and her son, in his extremely stylish and well-tailored suit, we absolutely loved the rich and breathless conversation that poured out over the two-hour lunch.  The depth of our conversation saw its way through the politics of the 1947Partition to the current national debate surrounding education.

Next stop: Mysore

When the doors of the taxi opened in Mysore, a man, dressed in an extravagant blue kurta, opened the doors to the Hotel Regaalis – a quite bourgeois spot, which we became quite self-conscious of in the days to follow. After we watched each other run (yes, this was weird) on the solo, aged treadmill in the “fitness room,” we faced the difficulty of trying to find a place to eat on a late Sunday night – we were not quite ready to take on the street food. With a recommendation from a young man at the front desk, we ended up at a local spot around the corner, which was essentially street food (so much for that avoidance). Nonetheless, this was a monumental moment: our first Mysore masala dosa – an Indian “crepe” filled with potato, cabbage, and spices galore. It was fiery as all hell and absolutely delicious. (It is probably important to note that Taylor was, at this point, struggling with severe stomach issues, which made this meal quite tricky and somewhat intolerable for him – not that this detoured Tiffany, though!)

When we finally returned to our hotel room, we found our first “t time” guest waiting for us in the curtains. Feeling quite inadequate about how to escort our lizard friend out of the room, we (embarrassingly) requested help from the staff at the front desk. An enthusiastic young man arrived with an industrial vacuum and “kindly” chaperoned the little guy up the vacuum and out the door. Not exactly our intention, but it was certainly efficient and effective.

Never a dull moment, Mysore.