good morning india

i've been in india less than a week, and i feel i have landed into a wonderful life! so priviledged to be living with my friends, nitin and anita and their 14-year old daughter sakhi who is super company, as part of their family here in nashek, north of mumbai.

jet lag has been real, what with waking up at 1:30 in the morning and just wishing so hard to get some sleep, and then being wired but slightly confused all the day... this is receeding and after going to the Himalayan shop for ayurvedic goodies, i feel both my hair (dry, damaged) and my conscious state (sleep tea) with be the better for it!

it has been sooo exciting so far, living in the present (how long will you be here in nashek? don't know exactly...) and knowing that the future is going to be oh so interesting (bangalore in february, art of living ashram...), but here are some highlights, insights, sunlights:

went to do pooja and celebrate the end of a fast (21 fridays in a row, to laxshmi, goddess of wealth) with anita's women's friends who were wearing their beautiful saris and laughing and laughing;

next morning doing pranayam with these same women but in their sweat pants and salwars, with two or three of them giving instruction, the boom boom of a gymkana (that's right, a gym) downstairs and the buzz-honk-kapow of early morning traffic outside ~ this morning we ended with hibiscus tea, with lemongrass, cumin, cinnamon and lime;

did a presentation to abhivyakti (the organization nitin and anita founded and run) on santropol roulant - the work, reflection and the meanings gleaned ~ and found that our Eco-cycle and learning cycle ideas are alive and well here, but in a different cultural context (the Ashrams of learning, and the Lifecycle model);

met Mona, a wonderful woman architect who invited me to her women's book club (wow! what awesome young professional women!) who were talking about one soul, many lives and regression theory, and today i will go to her practice to look at designs and brainstorm about urban planning here in nashek, the 5th fastest growing city in india;

spent sunday at anita and nitin's family's farm (tomato plants! wheat!) with 24 members of the family and then shared a feast and family meeting; the 1 hour drive up was totally WILD and fun with pilgrims walking walking walking, their orange flags flapping in the wind, women carrying their goods confidently on their heads, colourful saris and outfits, many with no shoes. there were horses, pigs, and Goods Carrier trucks with "Blow Horn" written in all colours on the back, just in case you had forgotten that the ONLY way of driving in india is if you first announce yourself by horn, then press on the gas!

met a documentary film-making husband and wife who are professors of communications at the Tata School of Social Work in Mumbai; abhivyakti was showing their film SheWrite which is about 4 women poets in Tamil Nadu who write about women and sexuality and being persecuted for it. they are very Brave and the film was a courageous intepretation of their poetry but also about freedom of expression~ the discussion afterwards with the audience about the film and the issues of censorship and sexuality was a very interesting mix of talking about the issues in and aesthetic of the film...

all this and so much more, including my own yoga on the roof of the housing complex, with pastel colours of morning and the harsh smell of burning things to bring in a brand new day ...and time to myself... but wow, what a glimpse into people's lives here! and such generosity!