Pam's Blog

I thought I would write some of my general impressions of India through the lens of the senses. There are so many differences between this country and mine. I think what I see shows me some of the major differences.

There are people everywhere. India is the seventh largest country by area, second most populous county and the most populous democracy in the world. The population is over 1.3 billion. People walking, biking, riding what they call two wheelers (scooters or motorcycles), pushing carts, or just sitting around.

The women in particular are beautifully dressed. The dresses and saris they wear are bold and loud with all sorts of color combinations that burst right off the fabric. Most men are dressed in Western clothes, but some, like some of the rickshaw drivers, wear all white. Some wear a white hat that looks like something the deli counter workers at home might wear.

The rickshaws in the north were green, but here in Pune they are black and yellow, like little bumble bees buzzing from one part of the city to the next.

There is garbage everywhere. Squalor down every tiny street. Posh homes behind nice walls. And temples, large and small, on every street, corner, and, in fact, in every Hindu home. When we stop to look in we find them spotless, usually unoccupied, save for the statue of whichever god the temple is dedicated to. Many of the statutes are almost cartoonish in nature, brightly painted, plump and well lit.

As we walk to the store we often go single file, since there are trees growing in the middle of the sidewalk (there is some law about not cutting down trees) or the sidewalk is narrow, uneven, or non-existent. Lots of times we walk with eyes to the ground because of these obstacles. We pass fruit and veggie carts along the street and buy bananas, papaya, carrots, potatos, and eggplant, to name a few. There are strange and unknown veggies and fruits I have never seen elsewhere.

Sometimes the vendors will meet my gaze. Other times not. I don’t know if it is their way of being polite, if it is a language barrier, the fact I am a foreigner or that I am white. Other times, while walking, we are stared at. We are in the minority and they are perhaps curious and look. I have never felt unsafe here. I ignore the guidebook’s advice to avoid eye contact with the men (wear sunglasses!) and meet their gaze, keep walking and go about my business. The women look also and I smile. They almost always smile back.

I thought I would write some of my general impressions of India through the lens of the senses. There are so many differences between this country and mine. Here are some of the things I have felt.

First, the heat. I know I am not very heat tolerant so I knew being in India where the low might get to 70 degrees F would be a challenge. There have been times I have been just dripping in sweat (which I am not a fan of) and other times so warm I just have had to sit. I’ve taken good care of myself during those times; listening to my body, hydrating like crazy, resting when necessary. It’s been good practice for many things besides self care. The whole trip has. But, I will save that for later.

Some ways I have gotten cool is to swim in the pools at the hotels on the tour. In the apartment each room has a ceiling fan and I use them regularly, as well as taking comfort from the cool floor. The cool water and air on my skin give some relief.

There have been a couple of times we have been out in the rain. One Friday night walking back from the restaurant it was sprinkling. That was a nice feeling on my skin. The time we got caught in a downpour in the auto rickshaw I ended up cold from being so wet. That was a nice (rare) feeling also.

This country is hard. The floors are hard, the yoga floors are hard, the sidewalks are hard and uneven, the beds in the flat are planklike. At least since we have moved out of hotel stays, it feels like every surface is rock hard. The local people seem to not mind. I don’t know if I could get accustom to that.

Another battle is with the mosquitos. Stories of yoga students who have come before us contracting some mosquito borne illness makes us on guard with repellent that is 50% DEET. It is oily and smelly and not always effective. There are also little electric mosquito repellent things plugged into the outlets in the bedrooms that we turn on at night. The first week in the flat I had at least a dozen bites and took Claritin to help the allergic reaction and put on anti itch cream to help my urge to scratch. I have figured out the window in my bedroom so it is less likely for them to enter at night. Still, I spotted one flying around in the bathroom this morning.

Since being here I have had two massages. The first was in the hotel in Varanasi at the beginning of the trip. It was just what I needed to help work out the kinks, help reduce some of the post flight swelling in my legs, and relax. The second was here in Pune at the apartment. I had never before had an Ayurvedic massage and the pressure was intense. During I thought The result would be a million thumb print bruises all over my body but, alas, I felt just fine. Like yoga, sometimes the best part is when it is over.

I thought I would write some of my general impressions of India through the lens of the senses. There are so many differences between this country and mine. Here are some of the things I have heard.

The most prominent sound in India is the traffic. Not just the roar of the engines, but the honking. Loud long beeps from trucks, short toots from two wheelers, and the “hey are you looking to hire a rickshaw” horns as they slow while passing. During the day, a minute does not go by without a honk or more. After dark, it gets a bit quieter. After many days, there is a desensitization to all of it.

Then there are the barking dogs. Barking together, barking at one another and an occasional yip, like maybe one got clipped by the traffic they seem so oblivious to.

There is almost always someone sweeping. As I write this I hear the rhythmic swish, swish, swish of the broom somewhere outside of someone gathering up what has fallen from the tress overnight.

There are a few birds. Occasionally I hear one that sounds more like a monkey (maybe it is, but I haven’t seen any monkeys in Pune) but I don’t hear songbirds like we have in the morning at home. It is more like a flock of loud birds just before dawn that lands in a tree nearby. They cackle for a while and move on. And there are no crickets or frogs chirping at night.

In the predawn hours there is chanting. I don’t know where it is coming from and I can’t hear the words. It is faint but consistent for some time, I would guess for an hour or more ending with the sunrise.

My bathroom has a window and is somehow connected to the building in such a way that I can hear a neighbor either above or below me washing, and, on many mornings coughing and retching. Before I figured out it was a neighbor I thought it was one of my flat mates sick from the food or water. Thankfully, we have all stayed healthy in that respect, knock on wood.

The ceiling fan on high speed makes a nice white noise to block out a good portion of these noises at night.

People coming to our flat ring the doorbell if they have a code to the security door to the building. It’s a mechanical sort of sound, old and tired. Even though I have given Aneeta the security code for the door to the building, she doesn’t use it. Instead she stands in the parking lot and hollers “Mom-gi”! One of us goes down and let’s her in. Other vendors have used this same technique. We bought fruit and veggies from a guy who pushed his cart into the parking lot and started yelling … something. Other residents of the building also went out to make purchases.

And then, there is an occasional BANG, like a gunshot (which I am sure it is not), which I do not investigate. Sometimes it is better to not know everything.