Reading the Blog - Begin Here

Hi everyone,

We're happy to share with you our amazing experiences from India. The entries in this blog are in chronological order, so the most recent posts are on top. That means if you want to follow us from the beginning, be sure to start at the *bottom* of the page and work your way up. Each post is abbreviated, with an option to 'Read Full Article...'. Click on that link for the full text and photos that go along with each story.

We hope you enjoy the show!

Love,

Mark, Ian & Lenka

All's Quiet in Vienna

Ahh, I'm relaxing in the quiet, super-efficient and slightly boring* city of Vienna on a Sunday. There could hardly be more of a contrast with the intensity of India that I've just left.

*only in contrast to India, I'm sure.

As Mark mentioned, I had a wee bit of travel nightmare trying to leave India. I felt like Al Pacino in Godfather 3: 'Everytime I try to get out, they pull me back in."  

My connecting flight to Bombay was cancelled and the next flight was so late that my 8 hour layover in Bombay had completely evaporated by the time I landed. So I missed my 1 am flight to Vienna and had to spend the next four hours at the airport trying to figure out when I could fly out and what I was going to do in the meantime. After learning that the Austrian Airlines airport office couldn't rebook me, I went to the Indian Airlines office to try and get accommodation for the night.

I spent over two hours in their office and talked to five levels of management, but in the end they were determined to stonewall me until I left without hotel accommodation. Sometime like this would never happen in America--just one last lesson from India before I left. With no knowledge of Bombay, I then had to brave the hotel touts outside the airport at 5 am. I took my chance with one and got to the hotel at 5:30 am. Unfortunately I could only sleep about 2 1/2 hours because I had to call the airline office as soon as it opened to try and get a flight out.

Unfortunately the office told me that Saturday's 1 am flight was booked, so I could only get confirmed for Sunday night. That meant that I would be stuck in Bombay for two days and would miss the first day of my yoga workshop with Zhander Remete. I asked if I could go to the airport and fly standby. The Bombay airline office told me that they don't do stand-by in India and that I was unlikely to get on. She couldn't really imagine why I wouldn't just be fine waiting the extra day for my confirmed flight. 

Fortunately, I decided not to listen and went to the airport that night anyway. I got a different story there. If there was space, they would be happy to get me on-board. It was their job to fill the airplane. Given the haphazard and over-taxed nature of domestic flights into Bombay, there turned out to be plenty of room on the flight, and I got on without further problem.

And what a relief it was! As much as I loved my month in India, once I was ready to go, I was very ready to go. 

I'm looking forward to three weeks of yoga and rest here in Vienna. It feels like it will be the perfect was to transition between India and home.

See you in May!

Ian

On a Wing And a Prayer

We've checked in, sent our luggage on it's way, and we're spending out last minutes here at gate A13 in the new Terminal 3 in Singapore, awaiting our plane for Hong Kong. T3 is probably the most sophisticated, comfortable, easy and well-designed airport terminals in the world. Kudos to whoever designed this place; it's such a pleasure to be well cared for when you're tired and ready to go home. Oh, and for the guys out there, the men's bathroom is quite a trip: the urinals look out of waist-up windows onto the tarmac, so there's a nice view when you pee. I'm sure the view looking back at us is not quite as exciting, but hopefully those guys are watching the planes, not us. And there's a convenient little picture of a fly in the bottom of the uninal in case you need something to aim at!

Lenka and I are both on the road to recovery from our colds, so we're not anticipating any dramatic problems flying home. We had the energy this morning to meet up with our friend Kathleen, a customer of ours who lives here in Singapore. Kathleen was kind enough to take us out to breakfast, and then for some traditional Kopi (they do great cofffee and tea variations here in Singapore). Our time together was too brief, but served as yet another great reminder of the tremendous value of friendships. Thanks Kathleen, we'll stay longer next time and would love to visit the hawker centers with you!

\We haven't heard from Ian yet today, so I'm assuming that means he finally made it out of Bombay on his way to Europe. His last e-mail sounded pretty frustrating, so let's hope that things have turned out for the better. Perhaps your good wishes reached the travel gods and they blessed his onward journey!

We've got 4 hours in Hong Kong, then the hop across the Other Pond (the Pacific) directly to SFO. My friend David will be picking us up, and I just got a nice box of cashew cookies for him as a reward. I wonder if he'll read this before seeing us, and spoil the surprise ;-)

Singapore is sometimes criticized for being too clean, too easy, too well planned; in our case we were grateful for all of these things, as it makes a nice, easy transition back from the intensity of India. It's nice sometimes when things just work, you know?

Ok, just a quicky. See you on the other side.

Love,

Mark & Lenka

Slinging from Singapore

Well, since we last left our breathless readers, much has happened. It's Sunday afternoon, and Lenka and I are in Singapore, getting ready to head home tomorrow. We split with Ian on Friday, heading our separate ways out of India, and just learned that in fact he's been stuck in an absolute travel nightmare. Apparently his flight to Bombay was cancelled, then he's been stuck there for two days awaiting a seat on a flight to Vienna. Of course he's dealing with the notoriously difficult and bafflingly complex Indian paperwork shuffle; please send him your best thoughts.

Lenka and I left Trivandrum with little hassle; but the colds that we caught there worsened during the flight. Between the sneezing, runny noses, sore throats, trouble equalizing ear pressure and the multitude of screaming kids, the red-eye flight left us utterly exhausted upon arrival. Of course then we had to kill 6 hours of time before we could check in, so we stumbled around like zombies, finally collapsing on our bed when it became available and sleeping the afternoon off.

Fortunately Singapore is completely on the opposite spectrum of ease and cleanliness from India. It's a beautiful, manicured country/state/city/island, with incredibly well designed public transport, services and far too many shopping malls. It's exactly what we needed after a month of intense, wonderful and tiring travel around Southern India.

After a very pleasant visit to the hospital ($15 USD for a doctor appointment!!), Lenka is loading up on antibiotics, and we seem to be getting better. We've ventured out a number of times, using our 2-day tourist transit passes for incredibly easy trasport on the subways and busses. We're actually grateful of the numerous shopping complexes, as they're so easy to dash into for a bit of agressive AC to cool off.

Singapore is also understandably famous for it's hawker centers, where you can find the most wonderful array of local street food. Since this country is filled with Chineese, Malay, Thai, Indonesian and Indian people, there's no shortage of wonderful things to eat. We've had noodles, and soups, and dim sum, and iced coffees; and the tropical fruits are such a treasure. Durian, soursop, dragon fruit (Lenka's new favorite, and my old favorite!), mangosteen, and a ton of others. We're staying near the Bugis MRT station, so there's a great local market where all these things are cheap and readily available.

Yes, as you can see, I'm clearly still obsessed with food.

So, it's been an amazing adventure, once again. We'll be going back and adding to this blog with more stories and photos, just as soon as we get home and get some real sleep. It's been ages, and we have some catching up to do.

Love from Singapore (and best wishes to Ian--hope he makes it to Vienna),

Mark & Lenka

Shock and Awe

It's a little before 3 am and I'm on the roof of the one of the tallest buildings in downtown Thrissur along with about 400 Thrissur locals. We're waiting for the beginning of the fireworks show that marks the finale of Thrissur Pooram. The tall buildings ringing the central park and temple area in Thrissur are the most sought-after fireworks viewing platforms. Sherat has special passes to get us on this building, but still we had to get here early.

Sherat and I have been dozing fitfully here since midnight. If you come much later than that, then you might not get a chair. And since the fireworks never start before 3 am, you definitely want a chair for the wait. Plus you don't want to get stuck too far back on the roof. Sherat said that he once came at 8 pm, hoping to get a spot in the front row, right on the edge of the roof, but those chairs were already taken.

I'm starting to get the sense that these fireworks are a big deal.

Around 12:30 am, it started to rain. No one budged on the roof, not wanting to lose their spot. But there's an undercurrent of worry in the crowd--if the rain goes on too long, it will be too humid to launch the fireworks and the whole show will be post-poned a day. We're leaving for Trivandrum in the morning, so if the show is post-poned, then all of this sitting in the rain in the middle of the night will have been for naught.

Suddenly two rockets shoot up into the sky. It's just past 3 am. A huge cheer erupts all around us. Below, the streets are packed with tens of thousands of people. And then...nothing. We wait and wait some more.

Sherat explains what's going on. Over the years, the fireworks became more and more extreme, and after a few accidents and deaths, the city became more strict about regulating the size of the fireworks. Once the first rockets were launched at 3, the inspectors leave and the two temples each start replacing the approved fireworks with much more powerful ones.

At 3:40 am, the first temple begins their fireworks and it's soon clear that this is nothing like I've experienced before. Mark described it as hell on earth from a mile away. I'm right there, just several hundred meters from the launch sites. Unlike the fireworks in America, which are designed to be pretty, colorful and clever, the fireworks here are designed to overpower. The detonations are incredibly loud. You can feel them as much as hear them (and you're crazy if you don't have your fingers jammed in your ears.)

A huge plum of smoke starts billowing up as the sky cracks again and again. Here and there you can see a colorful display firework, but mostly it's just detonation after detonation, with white blasts of light erupting from the smoke. Over five minutes the barrage builds and builds until the final orgasm of explosion. The bodyshaking blasts start coming so fast, there's no space between them; my body is shaking like I'm in the middle of an earthquake. The huge column of white smoke has risen like a mushroom cloud over the city, but now there are so many white blasts flashing out of the smoke that it's starting to look like the surface of the sun. I close my eyes and it doesn't seem to make any difference. It's now all I can do to quickly blink my eyes open and closed. 

I look around and the crowd on the roof is exulting, screaming their lungs out with arms out-stretched to the cataclysm.

And then it stops. The silence is deafening, but it just lasts a split-second. Cheers echo from across town, gradually fading into a drained, post-orgasmic daze.

All I can think is "Shock and awe."

45 minutes later, the other temple launches their opening percussive salvo. Unbelievebly, it's even more intense than the first, perhaps because we're even closer to the launch site. There's a teenager next to us who jumps on his chair when the salvo starts. He gets so excited that he then climbs onto the arms of the chair to get even higher, his arms upstretched in excitement. I think no more of him until the final crescendo. It's so bright I have to keep my eyes closed and so loud, I can't even hear my own thoughts. Suddenly I feel something at my legs. I look down and see this same teenager literally cowering between me and Sherat. He's crouched down, covering his ears, shaking in terror.

Pictures could never convey the experience, so I didn't try to take any. If you're intrigued, you might just have to go some day!

Ian

30 Elephants, 300 Umrellas & 300,000 Friends

That's a few of the ingredients for the famous Trissur Pooram, a multi-day festival held in the central Keralan city of Trissur. We met up with Sarath, my friend Harilal's nephew, and we stayed with him and his family for a couple of days. His parents Sashi and Rama, and his younger sister Saranya (or Sharu, or Spunky Monkey) live about 1.5 kms from the city center, so it was an ideal home-base for participating in this immense and amazingly crazy festival.

Festival adornments for the elephants

The festival has many parts, and many meanings; and I won't do them justice if I try to explain it. But essentially there are two main temples that 'compete' for the attention or approval of Shiva, each trying to outdo the others. The two main parts of the festival that we saw were the elephant pagent and the fireworks. Each temple has a team of 15 huge male elephants each dressed up and carrying 3 priests; each team is also carrying a sacred female deity. The two lines of 15 elements face each other from 150 yards apart, surrounded by several hundred thousand people (don't know the exact figure, but it's BIG), and spend several hours hoisting a beautiful array of colored umbrellas. They go through probably 50 or 60 sets in all, and the crowd goes wild each time. Traditional drumming and horn playing is accompanying the pagent the entire time.

Waiting for the pageant

The elephants in full regalia!

Sarath's father Sashi is well connected, and he was able to secure us free passes for a tourist-only special area to view the action from 20 feet away from one of the elephant lines. It's a good thing too, because the crowd is huge, hot, and wild. Easy to get lost in there.

The crowd gets into it

At 3am (not sure why it's so late/early) they start a fireworks show. Also part of the competition, the two temples try to outdo each other again; the opening salvos of fireworks were by far the most intense and overwhelming sight and sound I've ever seen--and I was 1.5 kms away! Ian got up and went into the city center for a close view, and he'll have to relate that story. Hundreds of huge explosions of light and sound going off just overhead... about 10 times more intense than anything you'd see in the States. It looked like hell on earth, a pyromaniac's dream come true.

The next day we spent on the train, heading for Trivandrum. Blissfully cool and quiet, the 2-tier AC sleeper car was just what we needed before preparing to fly out. More soon.

Love,

Mark, Lenka & Ian

Happy Vishu!

Today is Vishu, a holiday in Kerala in celebration of the new year according to the traditional calendar here. Last night we celebrated with sparklers, fountains, and homemade fire crackers (only about 1 in 10 worked, but when they went off, boy were they loud!) aboard a houseboat on the backwaters of Kerala.



The backwaters are hundreds of kilometers of interconnected canals, rivers, marshes, and lakes just inland from the coast. Before the automobile era, they were the principle way that people and goods traveled in the region. Today you can still see many homes and hamlets whose only connection to the outside world is by water. But the backwaters have also become a big tourist destination, with hundreds of boats converted from freight haulers into elaborate, comfy houseboats.

Lenka takes the helm

We usually steer away from "tourist" destinations, but this trip was well-worth it. Our boat was clean and spacious and the food that the cook turned out in the tiny galley was pretty incredible. We've been a little burnt from our roadtrip and the intensity of urban India, so slowly cruising the rural backwaters was just perfect.

We spent the night onboard and returned this morning, in time to drive to a beach resort in Cherai for more relaxing. As you can probably tell, we're splurging on much-needed comfort now that our trip is coming to an end! This time we haven't been quite so lucky, as the resort is not nearly as nice as we expected from the price and the photos. But in India, it seems that you have to pay a lot for a little peace and quiet, a luxury in itself.

Vishu at the beach

The day after tomorrow we go to Thrissur for Thrissur Pooram, a huge elephant festival. It's the last big event before we start our journey home. Maybe we'll have time for one more post...

love to all,
Ian, Mark and Lenka

Elephants and Idukki

Hi all,

We've met up with my friend Harilal and his Czech wife Marie (how's that for a coincidence??), and are currently heading up to the mountains. We dropped Marie at the airport so she can return to Germany, and Harilal is driving us up to his retreat center land that borders a wildlife preserve. It's stunning.

Harilal, Marie, Lenka and Mark

Harilal's retreat center in Idukki

A dream fulfilled!

We stopped at an elephant park today so that we could fulfill a 20-year dream of Lenka's -- riding an elephant. Sunita was so graceful and sweet, though the hair on her back was like needles! More on that later, plus photos, when we're back in decent internet range. [update: photos added above]

Love to all,

Mark, Ian and Lenka

Puttin' the 'T' in Ooty

Hi everyone,

It's April 8th evening, and we're chillin' in a hill station called Ooty in northwestern Tamil Nadu. We rearranged our trip slightly to allow us two days in this former British hill station; it was built up in the mid 1800's as a refuge from the summer heat, and we've fled here for just that purpose.

This morning we took the Blue Mountain Railway (UNESCO World Heritage listed) from Mattupalayam to Ooty. It's simultaneously one of the slowest and yet most beautiful train rides in the world. They'd added a 1st class car to the front of the train (engine in the rear), and we were able to upgrade and have 8 seats to ourselves and stretch out, read, and enjoy the slowly changing scenery.






At 7,000+ feet, it's no surprise that Ooty is sweater country. The hillsides are dotted with large tea plantations, evergreens, imported european fruit trees and plenty of tourists (mostly Indian). We're literally in the clouds at times, and it feels a bit like being back in California -- socks and all. Didn't think we'd be unpacking them until the flight back home!

Most recently we stopped for a night in Tiruvanamalai, a town famous for a large Shiva temple (it's said that Shiva first appeared here as a column of flame, which is the source of the famous Shiva lingam symbol), a huge Shiva flame festival every year (half million+ people), and the home of the Sri Ramana Maharshi ashram. The latter is a beautiful, peaceful place, with peacocks lazing around on the rooftops and monkeys capering through the beautifully manicured gardens.

Previous to Tiruvanamalai, we spent a wonderous, dizzying day with our new friend Vrinda in Chennai. I met Vrinda over the internet after we'd had some communication through Pranamaya. We made a point of hand-delivering a stack of DVDs, and in return Vrinda treated us to an incredible spiritual, material and culinary whirlwind tour of her now home town.



Our day started with homemade masala dosas and cooking tips from her mother, a professional chef and culinary advisor to TV shows, hotel and restaraunt chans, and overseas cooking appliance companies. We then made a b-line for Grand Sweets, and gorged ourselves on baffling array of tasty, delicious treats. Then clothes shopping, textile shopping (curtains and some fabric for our new breakfast nook at home!), plus handicrafts, spices, tea and other treats for friends and family alike.



We then had a nice visit to the Sri Rama Krishna Mutt, the world center for a famous spiritual teacher (Swami Vivekenanda was one of his students) who's legacy and impact still are very strongly felt long after his passing. We topped the day off with an incredible meal at a restaurant called Sanjivanam, with some of the best potatoes we've ever eaten (and the other dishes were also amazing). This day in Chennai was so action packed, we'll have to do a follow-up post with photos and more detail.

Internet access remains a continuing problem, so I'll leave it there for now. We're here in Ooty for 2 days, then it's down the hill (and into the sauna again) to meet up with my good friend Harilal and his Czech wife (crazy coincidence!) Marie. We've got some unstructured time before the big elephant pageant in Trissur on the 16th, and a Singapore flight on the 18th.

Love from us all, finally cooling off in Ooty.

Warmly,

Mark, Lenka and Ian

Lord of the Dance (we're not talking Michael Flatley)

April 2.

To add to Mark's post, not only has internet access been much more difficult than expected, but we also have been moving at a pretty fast pace on this road trip through Tamil Nadu, which hasn't left a lot of free time for seeking out internet cafes. I haven't had the chance to add it up, but I bet we've covered at least 1000 km. The first six days of the trip have settled into a regular rhythm: visiting a temple or similar site in the morning, followed by a long drive through the heat of the afternoon to a new city, with time for dinner and an evening walk through our new locale.

We're hopeful that we'll have the chance to fill in some of the missing details of our trip later, but just for record, here's how each day of our road trip has gone so far:

• Trivandrum to Kanyakumari (Suchindram temple)
• Kanyakumar (Vivekananda Shrine) to Madurai
• Madurai (Sri Meenakshi Temple) to Rameshwaram
• Rameshwaram (Getting doused at the 22 wells of Ramanathaswamy Temple) to Trichy
• Trichy (Rock Fort Temple/Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple) to Chidambaram (with a stop in Tanjore for the beautiful Brihadishwara Temple)
• Chidambaram (Nataraj Temple) to Pondicherry

This morning, while Mark was recovering from his bout with food poisoning, Lenka and I visited the Nataraj Temple in Chidambaram. The Nataraj Temple is dedicated to the worship of Shiva in his role as Lord of the Cosmic Dance. The temple is said to commemorate Shiva's dance in a contest to win the love of Parvati. The four gates of the temple feature carvings of the 108 poses of the "Dance of Shiva". These carvings inspired yoga master Zhander Remete's creation of Nata Yoga, which incorporates these postures into a graceful and powerful form of yoga practice.

In the inner sanctum we witnessed one of the daily pujas to Lord Shiva, but it was while resting in the shade at the north gate that we had one of the highlights of our trip so far. While I was videotaping the dance postures on the walls of the gate, a Brahmin priest sat down nearby with a tiny girl in his arms. She must have been two and a half or so, but she looked much smaller. Gradually we noticed that he had adorned her with anklets and bangles and he was teaching her hand mudras. And then she began to give us the most incredible little dance performance! I can only hint at how adorable she was and how intent she was at performing for us. Fortunately, my camera was rolling, so I can let the footage speak for itself once I get a chance to post it. 

In the meantime, here are a few photos from the trip thus far. I apologize for the formatting. 

Love from Ian, Mark and Lenka

Making popcorn prasad with Swami T and Swami N

Sri Meenakshi Temple in Madurai (scaffolding on the towers for repainting)

Lord Shiva's Dance, Chidambaram

Ponderous in Pondicherry

Hi everyone,

Sorry we've taken so long to post... and our postings have been so brief (and sorely lacking in photos). The internet gods are consipring against us, and the reality is that we simply haven't been able to get online so easily. Ironically, it was much easier when I was last here 4 years ago...!

We've just arrived in Pondicherry, midway up the eastern coast of India in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Pondicherry (or Puducherry, Pondy, and perhaps other names as well) was one of several French colonies from the 18th century, and just reverted back to local rule within the last 50 years. Unlike most Indian cities, this one is relatively quiet, with wide, tree-lined streets and a beautiful oceanside prominade. The residual colonial feel still pervades this place, and it already feels like a haven of calm for weary travelers. It's no surprise that it's a hotspot on the traveler's circuit, and we've seen more Westerners here in 30 minutes than in the rest of India.

We're staying at a guesthouse run by the Sri Aurobindo ashram, and our 2nd story room has a balcony overlooking a beautiful garden adjacent to the ocean. The breeze and the sounds of the waves floats gently into our open window, soothing and sweet.



Ian and I shared a lovely meal last night -- a couple of different dosas and something called appam -- a sort of crepe served with sweet coconut milk and pea curry... delicious. Then I had a chai, and was throwing up about 4 hours later. I suspect the chai, as it was the only unique thing I had in the meal (Ian and I shared everything else). But, I'm returning to normal, and life goes on.

We're sitting in a hip, western-ish cafe called Coffe.com, and the sign on the wall says 'wireless available'. If this is true, we'll be able to post some new stories and photos that we've been saving up on the laptop. Check back in a few days...

We'll be staying here for two days (maybe 3, it's really restful here!), then meeting up with a friend in Chennai. After that we'll wind our way back to Kerala over a few days time, stopping off at Sri Ramana Maharshi's ashram in Tiruvanamalai, and possibly a day in Ooty, a 'hill station' that sounds pretty interesting. We'll be metting up with my friend Harilal in Keralal for some elephant and firework festivals, and local Keralan life.

Love from the road,

Mark, Lenka and Ian

On the road in Kanyakumari

Greetings from the southernmost tip of India, where three oceans meet and where, if you're lucky, you can see the sun both rise and set over the ocean. We left the Sivananda ashram this morning and are now on a 10-day roadtrip or 'yatra' to see some of the most significant temples in South India.



Internet access has been much more problematic than expected. We weren't able to get a wireless modem for our laptop, so we won't be able to upload photos to the blog. We also haven't been able to blog as much as we hoped.

The boys at Swami Tatvaroopananda's gurukulum

I wanted to post a note titled "Pancake Soup" after one of the meals we had at Swami T's gurukulum last week. The Keralan food has been fantastic. The way they eat here really agrees with me (Ian). Lots of savory grains, dals, coconut chutneys, dosas(!!). If you like Indian food, it's worth a trip here just to eat!

South Indian thali (prior to getting the rice). Yum!!

I'm going to let Mark describe the ashram experience in detail, as he had a such personal connection and history with the people and the place. We participated in a homa (fire ceremony) to Vishnu last night. Definitely the most powerful experience at the ashram for me (although getting to know Swami T and Swami N was the real treat).

With Swami N and Swami T

Swami T cracks a coconut

Tomorrow we'll spend the day in Kanyakumari, visiting the Vivekananda shrine. Then we'll head north.

More to come.

Love from Ian, Mark and Lenka

Kruisin in Kerala

Hi everyone,

We're here, safe and sound, in Kerala, South India. Lenka and I arrived two days ago, and Ian turned up yesterday (minus his bag unfortunately). We're hoping it shows up today!

Lenka and I spent some quality time wandering around Trivandrum yesterday. Though it's a fairly mellow capitol by Indian standards, it's still a pretty intense experience. Lenka really dived in to the full experience--by stepping her nice clean foot into a black bog of goo by the bus station! But she was a trooper, and a little water and laughter did the trick.

We've already started eating our way through the wonderful south Indian regional menu, twice now at our favorite local restaurant the Hotel Arya Nivas. Yum! The fresh local flavors are amazing, and wonderful to taste again.

In about an hour we'll be heading to our friend's gurukulam, and spend a couple of days there. I promised my swami friend that I'd bring Italian food for him, and a bunch of treats for the kids. After that we'll be heading to the Sivananda ashram in Neyyar Dam for 4 days... hopefully our internal clocks will be reset to Indian time by then. Lenka and I were wide awake at 1am this morning, and didn't get back to sleep until about 7am.

Blessings to all, and more soon! Oh yeah, I guess we should take some photos too... ;-)

Love,

Mark, Lenka and Ian

The Tetris Syndrome

Here's a quick peek at our gear. We're bringing video and still cameras, some microphones, a laptop, and some things to help with natural lighting... and of course lots of treats for our friends at the school and ashram that we'll be visiting in our first week.

It's always a balancing act to figure out how much gear to bring—especially so much technology.  But part of this adventure is to meet, interview and learn from some spiritual masters, yogic scholars and ayurvedic doctors, and to share that with our friends and customers.  Stay tuned for more as this adventure unfolds...

Off to the airport in an hour!

Mark, Lenka & Ian

Getting Ready to Go

It's Monday the 17th, and we're getting close to our departure.  My wife Lenka and I will be leaving tomorrow night around midnight, and Ian will follow the next day.  We'll be taking opposite routes around the globe to India: Lenka and I to the west through Asia, and Ian to the east through Europe.  We'd like to think we're giving the globe a big hug.

We're all excited about this trip, as it's been a long time coming.  Ian and Lenka have never been to India before, but have always wanted to go.  In fact Ian and I had planned to go in 2005, but a death in the family postponed the trip, and we've only now gotten enough projects done to allow us the time off.  

This will be my 4th trip, and I don't feel my last.  India is one of those places that gets under your skin, and inspires strong reactions.  People seem to love it, or they don't go back.  I knew from my first trip there 10 years ago that it was a special place, and that I would be going back.  You can see some info on that trip by visiting this (very old) website.

I returned a year later, this time doing some consulting for one of the large Indian movie studios.  I spent two months outside Hyderabad, the capitol of Andra Pradesh.  You can read some funny tales from that trip here.

Then in 2004 my friend Claire Rudholm, who graces the cover of our Anatomy for Yoga DVD, was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer at age 32.  She was told that she had a short time to live, and chose to spend her last weeks at her favorite Sivananda ashram in Kerala, southern India.  Her remarkable story, which serves as an inspiration for our return trip there now, can be found here.

So, we'll be traveling somewhat in Claire's footsteps, and exploring some new places with eager, fresh eyes and open hearts.  Thanks for tagging along—we hope you enjoy the ride.

Blessings,

Mark

Pranamaya Goes to India

Big News #1: We're announcing the official release tomorrow of The Secret Power of Yoga 6-CD audiobook by Nischala Joy Devi. This is 8th title that we've released in the last thirteen months. Amazing, if we do say so ourselves!

And that leads us to 

Big News #2: Pranamaya goes to India!

After thirteen months rarely leaving our computers, we're heading halfway around the world to recharge our batteries and regain some perspective on life, yoga and our little company.

We'll be bringing our video cameras to document our travels and to interview some of the swamis and scholars that we plan to meet with. If all goes well, you'll see some of this footage in future Pranamaya projects. 

Check back here for occasional updates from India, including as many photos as we can. Please leave us comments. We would love to hear from you.

Namaste,

Mark and Ian