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GO Books: Going Full Tilt with Dervla Murphy

Mariellen — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:15:05 +0000

Dervla Murphy and her trusty steed, Roz

Launching GO Books

Full Tilt: From Ireland to India

This book review of Full Tilt: From Ireland to India by Dervla Murphy marks the first in a new series on Breathedreamgo called GO Books. I will be reviewing and recommending books about travel, personal transformation, culture, India, yoga and/or writing, and providing a link for purchase from Amazon. I will be reviewing classics, like Full Tilt, as well as newly published books. I will NOT recommend any book unless I absolutely believe it is a first-rate read. If you buy it and don’t like it, I will personally invite you over for a home-cooked dinner and you can tell me why (some conditions apply).

I am trying to hatch a plan to visit Ireland (the country of my ancestors) and look up Dervla Murphy. Ever since reading Full Tilt: From Ireland to India, I have become a staunch fan, and I am delighted the adventurous cyclist — who is now in her late 70s — is still with us. In 1963, Dervla Murphy — who was 32 years old at the time — rode her bicycle from the western edge of France all the way to Delhi, India. Yup, that means she rode through Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Khyber Pass – the lot.

She not only fearlessly triumphed over wolves, wolfish men, blizzards, sunburn, snakes and much, much more, she broke out of the ‘confining parameters of her era’ to follow her rugged, independent spirit on a truly great adventure. And, lucky for us, she chronicled the journey in a rollicking book called Full Tilt. Dervla can not only ride, she can write. Her vivid descriptions and trenchant observations impart a sense of place, and of her in it — like a fly in ointment. A white woman riding a bicycle alone across the breadth of a country like, say, Afghanistan, was completely unheard of; so much so, that many people assumed she was a man.

I grew to really like Dervla, as much as I liked her spirit of adventure and her story. She has a (usually) non-judgmental, honest approach and a genuine love of people; and she seems to have a particular affinity for Muslim countries, especially Afghanistan and Pakistan. Plus, she has a way with words. In one of my favourite passages, about dealing with intense heat, she writes, “Riding into Delhi in July showed gross mismanagement of itinerary.”

Dervla Murphy

Dervla rarely writes about herself directly, but I have gleaned that she took care of aging and unwell parents for 16 years, until she was in her early 30s, missing out on much of her youth. After they passed away, she began planning this grand adventure — and I think the magnitude of it was in direct relation to the suffocation she must have felt. She continued to travel and write, even after her daughter Rachel was born; so if you like this book, there are plenty more to read, such as The Waiting Land: A Spell in Nepal and On a Shoestring to Coorg: A Travel Memoir of India and Tibetan Foothold.

Full Tilt was one of the best books I read last year (2010). It’s moving, exciting, heart-warming, well-written, true — all the things I like in a book. Paul Theroux wrote a chapter about Dervla Murphy in his book, The Tao of Travel. You can read an interview with him here.

My GO Books rating is 5 / 5: I would definitely put it in my backpack.

Author and book details

Dervla Murphy, born November 28, 1931, Ireland

Full Tilt first published in 1965; reprinted in 1987 (Overlook); and 2010 (Eland).

Purchase from Amazon by clicking image, below.

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Traveling solo in India

Mariellen — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:12:45 +0000

[Note: Originally published as Recommended: Travel solo in India by Solotravelerblog.)

When I was 45 years old, I put everything I owned in storage, gave up my apartment and went to India for six months. It was the first time in my life that I had done anything like this. But it was time. I had always wanted to go to India and, after losing both of my parents, I knew it was now or never to go after my dreams.

Was I scared? You bet. But it was the “healthy” kind of scared – the kind that rises up from within and first whispers, then roars: if you overcome this, you will be forever changed. So I went. I jumped off the proverbial cliff to see how the universe would respond.

I will never forget peering out the window of the plane into the midnight blackness as we began our long descent into Delhi. All I could see was strange, random groupings of flickering orange lights. The familiar grid pattern of bright, even, white light you see when flying over a western city was nowhere in sight. I had no idea what to expect. I was on the greatest adventure of my life and I knew it.

And then I landed, and smelled Delhi’s acrid-pungent air for the first time and I knew everything would be okay. And it was. I spent six glorious months on a magic carpet ride. The universe held out loving, embracing arms and caught me.

Feeling safe among warm, friendly people

While all the stereotypes about India are true – it is crowded, dirty, noisy, chaotic and poor – it is also unfathomably rich in culture, tradition, spirituality and beauty. The ancient wisdom culture of India is alive in so many ways, but especially in the friendliness of the people. It’s the people of India that make traveling solo such a wonderful – and safe – experience. I can’t imagine kinder, more helpful, happier people.

Indians know how to enjoy life. They know how to be in the here-and-now, and appreciate time with family members and friends. They have a gift for relationship – and everything in India is relationship-driven. A poor shop owner would rather lose a sale than lose time with his family.

So, while traveling in India can be challenging due to crowds, chaos and delays, you will always find friendly people willing to engage in deep, meaningful conversations on philosophy, religion, values and other thought-provoking topics; and you will always find people willing to help you in any way they can. Personally, I would rather be in India with its dirty, late trains and warm, friendly people, than in a country with clean, super-efficient trains and reserved, aloof people.

If you go to India, my advice is to go with an open mind and an open heart. Take all the precautions, of course – especially with drinking water – but don’t go with fear in your mind or heart. I always say that India is like the cave that Yoda sends Luke into. “What will I find in there?” Luke asks. “Only what you bring with you,” Yoda answers.

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Magh Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, 2010

Mariellen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:36:41 +0000

The largest gathering of humanity on earth

Millions of people gather each year in North India to take a holy dip in the sacred waters of the Ganges, Yamuna and /or the mythological Saraswati rivers. Hindu devotees, pilgrims, saints and sadhus from all over India and the world turn up in huge numbers each winter. They believe that a holy dip in the sacred rivers during the Kumbh Mela washes away sins and can help them break the cycle of life and death and attain Moksha.

The Maha Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years in Allahabad — the sangam, or place, where the three rivers meet. This is the “big one.” The Maha Kumbh Mela is the largest gathering of humanity on earth. This year, a “smaller” version. called the Magh Kumbh Mela will be held in the sacred city of Haridwar, which is a four-hour train ride north of Delhi. (There is also an Ardh, or half, Kumbh Mela that takes place several times during the cycle.)

I am planning to be there, as my ashram is only a few kilometres from Haridwar. Not sure when yet, but I may try and be there for one of these auspicious bathing dates.

Bathing Dates for Haridwar Magh Kumbh Mela 2010

14 January 2010 – Makar Sankranti Snan – First Snan (bath)
15 January 2010 – Mauni Amavasya and Surya Grahan (Solar Eclipse) – Second Snan
20 January 2010 – Basant Panchmi Snan – Third snan
30 January 2010 – Magh Purnima Snan – Fourth Snan
12 February 2010 – Maha Shivratri – Pratham Shahi Snan – First Royal Bath
15 March 2010 – Somvati Amavasya – Dvitya Shahi Snan – Second Royal Bath
24 March 2010 – Ram Navmi – Fifth Snan
30 March 2010 – Chaitra Purnima Snan
14 April 2010 – Baisakhi – Pramukh Shahi Sanan – Main Royal Bath
28 April 2010 – Shakh Purnima – Snan

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My India list

Mariellen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:44:43 +0000

My India list: top places, events and festivals I want to see

I believe in magic. How else can you explain that the more I travel in India, the longer the list of places I want to go gets?! I was inspired to write this list by Mighty Girl’s Mighty Life List, so here goes. Here’s my list at the time of this writing (and I am sure I am missing several things …):

Top 10

see sunrise over the Himalayas from Tiger Hill, near Darjeeling
watch the start of the monsoon in Trivandrum
attend the Pushkar Camel Festival
climb Mount Arunachala
see a tiger! — perhaps in Kanha National Park, the place that inspired Kipling to write Jungle Book
watch Indian classical dance at sunset in front of the temples during the Khajuraho Dance Festival
stay in tea gardens in Darjeeling, Assam and the Nilgiri Hills
have tea at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai
stay at the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata and watch the Kali Puja
go on Char Dham pilgrimage to source of the Ganga (Ganges River)

And the list continues …

be in Jaisalmer for the Desert Festival
visit Gandh’s ashrams: Sabarmati and Sevagram
take part in Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai
see the Brahmaputra River in Assam
visit the Ellora and Ajanta Caves
hike in Ladakh
be in Mathura for Janmashtami
take a boat cruise through the Sunderbans
join the Chariot Festival in Puri
hike in Sikkim
stay at Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur
see the Republic Day Parade in Delhi
~~spend some time writing in Bundi, where Kipling wrote~~
undertake 10-day Vipassana retreat near Jaipur
brief stop in the world’s wettest place, Cherapungi
see Dal Lake, Srinagar
stay at a spice garden in Kerala
visit the spice market in Old Delhi
finally go to Akshardham in Delhi
see the sun set and the moon rise at Kanyakumari (happens only two days per year)
attend Jaipur Literature Festival

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Do’s and Don’ts in India

Mariellen — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:04:49 +0000

Moi, with friends, at the Taj Mahal

Do:

- Go to the Taj Mahal. Yes, it’s worth it. It may be one of the few times in your life when all the hype and hyperbole actually fails to capture the spectacular beauty of the real thing.

- Take the train. Traveling by train in India is an adventure. Indian Railway is the world’s biggest employer (1.2 million employees) and everyone takes the train, from ministers to farmers. It takes a bit of time to master the class system (2AC is a good choice); the new online ticket system really helps. You will meet lots of friendly people, no matter which class you travel.

- Learn a few words of Hindi. Most educated people speak English, but working class people and villagers rarely speak more than a few words. “Namaste” is a common greeting; “theek hai” is okay; “accha” is, is that right?; “jaao” is go away’ “chai” is tea; “paani” is water.

- Wear kurtahs (long shirts) if you are a man; and salwar kameez (also called a “suit,” it’s a long tunic over pants, and topped with a long scarf) if you are a woman.

- Take a yoga class or stay at a yoga ashram.

- Try a homestay guest house. The family is the backbone of the social system in India and you will learn a lot about the culture — and have a great time — by living with a family.

Don’t:

- Hand out money to beggars in crowded places. You will be swarmed. In fact, authorities advise that you don’t give money to anyone asking for a handout. If you want to give, by all means do so — India has many, many worthwhile charitable organizations. Your money will go to a better cause of you give it to a charitable organization. Many beggars work for gangsters, so the money you give to them, just ends up in the gangster’s pocket.

- Wear your shoes in a temple, mosque, gurdwara — any house of worship or sacred place.

- Dress in scanty or provocative clothing.

- Use your left hand for eating, if you are eating with your hands (this is especially true in South India). Also, use only your right hand for any religious or sacred gesture; and don’t point with your feet, or touch things with your feet.

- Eat street food unless you absolutely know it is hygienic. Same goes for salads.

- Take any risks with drinking water. Always ensure the water is completely safe. Buy sealed bottles only.

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

10 (more) books I love about India

Mariellen — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:56:03 +0000

A while I ago, I wrote a blog post that listed my Top 10 Books on India (thus far). This is the second installment in my series, Books I love about India.

1. Kim by Rudyard Kipling. It’s a masterpiece. I read it with my jaw on the floor. I have been reading for, oh, 43 years, give or take, and I have never read a book that is so in the moment. You tramp along with Kim down the streets of Lahore, on the Grand Trunk Road, through Himalayan passes. Every sound, every smell, every gesture, every accent is evoked. The dust swirls around you, the smell of cooking food entices you, the fresh air of the mountains revives you. Kipling knew the road in India, and he knew how to capture it in words. And Kipling is not just a master of description — he is a master story-teller. Like India herself, this story is bold, complex, subtle and ambiguous. Though it is not an easy read, it is hugely rewarding. I will be reading it again soon.

Fishermen on the beach in Kerala, south India

2. A Rope in the Water by Sylvia Fraser. I read this book just before I left for India the first time; and I am re-reading it now. The story engrossed me the first time; it’s her writing skill that captures me this time: vivid descriptions, intelligent insight, great story-telling and a journalist’s skill for reporting. She also has a sensitive feel for the culture of India and keen spiritual understanding She can do it all. I don’t want to give anything away … but when she tells the story about the rope in the water, I get shivers. That story has really stuck with me. I also got shivers when she gets an astrology reading done and reveals her birthday, March 8, which is also mine. I find it very compelling that Sylvia Fraser and I have so much in common … we are both female writers from Toronto, born on March 8, who went on pilgrimages to India to deal with trauma from the past. I also ended up in many of the same places she did — without meaning to! But even if your birthday is not March 8 and you haven’t been to India, this is still a great read by any yardstick. And if you are looking for an authentic spiritual quest, read this before Eat, Pray, Love.

3. No Full Stops in India by Mark Tully. Actually, anything by Mark Tully. I also have India in Slow Motion and India’s Unending Journey. Tully (which means drunk in Hindi!) was the chief correspondent for the BBC in Delhi for many years. He’s a good writer and he knows India. His most recent, India’s Unending Journey, is by far the most personal. It’s about his own psychological and spiritual journey as he learns from India to be “certain about uncertainty.” I can relate. Compelling reading.

4. Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald. A classic. Every time I think of the iron scene, I start chuckling as I picture Sarah’s face hidden by her hands so the very serious servants won’t realize she’s actually bursting with laughter over the missing iron. I laugh even more since I experienced living with servants in a Delhi household. (But servants in an India household are a bit more light-hearted than those in a foreigner’s household, methinks.) Oh, just read the book. It’s both hilarious and also moving as she traces her own relationship to India from reluctance and disdain to head-over-heels, unabashed love.

5. Slowly Down the Ganges by Eric Newby. Eric and his wife took a slow boat down the Ganges in the days before India’s modernization began. It’s a fascinating journey, written in precise detail that makes every agonizing minute they are dragging the big tin boat over rocks and sandbanks almost painful to read.

6. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Had to start this book a second time before I really got into it. It creeps into you like rain forest dampness. Very evocative and very powerful. While the setting is Kerala, in tropical southern India, it could be anywhere rural and stifling. I thought of the American deep south more than once. Strikingly original writing.

Jama Masjid, Old Delhi

7. Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali. This book, a “cult classic,” was apparently very hard to get for many years. Ahmed Ali was a Muslim writer and professor from Delhi who was out of the country when partition was announced and Pakistan was created. He was not allowed back into India and had, instead, to settle in Pakistan. It is a prose poem dedicated to the twilight days of “old” Delhi, when the Muslim area of the city flourished. It not only captures a bygone era, it also relates some moving personal stories.

8. City Improbable edited by Khushwant Singh. Bombay/Mumbai and Calcutta/Kolkata seem to get all the press, but there are those of us who are quite taken with Delhi. It’s a fascinating, historical, multi-layered city that sometimes seems, well, improbable. This is an excellent collection of entertaining and informative essays.

9. Calcutta edited by Geoffrey Moorhouse. The history of Calcutta, from its founding in 1690 by Job Charnok, an agent of the East India Company, is inextricably linked to the history of the British in India. Calcutta was the capital of the British Raj until it was moved to Delhi in 1911. The tales Moorhouse chose make for fascinating reading. They cover many eras, many subjects and include well-known authors as well as excerpts from the diaries of English women who came out to be with their husbands (or to find husbands).

10. Rajasthan Getaways by Outlook Traveller. Oh, I was glad I had this book when I was traveling by myself in Rajasthan. Published in India, it’s much more than a simple guidebook. The book is primarily a series of essays written by talented writers who love India’s most-visited state as much as I do.

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Finding spirituality on trip to India

Mariellen — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:49:35 +0000

The soul of the world

I enjoyed reading Christine Garvin’s article, Can You Develop Your Spirituality Without Visiting India? on Brave New Traveler (part of the Matador Travel Network).Of course, I whole-heartedly agree that finding or increasing your spiritual awareness is not about location. Spirituality is an attitude and an understanding. You can find it, learn it or increase it anywhere and anytime. In fact, the lessons often come from the unlikeliest people and places. You don’t even have to go to a temple, church, mosque, gurdwara, mediation centre, ashram, monastery or what have you. Once you begin to see the world from a spiritual perspective, you may never need a formal teacher again.

Yoga is my spiritual path and my teacher, Swami Brahmdev (known to his students as Swamiji) of Aurovalley Ashram said there are two conceptions of yoga. The one that is popularized in the west is that yoga is something you do. According to Swamiji, however, “Yoga is established in your understanding and attitude; it is a way of life. Yoga is living with a yogic attitude – naturally and with simplicity. When that attitude is born, you are a yogi, no matter where you are.”

But I take exception to the Brave New Traveler article subhead “Forget flying halfway around the world to find happiness.” I encourage you to fly to India — or sail or walk or go by camel if you must! — if you feel the urge. I felt a compelling desire to go to India about five years ago, and to say I’m glad I went is the biggest understatement of my life. Going to India was the best thing I ever did. I am writing a book about all the gifts I have received from three trips there.

Everyone’s path is different and for me, India is my spiritual home. The “advances” I made on my spiritual path while traveling and studying yoga in India for 11 months may have taken me a lifetime here in Canada. I recently wrote an article for a Canadian travel magazine, India is Yoga, that addresses the question: why go to India for yoga? I asked three Indian yoga teachers, including Swamiji, for their opinions, and their answers are worth reading if you are interested in the subject.

It is my experience that, generally, India has a milieu or energy that I find very spiritually conducive; whereas I feel the opposite is true in my home town, Toronto. I am not saying you can’t have a spiritual experience in Toronto or that you are guaranteed to have one in India, of course. As I said, a lot of it is attitude. I go to India with the attitude that I am going to learn, and I do. Just learning to go with the flow of train delays and crowds and sights of appalling poverty can really open you up, if you let it.

Until you experience India, and yoga in India, you probably won’t be able to understand just how different it is over there, as compared to here. God is ever-present in India. God is celebrated, worshipped and invoked in road-side shrines, massive temple complexes, at tiny altars in many stores and in the prayer rooms in most homes; and in the thousands of sacred places — rivers, mountains, tress — and places associated with sacred events, such as Krishna’s birth or the battle of Kurukshetra. All of India is a living, breathing sacred place that is alive with history, myth and the stories of the epics and the gods.

And of course it is not just that the people are religious. They are also, for the most part, very spiritual. My own experience is that the people of India are kind, helpful, open and much more content and — dare I say it? — happy than we are in the materially affluent west.

To people of a certain temperament, like me, all of this makes a big impact.

Joseph Campbell would say that if you are a seeker, if you are on a quest, at some point, you must leave your community. There are certain predictable steps or stages in the hero’s journey, and leaving your community to go in search of treasure — your holy grail — is one of them. It doesn’t mean you have to go to India, of course. A pilgrimage is a very personal thing.

But by going to India, you are at the very least bound to gain some perspective, which I think many westerners could benefit from — as only about 8% of the world lives as luxuriously as we middle-class westerners do. (I wrote more about this in my post, Life is perfect. Or, as the Globe and Mail ads say, “It’s not just news. It’s a wake up call from the other side of the world.”)

It probably all comes down to your attitude. I often say that India is like the cave that Yoda sends Luke into. Luke asks, “What will I find in there?” and Yoda answers, “Only what you bring with you.”

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

India is Yoga

Mariellen — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:15:02 +0000

Originally published in Dreamscapes magazine.

View of the majestic Himalayas from Anand Prakash Yoga Ashram

As I sit writing this on the balcony of my room at the Anand Prakash Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh, India, the melodious sound of people singing kirtan (devotional songs and chants) floats up from the yoga hall below. From here, I have a breath-taking view of the imposing foothills of the Himalayas and I can feel the invigorating mountain air as it sweeps into this serene valley, through which the jewel-green Ganga (Ganges) River flows. It is easy to see why legend refers to the Himalaya range as Dev Bhoomi, land of the gods.

Rishikesh is a small and relatively (by Indian standards) peaceful town that meanders along the narrow valley on both sides of the Ganga, connected by two impressive suspension bridges, Laxman Jhula and Ram Jhula, which are open for pedestrian traffic, bicycles and motorcycles only. Seers – rishis – and sages have been gathering here, at this picturesque spot on the Ganges, since before recorded history to prayer, chant and meditate. Indian pilgrims and foreign yoga students alike flock here to stay in one of the town’s many ashrams and soak up the devotional vibes. It is often referred to as the yoga capital of the world.

“Yogis have been coming here for long time, and they created vibrations in their bodies that have gone into the Ganga water, trees, stones,” says Yogi Vishvketu (Vishva) who, along with his Canadian-born wife, Chetana Panwar, founded the Anand Prakash Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh two years ago. “People who come here feel it immediately. I have seen people coming here from all over the world. They experience immediate healing and they change on all levels, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.”

To Vishva, who has trained since the age of eight to become a yogi, and who holds a Phd in yoga from the university in nearby Haridwar, this is one of the main reasons why yoga students are drawn to Rishikesh. The other is the opportunity to be exposed to the whole philosophy of yoga. “Our intention in creating this ashram is to give westerners a safe and clean environment in India to experience both the beautiful, magical energy of Rishikesh and to heal themselves by following the Indian yogic system. We chant, perform rituals, sing kirtan, observe yogic diet and lifestyle and give people the whole picture of yoga.”

For me, the highlight of staying at Anand Prakash is the 6 a.m. yoga class with Vishva in the rooftop yoga hall. As we move, chant and meditate under the guidance of this bliss-master (Vishva is the happiest person I have ever met!), the sun rises from behind the mountains and bathes the room in a golden glow.

The first time I visited Aurovalley Ashram, about 10 kilometres south of Rishikesh, I took a short nap soon after arriving and fell into the most restful sleep of my life. I felt the profoundly peaceful energy of this garden ashram almost immediately and knew it was my spiritual home.

Several hand-painted signs on the ashram grounds proclaim, “All life is yoga.” This is the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, one of the great Indian thinkers of the 20th century, reduced to its essence. Aurovalley was founded 30 years ago by Swami Brahmdev (Swamiji), a disciple of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’s teachings. It is a garden ashram, surrounded immediately by meadows and, in the distance, by the mist-covered hills of Rajaji National Park. Nature is ever-present at Aurovalley in the form of fragrant tropical flowers, fluttering butterflies, colourful songbirds, fruit-laden trees, gardens and glorious sunsets. Regular visitors extol the ashram’s healing benefits.

Swamiji explains there are two conceptions of yoga. The one that is popularized in the west is that yoga is something you do. According to Swamiji, however, “Yoga is established in your understanding and attitude; it is a way of life. Yoga is living with a yogic attitude – naturally and with simplicity. When that attitude is born, you are a yogi, no matter where you are.”

Swamiji doesn’t lecture or teach. Every day he sits outside the ashram library building, under a mango tree, and people gather to ask questions. Does one need to go to India to learn to be a yogi? “If you want to buy vegetables where will you go,” he answers, with lightness, and a twinkle in his eye. “India is a university for the world to understand more and collect more information on this subject.”

The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers is a nonprofit organization founded by Swami Vishnu-devananda. He established the first Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Montreal, Canada, in 1959 and there are now close to 80 Sivananda ashrams and yoga centres around the world. Mani Chaitanya, director of the Sivananda centre in New Delhi is a tall, slim soft-spoken man who chooses his words very carefully. The Sivananda centre is an oasis of calm in a very hectic city, and it is where I practice yoga when I am in New Delhi.

“Yoga practitioners are naturally curious to discover the roots of yoga,” he says. “In India, people can discover a spiritual way of understanding life. They can experience a new lifestyle and incorporate it into their own practice.”

Mani explains that Sivananda offers westerners a systematic method for learning the traditional yogic lifestyle and balancing it with the demands of modern life. “It’s a unique structure that is easy and effective to practice in daily life. You can learn to manage a spiritual life that doesn’t take you away from where you are.”

Sivananda is a worldwide network, a gateway to yoga for westerners, and the same method is followed in all locations. One its main attractions is that the ashrams are located in peaceful places, away from city life. The Neyyar Dam location in Kerala, south India, for example, is set in a lush tropical paradise surrounded by sacred mountains. The ashram offers yoga holidays as well as various levels of teacher training programs.

Many people come from all over the world to study and practice yoga in India. And while there are countless methods and styles; teachers and ashrams, they are all streams leading to and from the same ocean of yogic wisdom.

Navjeet Kaur Mackie is a yoga teacher from Mississauga, currently living in Nova Scotia. She studied yoga in North America before heading off to India in 2007 to deepen her practice and understanding of this ancient tradition.

“India is yoga,” Navjeet says. “India is where I found the very essence of yoga, and discovered that yoga is not only a practice on the mat, but a way of life. Even though yoga is everywhere in India, Rishikesh is where I practiced my physical yoga the most. The feeling that you get when you visit Rishikesh is one of peace and serenity, but still infused with the typical Indian charm. I would recommend India to anyone and everyone who has found themselves on the yoga path.”

Thank you for reading. Please visit BreatheDreamGo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Indian summer: 11 reasons to visit India in the summer

Mariellen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:45:54 +0000

Published on The Matador Network, August 2009.

Photo courtesy of Jehangir Pocha

Indian summer

While the majority of foreign tourists travel to India in the winter, there are some who like it hot! India is a popular summer destination for European vacationers, monsoon lovers and travelers who like to swim against the stream. There are lots of good reasons for visiting India in the summer, including the profusion of summer festivals, breathtaking summer-only destinations in the Himalayas, un-crowded tourist attractions, cheaper airfares and slashed rates at many hotels and resorts.

Here are 11 things you can only do in the summer in India:

1. Eat mangoes. Early summer, before the monsoon arrives, is the hottest time of year in India. The only relief comes in the form of a sweet and succulent fruit, welcomed and revered from one end of the country to the other. In India, the mango is the “king of fruit.” Mangoes begin to trickle into markets and restaurants in April and by June the streets are full of people savouring their “utterly overpowering lusciousness,” as one mango lover said. While there are many varieties, the Alphonso is hailed as the “king of kings,” and its seasonal appearance makes the news.

2. Hike in Ladakh. In winter, the Ladakh region of India’s remote northern state is a cold, lonely and forbidding mountain kingdom. But come summer, flowers bloom and the tourists return to admire the barren, lunar-like landscapes and traditional Indian, Tibetan and Central Asian cultures. Hikers flock to Leh, the region’s capital, for some of the best treks in India. Even those with less physically ambitious goals will enjoy hiking up to the palace and royal monastery, Namgyal Tsemo Gompa, in the centre of Leh, to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas. The season’s short, though, and by mid-September it’s all over for another year.

3. Chill at a hill station. During the reign of the British Raj, the colonial rulers retreated to hill stations to escape the incendiary heat of the plains. Shimla, in the modern state of Himachal Pradesh, was the “Queen of Hill Stations.” It was from this small mountain-top town that the British ruled fully one-fifth of humanity. Today, visitors to Shimla enjoy the laid-back holiday vibe, Raj-era buildings – including the baronial Viceregal Lodge – and spectacular views of the Himalayas from the The Mall, a ridge-top pedestrian-only thoroughfare that was once off-limits to Indians. Don’t miss high tea at the elegant, century-old Oberoi Cecil Hotel. Shimla is a taste of “ye olde England” in the Himalayas.

4. Sing in the rain. Monsoon is a very special time of year in India. The summer rains bring welcome relief from the scorching heat of early summer and they are a symbol of fertility, vigour and joyful abandon. Bollywood movie watchers know that when rain showers soak the hero and heroine, it’s shorthand for the lovemaking they can’t show on screen. The southwest monsoon is expected to arrive in the southern state of Kerala each year on June 1, and it spends the next few months sweeping north across the subcontinent, lightening the hearts of farmers, children, lovers and just about everyone else. Tourists, too, enjoy the lush freshness, cooling downpours and relaxation-inducing vibes the monsoon brings.

5. Experience bliss. Summer monsoon season is the best time for Ayurvedic treatment in India. Ayurveda, which means “science of life,” is the ancient system of traditional Indian health care that seeks to restore health through the use of diet, herbs, lifestyle advice, cleansing techniques and, primarily, bliss-inducing oil massages. The languid dampness opens the pores and makes the body more receptive to the medicated oils. Kerala, in southern India, is a tropical paradise on the Arabian Sea, and the best place for Ayurvedic treatment in India. Ayurvedic resorts, from the rustic to the luxurious, line the shores between white sand beaches and palm tree forests and offer a relaxing vacation as well as authentic treatments.

6. Find the source of the Ganges. The Ganges River – known in India as Ganga Mata – is the lifeline of the country and its most sacred river. One-in-ten people on earth depend on its bounty for their livelihood. It cascades out of the high Himalayas in northern India, and finding its source – or sources – is a major pilgrimage activity every summer after the snows melt and the roads and villages become accessible (April to November). The pilgrimage is called Char Dham, which means four sacred places, and bus tours from Rishikesh in Uttaranchal state can take you to all four: Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri.

7. Get soaked with Ganesh. One of the biggest festivals in Maharashtra state takes place at the end of summer. It’s called Ganesh Chaturthi, and while it’s celebrated throughout India, no one does it quite like Mumbai. For 10 days, Mumbaikers celebrate by holding cultural and social programs, eating sweets and worshipping the popular elephant-headed god. On the 11th day, his birthday, an enormous clay figure of Ganesh is paraded through the streets of Mumbai before being immersed in the Arabian Sea. The main parade, to Chowpatty Beach, is accompanied by thousands of celebrants dancing and singing in the streets. All are welcome to join the fun.

8. Sip tea in Darjeeling. A popular hill station perched high up in the Himalayas, on the northern edge of West Bengal, Darjeeling also gives its name to the world’s best tea. In the 19th century, Darjeeling was THE summer destination for the British in Calcutta (then the capital of colonial India). Though Darjeeling is lashed by the summer monsoon, it still offers an escape from the heat of lower-lying regions. Tourists enjoy the Victorian-era holiday atmosphere, spectacular views of some of the world’s highest mountains, tours to surrounding tea gardens and Tibetan culture. Take the poignantly slow Toy Train from Siliguri and you will find yourself in tune with Darjeeling’s timeless appeal.

9. Run with the chariots. The mid-summer Chariot Festival in Puri, Orissa, attracts millions of devotees and tourists each year, who take part in an enormous procession as three mammoth, dazzling wood chariots are pulled through the streets. It’s one of the biggest festivals in India – so big, it inspired a word that means “massive, inexorable force.” The word juggernaut was coined after 19th century British spectators saw people, mad with devotion, throw themselves under the giant wheels of the Lord Jagannath’s chariot. The splendour and grandeur of this spectacle is unforgettable.

10. Watch snake boats compete. The Onam Festival of late August celebrates the tropical southern state’s rich cultural heritage during a glorious time of year when everything seems fresh and radiant. During the 10-day festival, Kerala puts on a showy display of games and sports, traditional art forms, drama and classical music. There’s also shopping at the many festival bazaars that spring up and a Grand Feast. But the highlight is the Nehru Trophy Snake Boar Race, the biggest snake boat race in the world. This immensely popular festival, held to coincide with Kerala Tourist Week, attracts people from all over the globe.

Krishna

11. Celebrate Krishna’s birthday. Blue-skinned Krishna is one of Hinduism’s most important and beloved gods. He can be depicted as a cherubic baby, flute-playing lad, devoted lover – alongside his consort Radha – or as Arjun’s charioteer during the epic battle of the Mahabharata (the basis of the Hindu bible, the Bhagvad Gita). Inspiring fervent devotion among his followers, his mid-summer birthday (this year on August 14) is called Janmashtami. It is celebrated all across the country, but nowhere more so than in his birthplace, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The fun includes rituals, feasting, devotional singing, plays that depicts scenes from his action-packed life and human pyramids – formed to reach a high-hanging pot of butter, Krishna’s weakness.

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Empire of the soul

Mariellen — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:07:28 +0000

Evening aarti in Haridwar, India during Kumbh Mela 2011

Getting ready to return for the third time

I am “borrowing” the title of this post from writer Paul William Roberts. It’s the name of his book about his travels in India and I think it just perfectly describes how I — and so many others — feel about India.

I haven’t been writing lately (holidays blah blah blah) , but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been immersing myself in my subject. Au contraire. I am leaving for my third trip to India in 17 days (January 30, 2009), and am completely immersed in figuring out my itinerary, getting ready, and getting excited. Also sending out as many query letters as I can, to newspapers and magazines and radio shows — hoping to write about my trip: a one-month train journey around India’s heartland.

And, as usual, I am always on the lookout for movies, books, shows, articles — whatever — about India. Here are two I recommend …

Recommended

First and foremost, the PBS series airing on Monday nights, “The Story of India,” is really terrific. Host Michael Wood, a British historian, is knowledgeable and genuinely enthusiastic. He is so understandably bowled over by attending rituals that have performed in the same way and in the same place for 1,000 years. The two shows I have seen so far have covered the periods from about 150 BC to about 400 AD, but it’s not dead-and-gone-history, the kind that bored most of us to distraction in school.

This is one of the amazing things about India. Ancient history is alive and well in the architecture, culture, traditions and rituals of modern India: The sea routes and trading practices of the ancient Greek and Roman traders; the story of Rama; the Gupta dynasty in the north; the Cholan empire in the south (which is the world’s last remaining classical civilization — Wood interviewed a descendant of the great Cholan King Raja Raja). All of these were brought alive under Wood’s careful observations.

Maybe this is one of the reasons India stirs my soul so much. The cultures of India have evolved unbroken for centuries, and the stories and values of the past are just as important as they ever were. It is both a wisdom culture and a soul culture.

Also enjoying Mark Tully‘s new book, India’s Unending Journey. Tully was the chief BBC correspondent in India for 22 years (and he was also born there, in Calcutta). In the book, Tully traces his own journey from rigid Christian to someone who is “certain about uncertainty.” He takes an introspective look at religion and spirituality and how Hinduism and India’s pluralistic approach has deeply influenced him and his own views. I also enjoyed one of Tully’s previous books, No Full Stops in India, and plan to read more.

Itinerary

The holidays for me were overshadowed by my need and desire to create a journey for my trip to India. I really threw myself into the creative process of thinking, reading, researching and weighing various factors, which included time, money, interest, feasability and … what would make a good travel story or stories.

In the end, I got my inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi and Slumdog Millionaire. In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the two young brothers jump on a train to escape Bombay and ride around India, using their wits to survive. Watching this part of the movie reminded me about how much I like train journeys in India, and also reminded me of another great movie, Gandhi, and of course of the man himself.

The first “tourist” spot I visited in India, back in 2005, was Raj Ghat, the place where Gandhi was cremated. It is now a large and peaceful park by the river Jumuna, which runs through Delhi. I was moved by the simple marble slab and eternal flame that pays respect to this incredible man. Later, I spent an afternoon at Birla House, also known as Gandhi Samadhi, the place Gandhi lived when in Delhi — and also the place where he died by assassination.

So, I decided to take a train journey that would allow me to visit both of Gandhi’s ashrams in India — Sabarmati in Gujurat and Sevagram in Maharashtra, as well as Jaisalamer and Varanasi, my top two wish-list destinations. I am buying a one-month train pass and in early February I will travel from Delhi west to Rajasthan; then south to Ahmedabad (Gujurat) Mumbai and the Konkan coast; and then inland to Sevagram ashram, Kanha and /or Bandhavgarh Naitonal Parks in Madyha Pradesh (for tiger spotting); and finally a week in Varanasi; then the overnight trian back to Delhi, arriving the day before my birthday.

If anyone has any tips, advice, must-see places or invitations to dinner (hahaha), please let me know!

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