I feel this amazing springy desire to do these days things I have craved for recently!
I want:
- spend more hours in the gym to prepare myself for the upcoming marathon in Bangalore
- meditate to hear myself
- place things in order and freshly breathe in after some chaotic months
- finish 4 books I am reading now (!)
- watch the movies from my friend and write back to him
- start writing my 1st book of living abroad
- go to Chennai beach in the evening and not worry about late hours after office spending there
- dance like hell everywhere: at home, in a club, in my soul
- approve my budget for the independent summer travel plan in South Asia
- prepare for the ACE Conference in July 2011
- say "I love you" and "Thank You" to people that I love and care
- call my brother and hear him sounding happily
- prepare myself mentally for homecoming
- get rid of fears that recently appeared in my life. This thing must be funny because recently I wanted to have some fears but now since I have been uttering this word quite often I feel an emotional tiring weigh and it is very boring for me.
- get back to studying Portuguese
- lastly and most importantly I want to make a successful marriage between what I do and what I love
Last few days I am feeling pretty much weak. I believe it is the heat and humidity and air pollution of noisy Chennai that I still did get used to living. Though I've lived here already 4,5 months.
Today I started a new yoga course: a new teacher, a new room for practising, a new group of people interested in ... in whatever they are interested. Some come for spirituality, some others come because their parents brought them there, like today.
In my previous yoga classes I had for a couple of months in the office premises I've experienced two different things:
a) Teamwork
b) Fun
What I missed was Why? I do yoga like I was told to. I joined those classes because I was curious - that is like people say, C'me on! You live in India and aren't yogging! Which is a quite imprecise judgement: I've heard before and witnessed myself that the so-called "Yoga Gurus of India" are not always great inspiring leaders or pro's. So in the end of my second month of previous classes I ...quited :) Luckily, three or four weeks later I found a new yoga course in a distance of 3 min walk from my flat (yes, yes, I refer to the distance like auto rickshaws in Mumbai :)
So today I met new people whom I am welcoming to my life: the yoga master ( I don't know his name yet but when he calls me he says, "Hello, this is yoga master" - if he is going to call himself the Master, I really will believe him soon :), a few kids that funnily did Pranayamas (breathing exercises), a brave average aged woman in a tight saree- she got me thinking of her outfit for the class, a young tall father that came with his cute 4-5 year old son ( the boy kept looking at me the whole class. Once I smiled at him I received a smile back :) and a 65 year old thin bold man.
Most of the exercises we did were not a new invention of how to make our bodies move. They were less intensive and less sweating in comparison with previous Office Guru classes. And they were shorter- 45 minutes. But! these classes are 6 times/week and the duration will be extended once we are ready for that. This is what Master Guru said.
But why I am writing about this one hour piece of my evening is that I heard a beautiful monologue from that 65 year old thin bold man. We live in one block of flats with him. He is from Hyderabad ( Yay! ) and now stays with his son in Chennai. He met me nearby my flat and spoke to me. In the beginning it was a pretty common opening of the dialogue:
- Hi, I saw you came to a yoga class today. Is it your first class?
- Yes, it is. I also saw you.
- Ah yes, yes. I came to the club on Saturday. You know, they don't have classes on Mondays.
- Yes, I know.
Meanwhile he keeps smiling illuminating me with a very warm deep look of his eyes.
- Where are you from?
- I am from Kazakhstan.
- Rajasthan?
- No, Kazakhstan, Central Asia ( Oh My, I think, how come that one of 26 states in India sounds so familiar to Kazakhstan?). Do you know where Central Asia is?
- Rajasthan... Hm, no, it is in India.
- No, no, Kazakhstan. Do you know China? Russia?
- China... Yes, I know. Russia, yes. But where is Kazakhstan? (well, he mispronounced the name)
- Russia is in the north, China is in the east and in the middle is Kazakhstan. This is where I am from.
After a few minutes, still smiling and examining me with his slyish but friendly eyes he says:
- Are you not Russia? Is Kazakhstan in Russia?
- No, we are a separate independent state. But we border. You know, like India borders with Nepal the same is with us: Kazakhstan and Russia share one border in the north ( At this point I stopped not going into details )
- But have you not been a part of Russia?
- We have been in the Union. In the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan, Russia and 13 other countries. But nowadays we are all independent countries ( and I am not going to debate with people on this topic - which state is independent nowadays and which is not )
And then the old man, my new neighbour/yoga mate/a friend (?) switched to another topic. He talked to me about his father and what his father taught him. One of the biggest lessons he learnt from his father is ... gratitude. He said, Do not criticize anyone. When you criticize things or people, you spoil your mind, your soul, your body. You allow negative thoughts overspread in your mind, body and soul. And this is bad. This is too bad. Do not do it. Do not criticize people. This is what my father taught me... Be thankful. Be grateful.
I was attentively listening to him and all seemed like he spelled a few minutes with his grandfather's charm. At that moment I made a parallel to:
a) Why he was talking to me about gratitude?
b) As a kid, I was less fortunate and did not spend much time with my grandfathers. My father's father, the knowledge and the treasure of the family, had a car accident in a very young age; my mother's father, the role model, died from a cancer when I was 6. So I actually did not have any time to spend with them.
... Accidentally I played my friend's playlist and heard this song - the song about gratitude.
" John Stuart Mill once wrote, One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests. That's precisely why beliefs open the door to excellence"
This sentence had stricken me today! I was dining in the office canteen feeling quite exhausted after the weekend trip to Trivandrum, Kerala and dying because of the Chennai heat. I impatiently took out the book I am reading now from my old reliable orange backpack, turned to page 55 and greedily swallowed the first paragraph. The eye opening sentence had reassured me that in times of turbulence we can
a) give up;
b) pause and lose momentum;
c) stay firm, keep believing in yourself and think positively.
The latter had highlighted my adventurous weekend in Kerala - I strongly believed in myself and I saw only happy moments of it. Said - done: it has been THE Weekend! I will share it with you dear readers in some time ( Love Hinglish :)
... For this weekend I am thankful to India ...
There will be stories for me to tell my grandchildren :)
