Diversions

Earlier in the week I was feeling a little out of sorts. I was impatient and I was allowing myself to get upset much more easily than usual. By Wednesday I felt that I really needed to do something different in my daily routine, I needed break. It’s funny, I am so accustomed to being busy and  more reading, meditating, going to treatments etc., just wasn’t going to cut it …… so I…….walked. Not just the walk from my flat to the business center. That only takes ten minutes or so and is down the main street in our little oasis here in the Sahara States neighborhood. For this walk I went out through the gates and walked the short distance to Mosoorabad Road and turned left. Immediately I was right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of life in Hyderabad.

Horns blaring, many people walking, some with loads of laundry and other household items on their heads. All of the people are a little overwhelming, especially with the onslaught of traffic that is constantly moving up and down the roads. Scooters and motorbikes jockeying for position along with cars, buffalo, and big wildly-decorated trucks.

I usually like to have the traffic coming towards me as I walk so that means I am on the right side of the road in the direction of travel. But some of those carrying the heavy loads didn’t seem to mind which way they were oriented and just stepped on and off the road to the shoulder and back as need be paying little attention to the traffic. Oh, one more thing about the use of motorcycles. Here it seems that a little 125cc motorbike can be the equivalent of a family car. It is not unusual to see a small baby in the front close to the gas tank, with dad driving and cradling the baby between his legs, another child behind the father and then finally mom riding side-saddle on the very back. And no-one wearing a helmet!

The streets are lined with little shops that have roll-down doors like a garage. More seem to be closed than open and the assortment of shops is far reaching. Butchers, chicken shops, welders, bakeries, housewares, beds, electronics, general stores, and lots of motorbike repair shops with signs reading “will throw a wheel”…..I assume this means they change tires, probably something that you need fairly often given the condition of the roads. I walked for about one-half hour, then turned around and headed back. Finally stopping at the local grocery store before heading back to the flat. The hour or so of walking was just what I needed to clear my head and the exercise felt great.

Each Thursday night they have what they call a Yagiya on the roof of the clinic. A Yagiya is a blessings ceremony used for special occasions. This particular Yagiya is a blessing for healing and it is led by the Pundits that I wrote about a post or two ago. We sit around a small square-shaped alter with a fire-pit in the middle of it. The Pundits start out by asking everyone their name and their spouse’s name, then they chant a blessing for each person. After that, rhythmic chanting continues for thirty minutes or so while one of the Pundits uses a wooden spoon to drip clarified butter (ghee) into fire while the participants make offerings of small wood chips.For a while I just close my eyes and listen….feeling totally embraced by the sound of the chanting and the smell of the fire. Finally the Pundits pick one person to make the final offering which is a small coconut with marigolds on top of it. We all then stand up and take turns pouring small amounts of ghee onto the coconut which, as you might imagine, causes it to burst into flames. The ceremony ends with the Pundits throwing rice around on each of our heads and taking a bit of the ash from the pit and marking our foreheads.

Late this week I also started playing chess with one of the people visiting the clinic. We now have a regular game after the afternoon appointments in a park that is between the clinic and treatment rooms in the business center. The guy, his name is Chris, is from Alaska and fishes for Salmon from May until September but apparently doesn’t work much during the rest of the year. The last three years he as spent several months in India traveling and visiting ashrams. We have played a few games so far and I am still waiting for my first win!

On Monday a group of us are going to see Mātā Amritanandamayī Devī, also known as the “The Hugging Saint” or Amma. She runs a humanitarian organization that donates large sums of money for the poor and those in crisis. Apparently she travels the world and has been to the states a number of times. I will know, and write, more about it on Monday. That’s all for now……