Monday, April 26, 2004
Election Day
This is going to have to be a short one since we have a test this afternoon. A test! In Mysore! Having completed the alphabet, thought we’d be about ready to tackle some early slokhas (couplets) in the Bhagavad Gita we are chanting after Sanskrit, three days a week. Not so. We learned last week how when you take a consonant and add one of the vowels to it, you get a whole new letter. More to learn, and today we review the whole thing. Biting nails. Even with the little foundation I had in Sanskrit, we are moving very quickly in this course and I am already being challenged. Did I mention I am loving taking these classes? They really help make the days feel full, to have a more structured afternoon, thrice a week. We meet in the loft area of the ladies’ changing/finishing room (I wonder: is this because the ladies’ is bigger? Nicer? Cleaner?), about 12 gals and one guy.
Which about reflects the guy/gal ration in yoga. Not as much for ashtanga. I guess since it is perceived as a more macho, less “om-shanti” style, we are blessed with a higher male/female ratio. Which still basically sucks for us girls, since you have to take into consideration those who are married/attached and those who are gay. Which leaves you with something less than 12 to 1. Oh, and also adding those-who-are-cute but-very-single to the equation, whose overt attentions place them firmly in the “don’t go there” pot with the aforementioned groups, and I might as well be back in NY. The much yearned-for Mysore romance is not coming. Have I mentioned this place can be hook-up central? Many people have met their spouses here, and many more have a short-lived or trans-continental romance. People previously pinched and single, blossoming in the embrace of a fellow-yogi. Have not even had a shala-crush. You’d think, but not. Do have a huge crush on a local boy, though. He is a darker taller Adrien Brody, and has been spotted chilling with his mates at Coffee Day and speeding past on his big motorcycle. Two whole times. We will have beautiful children.
Today is election day for Karnataka: apparently, 16 million people voting, in this state alone. Really happy about this, since it should mean the end of autorickshaws equipped with LOUDspeakers and several men’s limbs sticking out driving around our formerly quiet neighborhood BLARING music and exortations to vote for this or that party. Sounds a lot like “YOU! Up THERE! Give UP the goods! Come OUT! Hands UP! Trallaleelahloooh, toorootooroooh!” All day. Much of the night. Up the street, down the road, back up the street, park in the square, let kids blow and whistle into mike, back up the street. Flags waving, posters shredding. Impromptu agoras have been set up in every neighborhood, with plastic chairs and tents and party posters materializing in moments. Banners and posters on every street, over every road, every circle. Hopefully it will all be over today, and we can go back to the polyphony of pigs squealing and roosters crowing and kids playing and TVs blasting- the slowly-familiar sounds of my beloved new ‘hood.
Which about reflects the guy/gal ration in yoga. Not as much for ashtanga. I guess since it is perceived as a more macho, less “om-shanti” style, we are blessed with a higher male/female ratio. Which still basically sucks for us girls, since you have to take into consideration those who are married/attached and those who are gay. Which leaves you with something less than 12 to 1. Oh, and also adding those-who-are-cute but-very-single to the equation, whose overt attentions place them firmly in the “don’t go there” pot with the aforementioned groups, and I might as well be back in NY. The much yearned-for Mysore romance is not coming. Have I mentioned this place can be hook-up central? Many people have met their spouses here, and many more have a short-lived or trans-continental romance. People previously pinched and single, blossoming in the embrace of a fellow-yogi. Have not even had a shala-crush. You’d think, but not. Do have a huge crush on a local boy, though. He is a darker taller Adrien Brody, and has been spotted chilling with his mates at Coffee Day and speeding past on his big motorcycle. Two whole times. We will have beautiful children.
Today is election day for Karnataka: apparently, 16 million people voting, in this state alone. Really happy about this, since it should mean the end of autorickshaws equipped with LOUDspeakers and several men’s limbs sticking out driving around our formerly quiet neighborhood BLARING music and exortations to vote for this or that party. Sounds a lot like “YOU! Up THERE! Give UP the goods! Come OUT! Hands UP! Trallaleelahloooh, toorootooroooh!” All day. Much of the night. Up the street, down the road, back up the street, park in the square, let kids blow and whistle into mike, back up the street. Flags waving, posters shredding. Impromptu agoras have been set up in every neighborhood, with plastic chairs and tents and party posters materializing in moments. Banners and posters on every street, over every road, every circle. Hopefully it will all be over today, and we can go back to the polyphony of pigs squealing and roosters crowing and kids playing and TVs blasting- the slowly-familiar sounds of my beloved new ‘hood.
Comments:
Post a Comment
