And so we come to the final chapter of the Indian adventure..... (sob). As it was such an epic journey it had to end with a big finish. Leaving the ashram was like a breath of fresh air as I felt so refreshed and happy. I understand the way the ashram experience has this powerful effect on you . It goes like this...... if you can learn to be at ease with the simplest thing, in this case it was listening to the sound of my own breathing for an hour straight (twice per day) for A WEEK and chanting 'aummm' over and over again, everything else in the world becomes so much more interesting and appealing! Once you can be content with something that is so unstimulating, you become so much more enthusiastic about anything that is better than that (which is everything).
Apparently I sound like a real hippie because I'm so happy and laid back about everything as I appreciate everything more now which is why it was a great experience. But the night before I left the ashram, I became a rebel! It was my final Satsang(chanting and meditating session) that I was supposed to attend, but I realised that about 8 girls in my dorm had stopped going. I'd been to every one before that so decided that it wouldn't be that bad to miss the last one.I felt like a naughty school kid, but it was actually so much fun, way more than Satsang! I did enjoy seeing Satsang and attempting to join in at the start of the week but the more I went, the more of an endurance challenge it became. So I bunked and spent the evening giggling away, taking the piss out of the chants we'd learnt and joking about how much we were 'missing out'. Even better I made some contacts in the outside world. I got quite friendly with an American girl (Diane) and an English girl (Suzanna) that were travelling together and we talked alot to two Indian women who hadn't done a great deal of yoga by the sounds of it, but were very friendly and invited us to stay with them.
When we left we we stayed with Shalini, who lives in Trivandrum ,which is near the ashram with her family. She was very kind and took us out for a much needed meal in a restaurant. We were so incredibly happy to be able to pick what food we wanted to eat for ourselves. We made sure we ate lots of different types of cake to make up for the food we had been missing out on and it was heaven to be able to eat something with flavour in it! Plus we got an authentic home cooked Indian breakfast in the morning which tasted amazing.
After that I headed alone to Varkala, a really nice beach at the bottom of a huge cliff face that is lined with bars and restaurants. I decided that as I probably won't be able to swim in the sea for a long time that I should make the most of it. I spent 3 days chilling out, being quite happy to be by myself (I had gotten so used to it so quickly which suprised me). I just wanted to lie on the beach, swim (or more like jump as the waves are so strong) and eat nice food. I went to a few roof top yoga classes but got put off by a pervy Indian yoga instructor who seemed to a very 'hands on' teacher and was happy to help 'adjust' my positioning. I started to get the idea that he was getting off on this and getting paid for the pleasure of doing it so I quickly stopped going.
I then whizzed up the coast to go back to Fort Kochin, where I had already been to meet back up with Diane and Suzanna as we got along so well. We headed there as we'd been invited to stay and go out to an Indian club by Tessa (the other Indian woman that we met at the ashram). Ironically staying in an ashram for a week and being in yoga boot camp, where I was deprived of my creature comforts, inadvertently opened up a world of partying and excess. India is indeed the land of polar opposites, so it seems fit that I endure a week of austerity, hardship and personal growth followed by a few days of excess and letting go with some new Indian acquaintances.
When we left we we stayed with Shalini, who lives in Trivandrum ,which is near the ashram with her family. She was very kind and took us out for a much needed meal in a restaurant. We were so incredibly happy to be able to pick what food we wanted to eat for ourselves. We made sure we ate lots of different types of cake to make up for the food we had been missing out on and it was heaven to be able to eat something with flavour in it! Plus we got an authentic home cooked Indian breakfast in the morning which tasted amazing.
After that I headed alone to Varkala, a really nice beach at the bottom of a huge cliff face that is lined with bars and restaurants. I decided that as I probably won't be able to swim in the sea for a long time that I should make the most of it. I spent 3 days chilling out, being quite happy to be by myself (I had gotten so used to it so quickly which suprised me). I just wanted to lie on the beach, swim (or more like jump as the waves are so strong) and eat nice food. I went to a few roof top yoga classes but got put off by a pervy Indian yoga instructor who seemed to a very 'hands on' teacher and was happy to help 'adjust' my positioning. I started to get the idea that he was getting off on this and getting paid for the pleasure of doing it so I quickly stopped going.
I then whizzed up the coast to go back to Fort Kochin, where I had already been to meet back up with Diane and Suzanna as we got along so well. We headed there as we'd been invited to stay and go out to an Indian club by Tessa (the other Indian woman that we met at the ashram). Ironically staying in an ashram for a week and being in yoga boot camp, where I was deprived of my creature comforts, inadvertently opened up a world of partying and excess. India is indeed the land of polar opposites, so it seems fit that I endure a week of austerity, hardship and personal growth followed by a few days of excess and letting go with some new Indian acquaintances.During the day Tessa took us to a huge sari department store that was packed full of people and colours so that we could experience true Indian shopping. I was convinced that I wasn't going to buy one but then shopping fever swept over me when I saw how much beautiful material you could buy for so little money. I realised that I could use a sari as a huge wall hanging and ended up by two for about £16. Bargain! She also took us to a really busy gold store where wealthy Indian families were shopping for wedding jewelery. Suzanna got her nose pierced by an Indian who rammed the stud through with his bare hands without prior warning!
That evening we visited Tessa's flat which is a modern, suave, top floor apartment where she lives with her husband. It had amazing views, really nice furniture and was very trendy. It was like being back in the modern world again, living like we do at home, if not even more luxurious. She was so kind and let us raid her wardrobe to find clothes that we could wear out as ours were so scruffy. She took us out to a bar/club, that could easily have been in England, apart from the crowd of Indian faces. It was so strange as in this little bubble of Indian society it was okay for women to have bare shoulders and for everyone to be drinking which is frowned upon by so much of the country. We had a little dance, got introduced to lots of Indians and we didn't pay for a single drink as Tessa is friends with the bar owner. We just got handed shots and cocktails from no where, we found it hilarious :-)
The next day we were in for more treats as we were taken to a lunchtime event where we were given lots of free food. There was a white theme, so once again Tessa lent us all clothes, that didn't stay too white, and we were taken to a spot along the back waters of Kerala that was very pretty. Amusingly Tessa's brother in law (nice, bit of a show off!) asked us whether we would like to go on a speed boat. We were like 'yeah!!!!!!'. It was so much fun, we felt like high flyers on out boat mingling with the creme de la creme of Indian. Everyone I talked to seemed to own something of importance, a wildlife sanctuary, a hotel chain, an art gallery. It was crazy, what a different world to end up in.
So those were a crazy few days but so much fun. I feel so lucky to have seen so many sides of India in such different ways. The last couple of days I was alone in the city of Bangalore ,which was pretty boring by myself. But it was good as it made me sober up to the reality of going home so that I could mentally prepare myself for adjusting to real life. Now that I am back I am still very happy and just want to do it all over again. So going on another big trip is my aim and funnily enough now I would even be brave enough to go away alone as I have overcome my fear of being with myself. I'm not so bad afterall ........!