INDIA
JOURNAL
March,
2011
March 3, 2011
Day 1 did nothing to dispel my 2007
experience that getting anywhere in India is a bit on the traumatic side. The
good news is that our workshop venue is charming and comfortable and the hill
station of Matheran is quite a lovely and unique spot with narrow dirt roads
inside of a forest of dense trees and shrubs. No car traffic is permitted, only
horses and hand held rickshaws (haven’t even seen a bicycle). The phone and
internet signal is intermittent at best. Suffice it to say, it is remote even
though as the crow flies, not that far from Mumbai.
There is a “toy train” that takes you up
to the entrance but wasn’t running today when we arrived at a train station
some 90 kms from Mumbai. So we took a taxi – 9 kms up a very steep winding road
and then rode horses the last 4kms (a bit tortuous) while a porter carried our
bags (one on his shoulders and one on the top of his head). Getting out of
Mumbai took 1.5 hours to get about 10kms in the worse traffic you could possibly
imagine, with horns tooting at full pitch. The door to door journey took 5
hours, more than half of my plane ride yesterday from Joburg to Mumbai.
Still, I like it here. Much cooler than
the big city with a lovely afternoon breeze. (but hot like NY in August.) Lunch
was a yummy Indian veg meal, where each person had a metal tray with small
bowls that were filled by waiters circling the room with 6 or 7 dishes, bread
and rice. It’s called thali and works
better than a buffet. Afterwards we walked through the woods (on the red dirt
roads) with our guide, to pick spots where the workshop participants will work
with the 4 elements, starting tomorrow.
I’m glad I made the trip today and not
tomorrow with the rest of the participants because it took a while to adjust. Thankfully
Megha (one of my 3 host/organizers) was handling all the details today so I
just got to follow along. After our hike, I dipped in the pool and then got a
$7 coconut oil body massage by an elderly woman in a sari, with bangles on her
arms and rings on her fingers. She spoke no English (like most of the staff and
residents here). The massage table was a padded slab built into the wall in a
closet sized room that was barely as long as my body. Someone should have been
filming it for YouTube because it was really humorous. She slopped oil from a
small bowl all over my naked body and rubbed it around vigorously but
astonishingly missing every muscle or pressure point that might have brought
some relief. When she turned me over and slopped more oil on my breasts and
face with the same abandon she had on my legs and back and began rubbing it in.
I just had to laugh, especially when she burped loudly a few times. I guess you
get what you pay for!
I had actually made a reservation for a Jacuzzi
earlier in the day, trusting it would be nice and hot when I arrived for my
appointment. When I stepped inside the “spa”, I could see a few inches of very
murky brown water at the bottom of an otherwise empty Jacuzzi. That’s when I
decided to go for the full body coconut oil massage instead. You have to have a
sense of humor in India and learn to go with the flow. It all seems to work out
in the end, at least so far. Now I just have to get the coconut oil out of my
hair.
Looking forward to beginning the
Munay-Ki workshop tomorrow, with a pretty good guess that starting time will be
a bit later than we planned.
March 7, 2011
It is Monday night here, back in
Mumbai after a long travel day (more on that later). My hosts have organized an
apartment for me which is really nice (furnished with a kitchen) and air
conditioned which is greatly appreciated because it is very hot and humid here.
I will be giving some healing sessions to people during the week, leading up to
the one-day Shamanic gathering on Sunday, so I will do the sessions here as
well. Friday is my only day off. It is quite remarkable really how many people
are interested in Andean Spirituality.
The workshop went very well, and
surprisingly started right on time! There were 14 people including Anahata,
Megha and Khushi (who were the organizers). Although most of them had very
little information about the Andean Tradition or the Munay-Ki Rites, they
responded enthusiastically. It was nice to make some connections between the
traditions in Peru and India. Like always with the Munay-Ki, the shifts from
the first day to the last were considerable for everyone. It was truly a
wonderful experience for all of us.
One of the participants, Irawati Marshe
Mayadev, an actress and a poet, wrote this poem toward the end of the workshop:
“DIANE”
She
comes to us in the twinkle of an eye
She
comes to us dancing down from the mountains
Bright
sunshine on her shoulders
Tall
and graceful, lithe like the panther
Feminine
and strong
All
silver & gold
And
when she speaks,
We
hear the tinkling light of the Andean Winds
And
she carries us all to the mountain top
She
carries the Andes in her lap
Diane,
the Diamond from the Andean Magical Land.
Almost everyone stayed at the
venue last night and we took the "toy train" back down the mountain
(2 hours, in a tiny car that just fit the 14 of us, windows open, basic padded
benches) to a small town called Noral where we got a taxi back to Mumbai,
another 2 hours. At least the traffic was more manageable than when I left
Mumbai Thursday morning.
Being inside the woods in the hill
station of Matheran (with no car
traffic) was really nice. But being in such a remote place, the hotel itself
(the "best" in the area) was rather rustic yet comfortable. The
showers and toilets worked. The food was really nice vegetarian Indian food
just hot enough for me to enjoy. It reminded me of being in Jamaica in the 80s,
only woods instead of ocean.
Anahata interviewed me this
morning for a TV show she is producing. We will do another taping session on
Thursday. Some of it may be suitable to put on YouTube. They have done a great
job of organizing everything. All 3 of them work in the TV/film industry.
Click this link to see the photos
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=284077&id=664829159&l=56b3d94098
March 11, 2011
I did 4 healing sessions Wed. and when I
finished, Khushi took me to a spa for a real massage (with hot stones and oil).
All the staff were in uniforms and took great care to pamper you. We got a
cotton robe and slippers and started in the steam room. The massage room was
also very upscale. The woman who gave the massage was a delicate oriental (from
north east India near China) with lovely hands. She was as careful and precise
as the other one was rough. The hot stones felt great, as she used them in her
hands. There were private showers to use afterwards. The whole experience was
quite luxurious – well worth the $60.
After that we did a little shopping and
then met Anahata and Megha for dinner. I quite enjoy their company.
Yesterday morning they taped an
interview with me. After my healing session in the afternoon, one of the
workshop participants, Mona, took me to a posh part of town for some shopping.
She took me to 2 boutique type stores with beautiful styles and fabrics. I
bought one top in each place. Then we had a lovely meal at a middle eastern
restaurant, quite “western” looking. Bombay seems to be a nice city –wild and
crazy but with a certain charm. It makes such a difference to be taken around
places with locals so I don’t have to worry about anything.
March 15, 2011
The Shamania Gathering was fantastic. Anahata, Megha and Khusi did a fantastic job of organizing. The venue was beautiful and the speakers were all so interesting. There were 3 other speakers besides me and it was remarkable how we complimented each other –each sharing from our own experiences and contexts yet all sharing similar views about the wonders that await us leading up to 2012 and beyond. Click here for more info http://www.anahatafoundation.com/home/events-a-journeys/shamania-global-spirit-festival-2011.html
and to see the promo videos they made
for each of us.
Diane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iV5D9B2OT8
Katharina - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKyiO9JXrM8
Ellaeenah
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNH6nlyxWwQ
Cosima
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bSbvwDO12A