Day 2 thoughts

It's only been 30 hours since we got started here and holy crap we've done so much.

We've done 3 physical yoga classes (asana practice), a few meditation and chanting classes, and 2 ceremonial things, along with amazing meals.

The entire day is a learning experience and while some things may be a bit farfetched and tough to wrap my head around (ceremonial deities & chanting, etc.), there is a reasonably legit science behind them that is being explained and it's quite interesting.

There's a great camaraderie between all the students. There are 29 total. I am the only white guy. There are actually 4 other guys, all younger than me, a few other white girls, and the rest Indian girls. Like I said before, they are all very outspoken and impressive.

I've got to head out for the final chanting of the night. Not much time to sit and rest at all but I will do my beat to continue to post updates.

Day 2 pic

4:30am wakeup call

Day 1 recap

Yesterday was theoretically our "intro" day but was still super packed.

After training all night then a 3 hour jeep ride, finally arrived at this beautiful himalaya ashram to meet the other 28 folks an 10 staffers who are leading this ttc.

I have to say I am blown away by the quality of every single person here. Slowly meeting everyone throughout the day was very enjoyable, and when we had our initiation in the evening, it was incredible to find out the stories behind everyone's reason for being here.

The day itself was a bit rough because I was so tired from getting about 7 cumulative hours of poor sleep over the previous 3 nights due to various circumstances (Mosquitos, late night drinking, sleeper train).

I just woke up from a very deep sleep, and it's 4:50 am and I still need to shower with a bucket and get down to a ceremony by 5. I have 2 cool roommates...a 27 year old engineer from Delhi named Venki and a 19 year old named Kalki, but they need to hustle it up!

More later...gotta go now.

Day 1

I will be documenting my body's (hopeful) transformation throughout this class. This is the official "before"

Now things get serious

While this blog will of course comment on all my negative (and positive) Indian observations, it will also make a conscious attempt at figuring out what the hell is going on inside my head.

All in all I'm a pretty damn confident guy. An I'd say I've been damn successful at making awesome things happen over the past 3 years since I quit my job with Raytheon. Everytime i look through my facebook albums, I feel pretty good about myself, but that's not sustainable.

As far as the concept of future is concerned, I've been lost for a while. It's just too easy to skate by in china and have a great time and get complacent without even trying. Living in the moment, doing whatever i want, carefree, no responsibility. This is awesome, and I love it. But depleting my IRA is not so awesome.

There are so many major endeavors (entrevors?) happening in the next 3 months that I'm using to reset myself. It starts today with 1 month in a yoga ashram. I've been doing yoga on and off for the past 6 years, but I never thought I'd find myself in a situation like this.

It will be an insanely intense mental challenge. There are 3 hours of chanting and meditation every day which I have never done before. There will be 28 days of seclusion which I have never come close to before. There will be a full vegetarian diet which I have never come close to before. I will go a month without boozing or jerking off, which I have never come close to before.

So point is, I'll very likely be a different person when I come out. I'll do my best to post updates and daily pics throughout the days.

Stay tuned!

Observations so far

- All the food is fantastically amazing. I order a random different dish everytime with no idea of what's in it and it always kicks ass. 
- Delhi autorickshaw drivers can all go die. They are total scum and make Chinese cab drivers look like professional limo drivers. 
- Mumbai is a hectic city.  There's nothing like it. Way overpriced "Posh" places built directly on top or across the street from horribly rough slums. Unlike china, the government can't sweep the crap under the rug.  It's a wanna-be LA meets Shanghai price discrepancy meets favela. 
- Taj Mahal is momentous. Truly a world wonder.  Mr Rajiv at Sai Hotel was an amazing host. Heading to the othe side of the river in agra is straight proper India. SLUMDOG!
- India trains can be the seventh layer of hell, especially when they are 2-3 hours delayed and you are stuck on them or waiting for them in a shithole train station.  Never ride in an overnight sleeper class cabin to save a few bucks. Still, despite the terrible cleanliness and cramped quarters, passengers are more civilized than Chinese peasants. 
- New Delhi is much more beautiful than Mumbai. Relatively well paved roads and actual sidewalks are highlights. 
- There are about an even number of really nice, good, honest helpful people and complete scam artists scheming for you to give them money for total bullshit. I've never felt better in my life about not giving people money and having them whine about it. It's turned into a game of "who can out-fuck each other more" at this point. 
- Chinese babies = split pants...Indian babies = no pants
-Indian men really enjoy holding each others hands everywhere. Apparently this is also true in Iran. Makes Florida Betas look heterosexual! You guys need to step your game up!
- Indian women can be loathsomely slow. Their clothing is horrendously inefficient for any logistical movements
- The "India smells" come and go...but when they come, they come hard
- Couchsurfing has been great, with chan being an awesome host in Mumbai and Isabel a great travel partner in Agra
- Being able to talk cricket earns respect. Being able to play "street-cricket" earns you a crowd of onlookers

I'm currently 6.5 hours into a "6 hour train ride" that was already delayed an hour before we boarded and will still take another hour to reach our destination. Guess this is par for the course. Hopefully in a few hours I will be arriving at a yoga ashram for 28 days of non-insane India. 

I'm worried that my train ride back to Delhi after these 28 days will completely negate the entire experience!!! Must upgrade ticket! Oh shut here come the smells again...must be dead bodies.

Taj headstand!