Journey to India
February 2008
#1 The Journey
After an hour or 2 on the plane it seems that time is suspended, or perhaps it goes into another dimension and doesn't revert to normal until a few days after returning to Ann Arbor.
The endurance of two long flights with the time in between; the usual uncertainty about connections and arrival times, concern over bags arriving, customs hassles, meeting friends and rendezvousing with a van the long, middle of the night ride to Pune, horrific pollution and noisy horns (even at 3 am), arriving at early morning when the inner clock says late afternoon...all make for a surreal feeling of being out of time and place.
India is such a mix of modern and old, sometimes culturally familiar, sometimes culturally alien: the daylight does little to dispel those feelings. Jet lag is like being in a fog that periodically lifts or deepens, the mind is very slow to grasp, and the body is sluggish and awkward. Here it is 11 1/2 hours earlier than home. But perhaps this topsy-turvy physical body helps open the mind and pave the way for new experiences.
The physical disorientation is coupled with an emotional one: excited and expectant, sad to be leaving loved ones, feeling like a month is way too long to be away and thoughts of things that will be missed. I am anticipating the challenges and learning to come and dreading the day to day challenges of staying healthy.
All this is combined with intense yoga, yoga that will touch me where I most need it regardless of my wanting to go there or not, making this place both magic and unsettling.