Well, it took 9 hours for the KRIYA to end but it finally did. Then the fever, chills and joint pain began! The doctor came to see me again late in the morning and decided I was dehydrated and had a bacterial infection (hence the fever and pain), so he prescribed antibiotics and a powder that, when mixed with water, rehydrates the body. He said I should wait another day to travel to Pune (yes, I’m going to keep trying to get there!), which would mean I’d be showing up a day late to class as I was scheduled to start tomorrow, August 1st. I called the Institute and Pandu, the Iyengars secretary, couldn’t have been kinder, telling me that it was “no problem” (one hears this a lot in India) and to get well soon. So I am exhausted and eating (per doctor’s orders) only toast and crackers but am drinking lots of fluids and taking “complete rest” as Geetaji would say, in the hopes that I will able to get healthy enough to continue this journey!
Back in June, Patricia Walden said to me, “India can be very challenging,” and now I’m wondering, for those of you who have been studying the “boons” or “gifts” of the Yamas and Niyamas, if she isn’t so PRATISHTAYAM (firmly established) in SATYA (truthfulness) that her words became true;-) This country is challenging, but life is challenging, and, however cliché it sounds, it is, what we make of it. I intend to make the very best of it and perhaps that means coming home, perhaps not, but I will trust that whatever decision I make is the right one.
xoxo, Holly
Archive: "Seeing Mumbai Clearly"- July 31, 2009
On Thursday the 30th I shot around 700 photos in 5 and half hours through the city streets of Mumbai... feeling like I barely captured anything and was just getting started when I realizied the time and the amount to photos I had taken. Have you seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire? Have you wondered if it was “really” that bad of an environment? Well, I am here to tell you, it is!! Words really can’t express what I saw. I give some explaination to a few important landmarks, but really I just let the images say it all. I have been humbled through this experience and am grateful for it.
