Janglin'

The title for this post comes from "Janglin'" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes who I've been listening to on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. Love those.

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to post! I just haven't had that much to say. But I shall try to make sure that I write each week. I'll get another post up  this saturday or something and get back on track. 

This post will just have a bunch of pictures and I'll try to get some of the stories down. But Saturday's post will be better. Hope everyone is having a great week!

This is a market that we stopped by one time. People come from miles around for these one-a-week markets. They bring goats (which you can see here), fish, metal workings, ceramics, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Apparently the black and white spotted goats are 'auspicious'. (Everything here is auspicious to some caste, clan, goddess, god, etc)

 As we were driving along the road we came across one of the many strikes that are going on. These are the dentists protesting outside the dental college. Fearsome.

Really, all they do is burn tires and yell stuff. Even the people yelling lack the enthusiasm that should be a requirement for strikers. Only 2 out of every 50 know what the strike is about; each one is over in about 20 minutes. No harm done.

 A rice field that we drove by. Imagine white birds in the sky and mountains in the distance and you would have a fairly good idea of what I saw on the drive to Sri Mukhalingam. Still can't believe I live here.

 Siddhu (named after Siddhartha) had a ceremony up at Simhatchelum one day (he is finally of age to begin learning and therefore supplication must be made on his behalf to the goddess of learning and books). We all went up in our saree's. Everyone thought we looked so good, we even ended up in the newspaper the next day. #fifteensecondsoffame. Left to right: Rajhu (Durgha's husband and Siddhu's dad), Rebecca, Linsey, Me, and Durgha (seven months pregnant!).

 Found this little gem in the Yoga Village for Andhra University. This is the most incredible country because you can get your bachelor's in yoga here. Uhm. Okay.

 Here is the sign outside the village.

 En route to my house. All of these trees have delicate blossoms on them and here you weave them into a string that you pin to your hair. The flowers are so fragrant, it is really very pleasant. They do it with jasmine too, those are my favorite flower strands.

 A bunch of stray dogs just curling up in some cement mix before the rain came. There are packs of dogs everywhere. I live in constant fear that I will at some point be appealing to them and they will attack me. They are ferocious and sometimes their fighting wakes me up in the middle of the night.

 Krishna's birthday was last week! So the festivities were riotous and extravagant. He is a god, that is meant to be worshiped by fun and parties. Every morning he is woken up with singing and playing of music and he goes to bed after more music and the offering of sweets.

This is a mantra tent. There were 108 steps on the ground and on each step you recite the mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

 Each one of those steps represents a bead on a japa maala (a necklace of prayer beads...kind of like a rosary). Devotees of Krishna recite that mantra 108 times every day because it is supposed to bring your mind closer to Krishna and freedom.

This is a picture of something that I was able to do: rock the Krishna idol. He is in a sort of a cradle and devotees pay to pull the rope back and forth to rock the cradle because Krishna is supposed to find amusement in this. I was able to do it for free because there were TV cameras and I was white. It was fun!

 We went to these ruins of a Buddhist monastery the other day: it was the most incredible place. Each place you went here felt as though it was holy ground of some sort. You could tell that peaceful people lived there. It was quiet, secluded, and calm. It is one of my favorite places so far. There are some pictures of me doing some yoga asanas on them, but with my face about the color of the bricks I chose not to post them.

What you can see specifically here are the rooms for the monks. Each room is about ten by ten and would house two monks. We think...

 Rajyalakshmi and Madhu! These two hang in there for everything. We put them through a lot. They are our translators and are a huge blessing. Without them we wouldn't be able to do anything, really. Madhu is putting up his "Shanti" hand. He always says that when we seem in the least bit annoyed/stressed/anxious/excited/or if we show emotion in the slightest. "Shanti! Shanti!" Shanti means peace and calm.

 Here we are! All in the salwar kameezes that are so common here. Mom, that is the bag you sent me with that I didn't think I would use...I use it all the time! I have fallen deeply in love with these pants. They are the most comfortable things I have ever worn and they conduct breezes like nobody's business.

That is a giant Buddha behind us, it was in a little alcove in the trees. We decided it would be a good place to stop.

PS Objects in picture are shorter than they appear.

 A shot from our time in Bheemli. You will definitely see more pictures of there because we are planning on going back soon. There is a university with a new meditation hall that I want to check out (it is a part of the philosophy and Ghandian studies department) AND there is this incredibly mysterious looking cemetery that we didn't have a chance to go into. The cemetery is owned by the local Catholic convent and I guess all the sisters had a day off when we went.

Oh. And the water is the Bay of Bengal.

 Here are some fishermen working on making their nets. They were all over the beach and their hands were so deft it looked like no work at all.

 That is one of the oldest buildings in Bheemli (with the tree growing out of it). It was built by the Dutch settlers, I believe. Hard to believe that it is still standing today. There are some more of the fishing boats!

 I just love this picture. It is an accurate representation of how things looked while we were there. Magical and perfect.

 A woman at the market! Those artichoke looking things in the middle have become my new favorite fruit: custard apple. Sounds really nasty, but you just split one open and it is like passionfruit meets an apple meets mangiis (sp?). I pick some up every time I see them. The last ones I had were really ripe and man...so good.

I found Narnia/Diagon Alley. NBD.



















That is all I have for right now, but I hope that I can get you some more information about my time here! Talk to you soon