It a slightly delayed start to my India & Nepal blog, which I will (from now on) try to write once a week or so. At the time of writing, we have been in India for about two and half weeks. Even in that short time the earlier days in Mumbai, and even the beginning of Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) here in Varkala, are a blur. I will try to give some sense of our last two weeks, and rely on photos to give more of a feeling of the places we have seen so far…

We set off, after months of planning and weeks of preparation, from our flat in Battersea on the 01/02 (which happened to be Ellie’s birthday). The journey to the airport and the overnight flight to Mumbai went largely smoothly, though during the flight we did have to offer some medical aid to a passenger who had fainted in the toilets. Luckily, nothing serious. We landed in Mumbai International Airport at 11am local time (about 5.30am by our body clocks) and were pleased to see our backpacks come eventually round the conveyor belts of the luggage reclaim – this felt like the first small obstacle successfully navigated.

Next, getting to the hotel. We had arranged airport pick-up and, to my slight surprise, a man holding a sign saying “ROBERT HYDERWILSON” met us at the airport exit and shepherded us into a taxi. The drive from the airport to the hotel was only about 20 minutes, but I think we will both remember it for a long time. To both Ellie and I, the sense of life as vivid, colourful, loud, and immediate was instantly different to anything we had experienced. Everywhere there were people – 5 schoolboys crammed into the back of a rickshaw, cattle in the street, groups of women in bright saris, street food vendors lining the pavements, and the ever present sound of car horns from all directions.

We arrived at the slightly shabby but otherwise clean and tidy Hotel Regal Enclave, shown to our first floor room, and provided with a thermos of masala chai. I had heard of masala chai but had only a vague conception of what it would actually be like. Hot, milky, sweet, spiced tea – which, as it turns out, is exactly what it is and it is delicious. We slept for a while as neither of us had much sleep on the plane, then ventured out for a walk through the local area. The hotel was situated in Khar, about a 30 minute train-ride to the North of central Mumbai – though still very much in the city itself given its enormous size. Khar was clearly a locals area, safe but busy and in some places quite deprived. At intervals, the massive Dharavi slum spilled into the spaces between buildings. We found somewhere (absolutely delicious) for food, and had an early night.

The following day we explored central Mumbai. We headed downtown on the train, which on the whole were far less busy and unpleasant than I had anticipated, though I did manage to cause a stir by sitting in the Women Only compartment. The touristy Mumbai Fort area was considerably more affluent and well-maintained than Khar. Given the University of Mumbai campus was situated here, the whole area felt relaxed, young and vibrant. We went for a massage and body scrub as a belated birthday present for Ellie, then explored an art gallery and museum in the area. It was here also that we had our first thali – a (seemingly, though not tested perse) all-you-can-eat assortment of curries, breads and rice. Again, delicious. At dusk, we walked down to the “Queen’s Necklace” beach promenade before heading back to Khar for the night.

The following day we boarded a flight to Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city in the state of Kerala in the South-Western tip of India. The day was relatively uneventful despite our rickshaw dropping us off at the wrong terminal, which made timings a little tight. Even so, we found ourselves on a half-empty AirIndia flight out into the sunset over the Arabian sea and, only a couple of hours later, diving back down into the lights around Thiruvananthapuram.

After a hair-raising 90 minute cab journey through Keralan country lanes to Varkala, a tourist town to the north of Thiruvananthapuram, we arrived at Vrindra yoga school which was to be our home for the next four weeks. We were shown to our accommodation in a semi-constructed hotel a few minutes walk from the school, which in actual fact turned out to be a bit of a boon as, although something of the building site, our room was furnished and even had air-conditioning. The following morning we met in the yoga school (which consisted largely of an upstairs and downstairs outdoor yoga hall or “yoga-shala” and outdoor communal eating area) for our induction with Dr Malathi, who led some of the classes and taught the theory. After some chanting and prayers to initiate us to the school, we were free to explore the area.

Before long, we had settled into the routine of yoga teacher training. Time feels very much dilated in Mumbai, but as we got into the swing of the daily practice here in Varkala, time seems to have sped up once more. I perhaps will talk more about the school and Varkala in my next blog (this one is already longer than I’d planned). However, for context I will record the schedule, photos and some highlights:

Mon-Fri – 5.30am wake up; 6.00-8.00am Hatha yoga; 8:00-9:00 breakfast; 10:00-13:00 theory class; 13:00-14:00 lunch; 16:00-18:00 Ashtanga yoga practice; 18:00-19:00 dinner.

(On Saturday we finish after the theory class (13:00), and Sunday is our own.)

Before long, we had settled into the heat (36+C in the midday), the near continuous chickpeas and lentils, and learnt where was best to squeeze in a coffee between breakfast and theory class. All the teachers are characters, but more on them next week when I have the column inches to expand! Varkala has a glorious beach where we often swim, though the waves can be quite formidable especially after 4 hours of yoga a day.

Another delight has been having my parents here in our second week, who stayed in a villa around the corner from us on South Cliff. After the rigours of the course, it was lovely to escape a few evenings and have a meal out (meat and, sometimes, beer!). Varkala isn’t known for its authentic cuisine, but sometimes a pizza is what is needed after a week of green curry soup and curried vegetables.

As I said above, I will try from this weekend to blog once a week so I can write in a bit more detail about each place and experience. But for now I hope I’ve given a sense of the first couple of weeks of our trip through India and Nepal.

Until the weekend,

Rob x