Stock photo of Hanuman Temple stairs
So I was all set to go to Kannur last week and I was in the rickshaw and nearly to the train station when I realized that I where I really wanted to go was straight to Hampi. I didn’t want to stop off in Kannur first.
I didn’t want to pass Go. I didn’t want to collect my 200 dollars. I just wanted to be in Hampi. As soon as possible.
The great thing about India (among many great things) is that train tickets are so very inexpensive so if you miss your train or decide to be spontaneous and go in a completely different direction than originally planned it is no problem.
Train tickets are usually under $20. The only problem usually is getting on another train last minute but even that is doable by paying a $10 extra fee for an ’emergency ticket’.
I wish life changes were this easy.
So I had the rickshaw driver drop me off at the train station and I went to a travel agent in search of a train and plane ticket to Hampi.
I went to 3 travel agents and none of them knew where Hampi was.
What the heck?!
I found myself getting VERY irritated that these travel agents didn’t know destinations in their own country.
I began turning into one of those Ugly Americans that I really despise.
You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones who start talking loudly in hope that the volume of voice will increase the clarity of communication. This never works and I know this never works but I found myself instinctually raising my voice anyway.
I felt pretty embarrassed and ashamed afterward. 🙁
One angel of an Indian man saw me/heard me getting upset. He swept in and took me to the train station to help me book my ticket from Bangalore to Hampi (speaking Hindi is usually essential to book a train at the train station) and then we went to an Internet cafe where he helped me book my flight online to Bangalore.
Then he booked a cab to take me to the airport.
He was incredible.
So thanks to his help I arrived in Hampi the next day. When I arrived at the guesthouse that I’d stayed at before I initially felt really happy to be back in a place that was comfortable and familiar.
But then I noticed that I still wasn’t connecting with other like-minded travelers.
I met some people at my guesthouse but they just weren’t part of my tribe. They were nice people but not people I wanted to spend time with.
I found myself sinking into the black hole that I hadn’t experienced since Day One of my trip: feeling deeply alone and wondering what the heck I was doing by being on this trip.
I awoke the next morning and recalled the conversation I had with Alicia a few days before I left.
“I’m afraid I’ll feel lonely or sad on my trip,” I had said to Alicia.
“Do you feel loneliness or sad when you are at home?” she had asked.
“Sometimes, yes,” I said.
“Then you will probably feel lonely and sad when you are traveling too. Being on a trip does not make you immune to feelings of loneliness or sadness. You’ll figure out how to take care of yourself and pull yourself out of it,” she said.
I thought about what I do to pull myself out of those uncomfortable states when I’m at home:
1) Sit quietly with the uncomfortable feeling and see if it will pass by simply being with it and not avoiding it.
2) Talk to a friend and ask for support and love.
3) Exercise, especially cardio.
4) Eat healthy food.
5) Be in nature.
I realized that I was using the heat in India as an excuse not to exercise. It IS hot (over 100 degrees each day and very humid) but in the morningtime it is fairly cool (80-90 degrees) so I could exercise then if I had the discipline to get my exercise gear on and get my butt out the door of my hut.
I decided that morning to do three of the things on my list:
1) go on a run (cardio) to the Hunuman Temple (573 stairs)
2) Visit Krishna Das at the top of the temple and ask for support
3) eat healthy
So I got on my running shoes and after giving myself a pep talk I ran through the village to the temple and walked up all those stairs.
Did I mention there are 573 of them?
I was completely drenched in sweat when I got to the top. I haven’t been that sweaty since I did Bickram yoga. 🙂
I found Krisha in the sadhu hut and asked if he could listen to me for awhile.
I poured my heart out to him and he listened with his kind eyes and attentive ears.
I told him how lonely I was feeling and how I was having a hard time connecting with other travelers. I told him how jealous I was feeling of travelers who had a lot of vitality and how I’ve been feeling pretty mopey the past few days.
He asked good questions: How long have you been feeling this way? What do you think the other travelers are doing to give them vitality? What do you need to do in order to change the way you feel?
I told him how I have decided every day to go on a run to the temple and go up the stairs. How I need to eat healthier. How I need to find a guesthouse that feels right and people that feel like people I’d like to get to know better.
“You’ve got to purify yourself, Kristin. It takes years to purify oneself. It involves many things. You have to clean up your diet. Clean up your relationships. Clean up your worklife. Meditate. Do yoga. These are only some of the things that lead to a pure self. A pure self leads to happiness. 90% of the people out there (he points to the world beyond the temple) are not pure. They are not peaceful. Purity of body and mind leads to peace. There is no other way. 90% of the people today are thinking what they must do that day, where they most go. They give no thought to what will create peace in that day, that moment. You are lucky, Kristin. You are here. You will never forget this trip. Being here in Hampi, being in India. Use this time to purify yourself, your mind, your body,” he said, pointing to my head and body.
He continued: “I get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to do yoga. Actually first I take a sh*t. Then I do yoga.“
“You take a sh*t?” I laughed.
“Yes,” he said with a serious look on his face. “Sh*t is toxic. Taking a sh*t first thing in the morning removes the toxins. If you are not sh*tting first thing in the morning you are not pure. Your body is not healthy. And you must be able to do it without coffee or tea. I don’t have tea in the morning but still I am able to sh*t first thing. The pure person does not need anything to release toxins. The body does it naturally. Then I take a shower. Shower very important in the morning. Cleaning the body, cleaning the skin creates purity. You must shower every morning. Cleaning before yoga is essential. Then I do meditation.”
He paused then continued. “Many people who stay here at the temple don’t want to shower at 5am. It’s cold. But shower is important for yoga. After yoga, meditation. Start the day out right.”
He looked at me and smiled. “You are smart. You come here. You know what you need to feel better. We are here. We are always here. You come here whenever you want. You always welcome here, okay Kristin?”
“Yes,” I said with tears in my eyes. “Thank you, Krishna.”
He then told me which guesthouse that Cynthia was staying at. Cynthia is one of the Spanish women I met last time I was in Hampi. I decided to move to her guesthouse that day.
I could feel my energy moving in a postive direction with the exercise, the talk with Krishna, the move to the new guesthouse.
I called Barb that night and poured my heart out to her.
The rupee bill for that long phone call was very high but totally worth it.
Barb commented on how it seemed that I was out of the ‘honeymoon’ part of my trip.
I sighed and said I wanted to get back to the honeymoon.
We both laughed.
I felt her love from across the miles of sea and land.
Since that day last last week I have run every morning through the village to the temple and up the stairs. When I run through the village sometimes kids run with me and ask the typical questions that Indians always ask.
“What’s your name? Where you from? You married? How old you are?”
I answer the questions as they run for a few minutes beside me.
We smile and huff and puff together. I’m now starting to recognize the villagers as ones I’ve seen the days before. The same villagers are getting used to seeing me running in shorts and a tank top (not at all appropriate for an Indian village town but it’s the only exercise gear I’ve got).
I have breakfast with Krisha Das and Baba in the temple. Then I walk down the stairs and connect with the many wonderful people at my new guesthouse and explore Hampi with them.
Every day after breakfast Baba asks me to stay longer. He’s like a sweet Jewish mother.
The first day I came for breakfast he said, “You stay.”
“No Baba, I have to go. I need to figure out my travel plans.”
“You have lunch then you leave after lunch,” he says, his soft brown eyes smiling.
“Okay, Baba,” So I stayed for lunch that first day.
Then when I tried to leave he said, “You stay.”
“Baba, I have to go.”
“You have the chai in a few hours then you leave. It’s too hot to go down stairs now.”
“Baba! You crack me up. You are going to have me stay for dinner if I stay for chai.”
“Yes, you stay for dinner. Do the meditation and the puja and then dinner. Then you go.”
I gave him a namaste and walked down the stairs.
Each breakfast ends the same way with Baba.
“Namaste, Baba,” I say, giving him a bow and a smile.
“You stay.”
Baba is wanting me to stay the night up at the temple so I can do yoga with Krishna Das at 5am.
I may do that before I leave although the thought of sleeping outdoors freaks me out. I found a dead scorpion in front of my hut this morning and a large spider in the bathroom a couple of days ago. Eeek.
On my way back from the temple this morning I saw a camel loping across the field to my left (!) and horses and water buffalo galloping beside the camel.
The horses and buffalo looked so very tiny next to the huge camel. I continue to be amazed on a daily basis by what I see here in India.
According to locals the animals belong to Peter from Denmark. He is a meditation teacher and tomorrow I may try to find his house.
“Just ask the rickshaw driver ‘where is Peter’s land?’ Rickshaw driver will take you,” said a local man a couple of days ago.
Tomorrow I will do that. Find Peter and his land.
Tonight at the guesthouse me and the other guesthouse residents will be in the kitchen cooking meals from around the world. The Italians will cook pasta. The Iranian woman will cook an Iranian dish. The Germans will make some kind of German dish. I will make salad. 🙂
We will make and eat a community meal together.
Things are looking up…
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