O Two...O How I Appreciate You

Jeff asked after my first post, “What do I smell?” which gave me the idea that I should paint a picture of what it is like to live and practice here. 

Let me say upfront that coming to Pune for a month is a HUGE gift – to myself and for my students – and I’ll share another post about the nature of the classes and practice time.   Fundamentally, however, it is challenging for those of us who like fresh air – and who doesn’t?

Now, you might be imagining a yoga retreat in a tropical and quiet urban oasis, and I IMAGINE that it was like that when the Iyengars first built their home and the Institute in the ‘70s.   

Today this area, called Model Colony, is bustling with traffic.  There are remnants of beautiful old mansion properties and highly stylized modern ones amidst older, slightly crumbling structures, newer apartment buildings and abandoned properties.  Several universities are nearby, and modern shopping enterprises reside side by side with specialty “mom and pop” shacks along the sides of roads -- major and minor --selling anything from ironing services and holy day flower chains to fresh fruit, kitchen wares, groceries, breakfast and chai. 

The Institute driveway itself is nicely landscaped with plants and trees which does make it greener in a sea of concrete buildings, but whether in class, practice or observation, it's impossible to escape the sounds and smells of the traffic as the windows are all open.  The many overhead fans in the hall keep the air moving which helps a bit.  

Most of us who come to study here live in the neighborhood of the Institute.  Our days start early, with a 2-hour class at 7 am three days a week, followed immediately by a 3-hour practice.  Two days there is a 2-3-hour class at 9:30 am with a long break until a late afternoon practice.   And one day a week we practice first, and then have an evening pranayama class.  My flat mates and I leave at 6:30 to walk to the Institute, and at that hour the air is fairly cool and the pollution is sometimes noticeable, BUT, we only have about 5 blocks of traffic to walk in as we can walk through this delightful park. 

Sadly for our lungs, the park is closed from 11-4, so we negotiate our way home through busy streets like this one:

Once home our apartment host’s chef makes us a delicious and healthy lunch from the veggies and beans she has shopped for the day before.  

We then either study, take care of errands and rest before returning to the Institute for either a late afternoon or evening class or an opportunity to watch other classes taught for locals including the Medical Class.  Unfortunately, we can’t count on walking home through the park at night, so our trip home looks like this:

My local sources attest that from four years ago, the air quality has gone from bad to worse.  The pollution is quite literally visible and noxious…smog, motor pollution, smoke from trash burning… and the lack of monsoon season in the region means that that “freshening up” of the atmosphere didn’t happen.   On the busier streets, it burns the eyes and lungs and even on less major arteries, it’s very noticeable.  My activated charcoal filter mask may not be pretty, but when I walk in traffic or go out in the auto rickshaw, it's very effective.  My friends are not as happy with their scarf option.  Now if only there were a mask for the eyes!

 

I DID notice that Sunday’s air quality was noticeably better as folks are hanging out with family and there is less traffic.  We have no classes or practice that day, so it’s a great day to head to the park for walks in the morning.  

My flatmate, Farnaz, enjoying the cleanish park air with me

Another day, I'll share a bit about what the classes have been like and a few photos from the institute.