Little did I know that when I was told about Nrityagram Dance Village that it was actually closed for staying guests and there were no classes being taught. However, the wonderful Lynne Fernandez and her troupe of dancers have welcomed me here nonetheless.
I have to be quick as there is a birthday party for Surupa (a principal dancer here who does all the choreography) going on outside and I just raced in to let you know that I'm safe and o' so well. It's my second night here and I chose a tricky time to visit, as they're also training for a performance in Chennai (Madras) this weekend and are all leaving tomorrow. Lynne has put me up in a guest cottage and I've been watching rehearsals and wandering about this sacred compound in a daze of quiet happiness.
It truly is magical and I've been the only 'unofficial' guest, though some Indian tourists came through today to take a look for a few hours and I felt rather affronted. The cheek of me thinking this was all here for me.
The bonfire is raging outside and guests are drinking and eating incredible Thai food. I spent all afternoon watching Lynne, Bijayni and all the girls working like demons. I sat on a stool as they pounded pastes and prepared a mountain of food. It was all a surprise for Surupa, but the cover was blown when her boyfriend Blue turned up with his brother Chip who works with wolves in Alaska but lives in Texas. Blue lived for 16 years in Melbourne and loves Australia. He tried to move his parents out but the gov't wouldn't let him, so he had to come home to India. We've had some great chats and they've agreed to let me jump in their jeep to Mysore tomorrow.
I've been trying in vain to get a train or bus to Cochin for days but it's such a busy time, it's been near impossible. There is a big Christian community there, so a lot of people congregate for Chrissie. Sampat kindly had me to stay for a night in his lovely flat in Benson Town in Bangalore. He gave me invaluable advice about heading south, as he's from Kerala and knows every nook and cranny. I now have my whole mission through that beautiful state and up in to Tamil Nadu all planned out.
The saint that he is, Sampat insisted I get an Ayurvedic treatment when I said I fancied a massage, so after a few false starts he sent me to a traditional place. I had the oil dripping again on my third eye (which is well and truly waking up methinks) and really loved the process this time, instead of falling fast asleep and wobbling all over the place. That said, if I keep going at this rate my jelly belly is going to increase significantly. I adore Indian food and it seems to agree with me thus far.
We had a lovely dinner at an old 'colonial style' Benglaru restaurant and the food was delish. Sampat runs his own advertising business and has some great clients. It's his company but essentially he's Creative Director. We had a yummy breakie of idli, my new fave food which is a kind of rice cakey, spongy thing that you dip in samba (curry) and a coconuty chutney. We talked about the monkey god Hanuman and this lead to talk of his guru, a man from a very wealthy family who ended up living by a temple in Trivandrum at the side of the road. He didn't eat for 35 years. He spoke very, very rarely but communicated via his eyes with his disciples and only took tea from a disabled boy. He passed on some years ago and the temple is still waiting for the next guru. Sampat's description of meeting Poonthura Sami was fascinating, he took no money from his followers and asked for nothing and when he looked at you it was with "total love". How can one argue with that purity of thought? It was a wonderful breakfast and exit from Bangalore, short but sweet and brimming with spirituality.
Getting to Nrityagram with Sampat's driver was quite an adventure. The big highways we raced along were thick with trucks and everything imaginable. I thought I'd seen crazy roads in Mexico, Cambodia and Brazil but they have nothing on India. It's the driving straight into and between lanes of oncoming traffic that gets me every time. I was so grateful to be dropped off at the door by Narasimhan, who was gracious and caring.
After arriving a bit late, I was ushered straight into a rehearsal. I watched Surupa and Bijayni (both principal dancers) practice a range of dances from Orissa. According to Lynne (we sat up together drinking tea and chatting most of last night) there is some controversy about the type of dancing they teach here and how it's spelt - either Orissi or Odissi - but it's so expressive and graceful. Both girls blew me away, but Surupa's dance of betrayal almost had me in tears it was so beautiful.
All the girls who work here have made me feel welcome and surrounded by love and light. They're just a very, very special group of people and they spread their dance all over the world. I want to try and find them some gigs as they are world renowned and deserve to be seen everywhere. If anyone has any ideas or leads, please let me know.
Anyway, instead of just writing about all this, I must get back to the bonfire and enjoy the rest of the evening. We leave for Mysore at 6.30am and I hope to get on to Cochin tomorrow night as I have booked hotels for Sat and Sunday in Alleppy, which is where I'll explore the backwaters from. I hear that the men in Kerala must be treated with genuine suspicion so I'm going to watch my back and just pray that my guardian angels continue to look out for me.
One more thing, Lynne told me about a saying here which is 'swalpi adjust maadi' which basically means 'adjust a little' and it's what you have to adhere to everything in India. Nothing is quite what you want or expect but if you adjust a little, you'll be ok. I'm letting go with every breath and it feels great - SAM is my new motto.
More soon my lovelies.
Lxxx
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