INDIA

INDIA SURF

On Monday November 12^th, my mom and I went to the surfing ashram in India. The way there was long. We left Beijing at 9 o'clock at night and arrived at the ashram on Wednesday at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.  First, I flew to from Beijing to Delhi.  There we spent a day and 2 nights. Then on Wednesday, I had to fly to Bangalore from Delhi. Then, I had to fly to Mangalore from Bangalore. In Bangalore we almost missed our transfer flight to go to the ashram and to meet up with our friends Deirdre and Elena. Luckily we made our connection. Finally, we all had to take a taxi to get to the surfing ashram to surf. It was almost two whole days, and it was crazy!

        Our day in Delhi was eventful and exhausting. The day we were in Delhi my mom and I went to 2 different world heritage sites and drove past 1 because I was too tired. The first location was the tallest minar, but the Taj Mahal is 5 feet higher. The definition of minar is tower. The minar tower is part of the city's ruins. The 2^nd site was a humungous tomb that looks like a small Taj Mahal. It was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. 

The final site was the red stone fort. Since we didn't enter I know nothing about the red fort. The funniest incident was when our driver made an illegal U-turn and had to bribe a cop with six dollars or 300 rupees so he didn't get a 22 dollar ticket. In the evening a girl who went to school at ISB in 2^nd grade came to our hotel to socialize with my mom and me; her name is Sora, and she gave me a bag of candy!  

                                             

After Sora left, the hotel concierge asked me if I wanted to throw firecrackers because it was Diwali, an Indian holiday.  I went out to the parking lot with the hotel management and we threw firecrackers. 

My whole day in Delhi was fun, but I was half asleep.

The ashram is very nice but primitive. There is a ping pong table, and there are Frisbees.  

The people there are nice. The showers only have cold water. There is only internet in the dining room and above the dining room because the router is not that strong so you have to be near it. The food is spicy but I like it, and the ashram is vegetarian.

 It's in a rural area (it means not a city) beside a river. The beds are so hard it feels as if we're sleeping on a mountain with a lot of bumps. There is a well with a metal bucket and for water the ashram reels the bucket up and down. The praying room is the only place with air conditioning in the whole ashram. Mosquitos are everywhere and some carry a sickness called dengue. You can definitely tell it's not a modern place everywhere in India but its fun.

        We went surfing today with the ashram, and it took 4 hours. The process was so complicated! First, we wake up at 6:30 to get ready. I only have one rash guard so my rash guard is usually damp enough to make me shiver. Then, we go down to get some fruit because we don't get breakfast. After that, we collect and wax our surfboards and haul them to the Zodiac boat.  We use the same boards every day, but in the ocean we switch them up. Every morning 5 to 6 people then get in the tiny Zodiac boat with the surfboards, and we tow someone on the back while they surf and we cross the river toward the ocean.  On my first day I was towed on the back.  It was thrilling! We then trudge across a strip of sand that's littered with shoes and glass bottles and light bulbs.  (The ashram cleans it up when they can.)  The walk takes about 5 to 10 min to reach the ocean. Finally, we surf for approximately 3 hours. We then reverse the journey, return to the ashram, and wash the boards. Like I said, it is very complicated.

If you know how to surf, it's really easy! 

You can even learn by yourself, but it's easier with someone else so you can get a push. First, you have to be centered on the board, and if you're too far back, you won't be able to catch waves unless you have a 6 foot 8 board or smaller. You can't be too far forward; otherwise you will do a flip.  Then you should cover your head because fins can hurt.  Once my dad needed staples in his head from a surfboard. Second, you should have someone with you.  Get them to push you on a wave so it's easier to catch. If there is no one there, you have to paddle hard like a dog. If it's white water (a wave that's broken) you still paddle because it might not be strong enough. Once the wave is moving you, you stand up on the center of the board, but you cannot have your feet together. You have to ride it like a skateboard. That's about all you have to know to surf! 

The Devotees of Krishna, who inhabit the ashram, have the same agenda every day. First they wake up at 4:45 in the morning and bathe and then, they pray from 5:30 to 6:00. After that, the monks practice yoga from 6 o'clock to 7 o'clock. They then eat fruits for breakfast and surf until lunch. Afterward, they nap for an hour. In the afternoon, they work for the ashram and play with the guests. The monks promote surfing in India! That means let the world know about surfing in India. Hence, all the Devotees surf the web and work online. At 5 they play volleyball with the neighborhood kids. At 6:30 they bathe again so they are clean to pray for half an hour. When they pray, the village people come and chant with them. They play interesting music with percussion instruments, which we learned how to play, too. Finally, the monks eat dinner at 8 and then they watch surfing movies. The devotees' day is intriguing yet packed.

       

There are 4 monks (or devotees of God) who live in the Shri Kaliyamardhana Krishna Surfing Ashram. Only the head guy is known as a Swami and the others are just monks. Gaura is the oldest monk and is 32 years old.  Gaura joined the ashram when he was 20 because he was “enquiring about life.” I think that Gaura is the most serious. The most fun and non-serious is Shyam, who is 19. Shyam joined when he was 9 because he wanted a spiritual life. He also wanted to be vegetarian because he saw his father killing animals. Druva, the 3^rd monk, is also 19 years old. Druva joined when he was 11 years old. Druva came to the ashram because he wanted to learn about being spiritual. Druva is the most quiet. The 4^th monk's name is Kiran; his spiritual name is Kirtan Ananda. Kiran's spiritual name means happy when singing to the Lord, and his non spiritual name means sunshine. Kiran is 24 years old, and his cousin is the monk Shyam. Kiran joined when he was 12 because he wanted a devotional life. (He wanted to learn about the culture.) Kiran is the most interesting out of all the monks. All the monks are nice and playful.  

The main God that the ashram worships is Krishna, the God of gods.  The devotees do not believe that they will get wealth or power if they worship him. They believe that if they pray to Krishna, their soul will go to Krishna when they die. The devotees believe that Krishna wants them to have a good life and have fun and enjoy life. They pray by playing music and chanting.  That meditation is called bhajans. At the head ashram they worship more than just Krishna. There are a lot more shrines than just one. 

  I forget all the gods' names. For example there is a god with an elephant head called Ganesh who is the good fortune god.  I call him the driving god because all drivers have him glued to their dashboards for good luck. The most interesting thing about Krishna is that the monks choose to believe in Krishna but they can change their mind whenever they want.

        On Saturday November 17^th, I felt like my arms fell off! First, I paddled all morning surfing. Then, after surfing, I felt like everyone was going slower packing up so I decided to paddle on a surfboard back to the ashram across the river. 

The paddle back was about 20 maybe 30 minutes long. That's why my arms were exhausted.  If you paddle for a long time often you become a fast and strong paddler!

        Monday November 20th was our last day in Mangalore, and it was busy.  I got up at 5 o'clock to go surfing at 6 o'clock. The waves weren't so good for surfing so I did some yoga with Druva the monk and my mom, and then I went to go collect seashells with Deirdre. 

Eventually the waves got better and I went out with my mom to surf! The surf was exceedingly good for what it was when we got there, but Elena took a long time to come out and Deirdre had about only half an hour to surf because she collected seashells so long. After that we got back to the ashram and took a shower. We had lunch, and our journey to the Sheraton in Bangalore began. In India they call it Bengaluru, and it's Mangaluru for Mangalore. We took an old fashioned taxi to the airport, and we had to wait for the Jet Airways to announce that we could check in. We got to the plane, and the flight was about 50 minutes. We then got in a taxi and drove to the Sheraton. The trip in all was about 4 hours, but it seemed like more after surfing for 2 hours in the morning!

On Tuesday, we stayed in the hotel and had a down-day. We swam in the rooftop pool and ordered lunch there.

               

Wednesday the 20^th of November was an adventurous and athletic day. We went cycling for 40 kilometers, and it took about four hours.  I went biking with my mom and Elena, who is 10. It was hilly, hot, and horrifying because of the traffic. We saw the world's second largest banyan tree which covers 3 acres and is home to monkeys. The mother trunk of the tree was diseased so they had to cut it off, but it kept growing up by shooting roots down. 

 

We also saw a lot of stray dogs, stray cows, goats, oxen, donkeys, calves, and chickens. Most of the cycling was through farmland, banana plantations and rural villages. We even saw a blacksmith working with his wife on the roadside. The blacksmith was creating nails while his wife was churning the mini-forge and throwing coal into the fire. After completing our voyage and eating lunch with banana leaves, we toured an organic toy factory. 

There we learned how they create safe baby toys and help the local people develop their artist skills. The day was a sweaty learning adventure.

        On our last day in India we went to Mysore, another city close to Bangalore. I went to Mysore to meet the head guy of the surfing ashram. He is known as Swami Jack. We met this French woman devotee who showed us around the ashram. She showed us her paintings of all the past Swamis. Then she showed us the ashram's library and workplace.  Then we had lunch, and after lunch Swami Jack gave me an 1818 Indian coin! Its 192 years old, and I'm going to start a coin collection. After we left the ashram, we drove to the Mysore Palace where we had to take our shoes of to go in. My mom bribed a guard to avoid the crowds, just like our driver in Delhi bribed the cop.  At the palace we got to ride an elephant and a camel.  My mom finally went sari shopping (dress shopping), and it was boring!     My mom also took me to see a Handy craft store where you got to see how they made wooden

 crafts. That was my day in Mysore, and it was fun except for the sari shopping!

        In India, most of the food is excellent although some of the food is repulsive. My favorite meal was when I arrived at the ashram and we had some spicy beans. The meal I hated was the dessert with lentils and honey. My mom hated that too. When we went cycling on Wednesday we ate at a local restaurant, where they served the meal on banana leaves. Before you could eat you had to clean the banana leaves with a napkin because they were dirty. The food at the local restaurant was not something that I cared for. When we went to the head ashram the food was not nearly as delicious as the surfing ashram. The plates there were not metal like most of the restaurants we went to. The plates were leaves stitched together with pine needles. At the surfing ashram the monks make the meal and set the table but we have to wash the plates. Overall the dining experience was definitely tasty and interesting but some was “I don't care for that.”

          

Before I went to India I was a little afraid of surfing.  I almost died in Bali from a wave that was big, and then I almost drowned in the Maldives so I was scared when a wave came.  The waves in India were mostly about 2 feet high.  The surfing was a little small but I was happy that there were waves. It was fun to play on easy small waves. So after India I feel a little better because I did not almost die. That's what I learned and felt like on this trip.  

I feel that India was an important learning experience that taught me many things. For example I understand the culture of India. I also learned about the religion of India and life in an ashram. My surfing improved because now I am working on a cutback. I almost accomplished this goal. I also learned that you can bribe people. I realized that most Indian food has spice in it, but I like it. I also learned that India has a lot to offer to travelers and sightsee-ers.