Ayurveda and temple festival

now that s a big game of rope pulling (the ones on the left won)

Ayurveda !

            I am currently undergoing an Ayurvedic cure. A full immersion 21 day retreat that has brought both novel and forgotten sensations. I’ll break it down for you

There’s food and drink, there’s activities and then there’s the treatments.

The first ten days:

6:00am wake up to a warm shot of ghee (clarified butter) with Himalaya salt. Every day the doses slightly increase. Overall, from a sip to a full double shot. 

7am yoga, mostly pranayama and other breathing exercises

8am go to the beach for bathing in salt water followed by sunbathing as well

9-9:30 am breakfast

11:30-12:00 treatment time: for ten days I had what they called Kayaseka or Kashaya Dhara (literally meaning decoction pouring), two therapist pour hot medicinal water on me for an hour. On the third day they started to give me ghee drops in the nostrils and I was supposed to spit up lymph via my sinuses but nothing came out. The doctor told me that I would evacuate it via other ways. And then I am fully oiled. I can only wash that oil 3 hours later with either special soap or a mix or herbal powders mixes with a tad of water.

14:00-15:00 lunch

17:00 I am able to wash off the liberal amounts of oil, with either special soap or a muddy paste of herbal powders

19:00-20:00 dinner

22:00 ghee shot 

 

the view form on of the platforms in the dinning/wifi area

day ten to thirteen

6.30 wake up with the ghee

7.00 to 10:00 yoga- ocean-breakfast

12:00 treatment shifted to a powder massage, quite exfoliating and actually hurt my chest and back because of all the hair, wash ghee drop and full oiling as well.

15:00-20:00 lunch wait wash dinner

Day before the purge I got the steam treatment. loved it!

22:00 the most horrible thing I ever drank. Especially the first evening. Not only because I wasn’t used to it but also because of the texture that specific night. So ghee was replaced by a decoction of herbs smelling somewhat similar to the paste they use to massage me. It was so thick I really felt like I was drinking extra bitter mud. The mud texture was precisely bad, never had I had the gag reflex so much. Truly ghastly, I‘ve been drinking it every night since and it isn’t a treat, thankfully they water it down to something drinkable more than mud.

            I had a one-day purge where they brought a thick sweety (way too much) decoction I drunk at 5:30 and then well I spent my morning flushing my system. Felt pretty light after that, sadly my food got lighter and even more bland (didn’t know that it was possible!) quite close to the blandest possible ever. Seriously.

Day fifteen to twenty one

8:30 ocean

10:00 breakfast

12:30 the treatment is now a full body massage followed by shirodhara, where they pour a sort of medicinal curd water onto my forehead for 3o minutes. nearly impossible to not fall asleep and extremely relaxing. quite the enjoyable treatment to end the whole process

15:00-20:00 lunch wait wash dinner

22:00 a more hardcore version of the horrid decoction.

             And now I am undergoing the final stages of the cure which are quite easy on the body less so on the psychological mind as I am bored of so many aspects of it and frustrations arise.

These frustrations have mostly to do with food and being oily.

 

Like I said liberal amounts of oil.

            For food I have wheat porridge, read very tender wheat in water, when its just wheat and water they tell me it’s the salty version, sometimes I have sugar in it (one in five times) and a someday a bowl of papaya (and every once in a while with some pomegranate). I had the intense pleasure of having perfectly ripe papaya once and I’ll admit it was amazing. But the thing is that I am not big on papaya. Lunch is wheat soup again, or wheat not in water with well soup…its really nondescript and I cannot quite figure out what they put in it, feel like lentil cooking water. In the evening I have wheat, if I am lucky sticky pasta or even better chapatti and luckier still some vegetable. Also I do love tamarind soup. 

ShiroDhara

             But here’s the catch, no water allowed, only hot herbal tea they prepare. So here I am in 33 Celsius and I have to drink herbal tea. Its so frustrating not being able to drink half a litter of room temperature water after a walk in the sun or simply when I feel thirsty! But…nnoooo! Only small sips of hot herbal tea, that is very bland as well…

            Here’s another frustrating aspect that also has to do a little bit with weather, after the treatment they oil me and I have to stay oiled for 3 hours then shower then put ointment on my body. So I am drenched in oil and sweating from 2pm to 5pm and then I am sticky until the rest of the day. Hardly motivates one to go out and explore. I am speaking of liberal amounts of oil everywhere!

            So yeah when I am presented with wheat soup and herbal hot water and I am sweating, oily and thirsty. Its quite challenging. Its day 18 now….

            In the evening of day 18, I drank a new decoction, same medicine but different manufacturer and I had my worst stomach cramps in my life, spent more than one hour in the restroom in the middle of early morning. but somehow the intense physical pain helped me along with feeling less bad psychologically, I’ll admit I was feeling rather like a caged wild animal on da 17-18. Now I am writing at the eve of the last day so my spirits are quite high again.

 

Typical structures worn on the top of the head, here they had no attaches just like having a plant pot on the cranium

            But its proving well worth it, what I am paying in frustration I receive in good health, my skin is nearing perfect (or how most of the population would say normal skin) also I have slimed down. The whole process is quite taxing and I am not really allowed to do much physical activity but I definitely feel in better shape.

Overlooking the public pool

           Today they gave me follow up medicine to ingest and apply for the next three to six months, so I am quite grateful that I brought quite the empty backpack originally. 

            I'll have to take to tablets upon waking then brush my teeth, once I am truly hungry drink a tablespoon of hot ghee. I have to oil myself with the same oil for three hours and I have to drink one liter of hot water with a tablespoon of "anti uric acid" decoction. I have a special soap and also ointment for when I am not oiled. So that' going to be a fun routine, I might opt for the stay in one spot here and there strategy rather than just moving around every two or three days.

medley of light bulbs!

            I’ll be leaving on Monday and will have quite the busy full last week in India before leaving Tuesday after. Going to spend three nights in trains also! I m honestly looking forward to it. I’ll get to spend two nights in high altitude so I can catch a full day of fresher temperatures, before going back to Europe for a few months but still looking forwards to those two fresh mountain nights.

            But those adventures perhaps I’ll recount to you if I am not to swept by all the activities and people that await in Geneva.

one of multiple stretches of road along the parade route

on each chariot there was a dude in charge of lifting
the electrical cables so that it could pass

            So yesterday evening was last night of the temple festival. Had not idea that I’d stumbled upon the big festival time of the year. Apparently they do go all year round but  this is the season for the big ones. Tried understanding what it was about but I’ve been quite setback by the language barrier and lack of information for tourists. Main figure Is Vishnu in this case, the Varkala temple is dedicated to Vishnu. Vishnu is in the center of the Trimurti, the protector/preserver god, after Brahma the creator and before Shiva the 

destructor. 

Other example of head bored structures

Typical electrical generator for
the light circuit

              Saw a good deal of Hanuman as well, human god granted immortality this divinity figure actually is quite widespread in both geographical and religious fashions. From Hinduism to Buddhism via Sikhism and Jainism. From India to Thailand via Indonesia and Cambodia. This God like figure can harken to the trickster figure that is often part of diverse polytheists systems, be it Wiracocha, Dyonisos or Leprechauns, the various identification to mischievous yet neutral entities is here found in Hanuman. It does seem that this particular region has a positive twist on the character as may very well be in the rest of India. Do take these religious informations with critical curiosity rather than gospel as my knowledge is most modest in these manners.

Big hanuman on a mobile mechanical crane

           

              So the festival took shape in the form of light bulbs wreahts hanging from trees to road posts to makeshift structures made for the occasions, with a lively hodgepodge of deities patterns and designs, all that on at least a few kilometers worth. As well as scenes and arches here and there. The was a procession that spanned two hours here then a break then two hours there. Plenty of people everywhere, and precisely seven elephants, which eventually went on and entered the temple, after climbing the steps with humans on their backs right about midnight.

The six "smaller" elephants waiting for the big one's return.
also typical indian movement to fix the sari up.

            The processions were mostly comprised of three different formations, band of powerful enthralling drummers, mechanized chariots with human assisted automations and light shows and groups of Structure bearing dancers that would heave on their heads different sculpture and dance while turning on themselves.

            Here are a few of the night’s pictures :)

mostly wooden structures for the majority of the
light fixtures

As previously stated my stay here is coming to an end, as much as it has been challenging and brought a lot of novel experiences I do marvel at the ability to actually cure chronic illness in different human cultural systems. With our big pharma and mindlessly repeating lies until they become beliefs, coercing us with fear of organic structures that there’s some medicine and knowledge that actually do good instead of hooking us up on different poisons and sucking our funds dry. Each time I go bellow the equatorial line it seems that I have been healed in efficient, natural ways.

           

Ever entered a temple while ducking on an elephants back anyone?