Levitating and editorial freedom

In the last 3 months or so I've fallen under the spell of the most unlikely of obsessions: YOGA.

Now I know that India is having a profound effect on me when I enjoy stretching for 45 minutes three times a week. I always considered myself a pretty masculine guy in practice. I mean, come on. I struggle with emotional depth, I take sports more seriously than 9 out 10 doctors recommend, I feel the need to have red meat with every meal (very difficult in India), and I generally criticize anything or anybody different than myself. Basically, I was in a fraternity in college that has caused irreparable damage. It was in this mindset that I initially approached yoga. Many of my friends were taking yoga classes and I had a great time making fun of them for wasting their time doing splits and humming in unison.

This was all until I went to 2 classes. Now I’m addicted.

Winnie used to say that she’s hesitant to leave India because she would miss our incredible yoga instructor. She’s right. I’ll send pictures next week, but our instructor’s name is Rudraswamy. And he is actually Yoda. “New position today we will do!” “Hurting?”

Yoda. Yoga. Yoda. Yoga. Coincidence?

He’s this insanely flexible, 5 ft nothing guy who can probably levitate and shoot fireballs out of his arse, but I wouldn’t know. I’m not that advanced yet.

There are few other activities where you can see a measureable difference between EVERY SINGLE CLASS. Each class I’m able to do something I was not able to do 3 days earlier. It’s really that feeling of accomplishment that keeps me going. I can’t wait for the next class because I can’t wait to see what progress I have made.

And for all those people who say that stretching for 45 minutes a day is “lame” or “gay”
have not tried it. I am routinely pretty sweaty and exhausted after 45 minutes and after a really intense class I’ll be hurtin’ the next morning.

So now, as I think about when and how I’ll move back to the United States (or wherever) I think about where I will find an instructor as good as Rudra.

You don’t believe me, just wait for the pictures I’m gonna take of our class over the weekend and post them on Monday. _______________________________________________________________________

On a separate note, I was on NBC Nightly News being interviewed for the same old story. Crazy American living and working in India. Here’s the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12745020/

I have a few things to say. First off, I get a lot of flack for “talking about nothing but my resume” in these interviews. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m not as one-dimensional as these articles might lead you to believe. During these interviews I usually answer questions for about 15 minutes and then they cut those 15 minutes down to somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds.

Now these journalists have a reconceived story in mind. They’ve traveled all the way to India to find information that supports their hypothesis. With 15 minutes of footage, you could probably find a 3-second soundbite that makes it sound like I deny the existence of the Holocaust. That’s the beauty of the media. They can say whatever they want if they find some fool to back it up for them. I am that fool.

I may be interested in where my career is going, and that played a large part in my decision to move to Bangalore, but the personal growth benefits of living here have also been amazing. It’s just that nobody wants to read about how I’ve blossomed into a better human being, even if that’s the case. My ability to deal with shaky/sketchy situations is vastly improved, because, I deal with situations like this fairly often, especially when I first got here and I was more uncertain about the situation. Simply living outside of the United States for an extended period of time gives you a worldly perspective, especially when it comes to how the world views the United States. I can feel myself slipping deeper into cliché so I’ll stop while I’m ahead.

I urge anyone with the chance to live and work abroad to take that opportunity, no matter what your reasons are. Just be careful how you deal with media, because you can create an image for yourself that you did not intend. Because at the end of the day, your image is in the hands of the journalist.

Pics to come in the next post.