My routine

Heading towards the end of my first week at VKV.
So here's my routine as it's shaping up:

7.30 - 8.30: Yoga (On Mon, Wed & Fri mornings)

8.30: Breakfast (or earlier on Tues & Thurs so I can get more practice in)

9 - 11: At least an hour an half practice both tabla and mridangam

11 - 12: First tabla lesson

1 - 2: Lunch

2 - 3: Mridangam lesson

3.30 - 4.30: Second tabla lesson

5.30 - 6.30: Kalaripayat (martial art)

7 - 8: Dinner

By 9: In my room

There's a few spaces in the day to get some chores done, extra practice or rest. My day is pretty full.

Now is the time of the second monsoon. Most days are blue skies, humid and hot in the sun and walking any distance produces sweat. By about 4 pm every day it pours with rain with thunder and lightening for about 2 hours, and then it may rain lighter during the night. Today, however, it is grey and drizzly in the morning, but certainly by no means cold. I'm sitting here sweating as I type on the computer. The downpour happens in the middle of my second tabla lesson for the day, where the rain is so loud that it's hard to hear myself play, and it seems that usually the power goes off, so we are left in darkness, I can't see my notebook to keep playing the exercise that my teacher has written out, and I can only see him in silouhette. So the last part of our lesson tends to be chat.

Ashok, my tabla teacher is a gentle man of 54, and has been performing tabla since age 10. He writes out an exercise and then shows me once, and then sits as I fumble over trying to make my hands go where my brain is trying to tell them. As I play he sits and listens, and when I make a mistake he makes a "MMMM" whining sound as if I've caused him pain but I think this is just his way of pointing out that I've made a mistake. My tabla teacher from last time is not available - he is a member of local parliament in Chengannur and doesn't have time to teach at VKV anymore (he is a Communist Party member, and the CP is in power in Kerala at the moment) Ashok was here last time as well and he remembers me.

My mridangam teacher is apparently a renowned mridangam artist and I gather I am lucky to have him as my teacher. Whereas Ashok chats and asks questions about Australia, he says nothing to me other than explaining the next exercise. I didn't own up to having had lessons in Australia on mrdingam with Uma, so maybe he is impressed with how quickly I'm "picking things up" so far - though I have no idea what he thinks. Teaching in Indian arts traditon gives no positive feedback at all (as I discovered last time)

A theme is being wet. I sweat during yoga in the morning, and change clothes. In the afternoon when it rains I get wet walking along the street. In kalaripayat class (martial art) I sweat profusely and have to change clothes again. I love Kalari, it's like dance, and challenging physically. Even here, there is no positive feedback from the teacher, only yet another thing I did wrong pointed out. But I understand that this is cultural. And I like the teacher.


I am staying in a house with 2 levels - downstairs there are 2 rooms (a New Zealander guy learning Kathakali and Kalaripayat and French woman learning singing and dance) and they share a bathroom downstairs. Upstairs is me, a French woman and an Irish woman, both of whom are doing the intensive yoga teacher training course. Their first session of the day is 5.30am so they get up at 5 and go to bed very early. Hence there's not much partying upstairs.

As classes and at different times and in different places in the village, often I don't see many opf the other students except at mealtimes, when we all gather at a long table and are served various kinds of Keralan foods, served on a banana leaf and we eat with the right hand. Great food.

So that's what most days look like. We'll see how weekends turn out. This weeked is different though, because it is a Hindu festival of the goddess Saraswati - goddess of music and learning (she is pictured playing a veena - a stringed instrument which looks likea sitar) All students have to not study and rest and pay respect to her, so I'm not supposed to practice on the weekend. There will be concerts here on Sunday of carnatic music (so mrdingam will be played) and dance. So it should be a treat.