Arriving in Pune
Pune, India 5 January 2025
I arrived safely in at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Mumbai together with my yoga and travel companions Rachel and Rosana on the 3rd of January. Apart from the flight being one hour late, our journey went very smoothly. Our pre-booked taxi was at the airport to meet us and the car was big enough to fit the three of us and our luggage in. Having helped Rosana to get her case from the luggage carousel earlier I knew how heavy her case was. We both threw ourselves at the bag and we managed to pull it off and knock another bag off in the process which then fell on a man’s leg. Rosana apologised profusely but he wasn’t happy and said that we nearly broke his leg. Slight exaggeration! The road to Pune was in a better state than I remember from my last trip in 2017 so our three and a half hour car journey was fairly pleasant. The car even had air-conditioning! A bit too fierce.
The staff at Ketan Hotel welcomed us with a spicy tea and took our bags to our rooms. Hotel Ketan is a small friendly hotel close to the venue where the yoga will be held. The event for which we are here is the 50th anniversary of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI). The institute is not big enough to accommodate nearly three hundred participant so the event is being held at the PYC (Poona Young Cricketers) Hindu Gymkhana; a club which was founded in 1906 to raise awareness of cricket and other sports among young people.
We had a quiet first day unpacking and exploring our immediate surroundings. The next morning the registration opened for the ‘intensive’, which is what they tend to call these events. It was all done very efficiently with a station for checking your paperwork, a station for paying the outstanding fee, one for your food coupons and the final one to pick up your equipment bag. As the event doesn’t start until the 6th of January we could go to RIMYI for a two hour self practice session in the afternoon. It’s a very special place to practise in.
Our friend Lisa arrived that afternoon and we all went out for dinner and ordered the exact same food as the night before at the same place where we had eaten the night before. Dosas are so delicious.
Today we went on a four hour long Heritage Walk through Old Pune which was very interesting. Those of you familiar with India know how busy life is here. My head is spinning from all the historical information from the walk, the hustle and bustle of crowded streets, the constant beeping of horns of motorbikes and tuc-tucs, the smells, the colours etc. I’d better take myself off to bed now so that I’m ready for our first day of the ‘Intensive’. Can’t wait!