I feel a sense of energy being in a country with such a deep history.  Although India only became an independent nation in 1947 the country is rooted in a past that is both wonderful and despairing.  For an awe-inspiring glimpse in history Mahatma Gandhi was here and influenced millions.  His views are still held in great respect around the world today.  He will be a man that will never be forgotten. Happy Birthday Gandhi.

My yoga mat has arrived!  I ordered it from ebay.in got it for Rs 299.00 ($6.22) with free shipping.  I ordered it Saturday and it arrived Tuesday. The seller doesn’t let you pick your color so I wasn’t sure what color I would get, but it looks like I got the blue.

I plan on following yoga podcasts.  So far I have downloaded CalYoga, Tara Stiles Living, YOGAmazing, and YogaJournal.com.  Gotta love free podcasts.

It’s been a month now here in Kochi.  After my first few days here I wasn’t sure that I would make it to a month.  I struggle still to fall in love with this place, but it has become someplace that I can tolerate.  I am not really sure what happened to me this past month.  I saw a side of myself that I hope to never see again.  Each day I had a new feeling that I didn’t like.  I felt depressed, hopeless, trapped, unmotivated, rude, negative, and the list goes on.  Sure I had glimpses of happiness within all of that, but mostly my days this past month were consumed by these negative feelings.  I am not sure why these emotions overtook me, but whatever the reason I cannot let that happen again.  I vow to find the beauty here in Kochi.  Better yet, I vow to experience Kochi, to observe it, to allow myself to get immersed in it.  Beautiful or not, Kochi is what it is, and I will take part in what it has to offer.

The amount of discrimination that still exists here in India sickens me. I was appalled to find out that servants, who stay with the people they work for, sleep on the hard floor. Servants are not allowed to enter the same door as the people that they work for. They are also not allowed to eat in the same room, use the same plates, or sit on the same furniture. Their pay is less than that of any other labor jobs yet it is much more grueling. They are allowed to eat quickly (usually standing up or sitting on the floor) and then it is back to work. There is no time to rest and their work day goes way beyond eight hours. They are yelled at and belittled for making one small mistake. Some servants are beat and they lose their pay for their entire months work for making a mistake. The cruel list of abominable actions goes on and on.

There is a major problem with this in India and nobody is doing anything about it. Sure there are places to report abuse. Ha! What do you think happens when a maid reports abuse? Nothing. Nothing happens because the justice system here is so very corrupt. Unless you have a lot of money to pay the cop you are reporting to, nothing happens. The police do nothing. The government does nothing. This is a sick problem that this country has. You could get away with murder here, literally.

The people of India that have servants have developed this sense of thinking its ok to treat others this way. They have this sense of thinking they are better than the servants they have. The caste system is still here alive and strong today. Those who say the caste system isn’t here, clearly must not live in the country.

I challenge you, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to do something about this corruption and discrimination that makes this wonderful country look so disgusting.