Finally

Almost.

After months of planning and anticipation, my trip to India begins today. Of course, I’ve got a full 24-day of air travel ahead of me and so, no doubt, adventures—or at least, adventures in boredom—are in store before I arrive at my apartment in Mysore, but, in any case, at last I’m on my way.

I don’t have huge expectations—not that are articulated clearly, anyway. Mostly all I’m looking forward to at this point is laying my mat down at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute and doing my first series of practice on, I hope, the day after tomorrow—which will actually be the day after that, given the time change.

People have asked me if I have the intention to travel and I’m open to that although seeing a bunch of different places is not what’s mainly driving me. I’m more interested in the inward journey than the outward one—although obviously I want to see all that I can see; otherwise, why travel at all?

What I’m hoping to avoid, however, is the sense that I’ve got to do this or visit that in order to have had a successful journey. I probably won’t, for instance, see the Taj Mahal and the likelihood of my visiting Mumbai or New Delhi or any of the other famous attractions of India is relatively low.

I may go to the horseraces in Mysore, though, and I think it would be cool to see a cricket match, especially if I can go with someone who might explain the rules to me.

Two months is a long time on the one hand, but just a blink of an eye on the other. When I recall what I was doing in early November, for example, I realize that nothing really significant has happened in the last sixty days or so. But when I cast my thoughts ahead to the middle of March, I can imagine many surprises.