Travels of a Yogi: India Full Circle

As you may have read earlier, I had written about my father.  I lost him in October of 1993 when I was 18 years old after a year-long battle with cancer.

In that post, I had also mentioned that my father had lived in India as a young boy.  After reading that, many people asked me about his heritage and his Indian adventures.

My father’s adventure began much earlier as an adopted child of very eccentric grandparents.  As a little girl, I would listen to his stories about his life overseas. His father worked for the World Health Organization in a division that concentrated on the betterment of India.  Because of his government affiliation, my grandparents, my father and his brother had the opportunity to live in places like India, Nepal and Tibet.  This overseas adventure took place around the time he was 11 or 12.

He had told me stories of having a pet monkey and how the monkeys would run amok in the streets—I guess that is why I had to get 3 rabies shots—“just in case.”  I remember one story of him playing outside and putting his finger in a hole and being bit by a pit viper snake.  He would show me the scar on his finger as if it were a badge of honor.

As I mentioned, my grandparents (well, at least my grandmother anyway) were very eccentric.  She had a houseful of eclectic wares that she had picked up along the way during their time overseas.  Two of those items are significant to me to this day.  One item is a brass Ganesh statue and a blue Buddha statue.  If you have been to our studio, you will see the blue Buddha statue sitting by our front entry door.  He is a bit worn, but that makes me value him even more as every time I look at him I think of my Dad and wonder if I would be into yoga and making this trip if I had never heard his stories.

The blue Buddha was too big to accompany me on this trip; however, the brass Ganesh is in my bag.  He will be close to me the whole time.  As I venture through cities where my father has gone before me, I know that he will be with me as well.

Well, it is time to board the plane!  We are flying out of JFK in New York and will make a pit stop in Paris, France, then on to Mumbai for the night.  It is about 20 hours of travel today into tomorrow, but I will update when I can.

Much love and Namaste’,
Lisa