Buggin' Out

The monsoon rains have arrived at the ashram, and with them came bugs. Lots of bugs.  The rains have been a welcome respite from the heat and humidity, but I would happily bear the heat over the insect invasion any day. 


In the beginning of the course, there were flies and some mosquitoes. Mostly they were just an annoyance during yoga class - Shavasana Pete, as I call him, is the fly who lands on your nose during relaxation (he has a brother - Meditation Maury). The peaceful quiet of morning yoga class is always punctuated by the sound of people slapping away mosquitoes. 


Since the rains, though, the mosquito population has mushroomed. There are a lot of them, and they are ravenous. Today during afternoon yoga class, I got three bites. During dinner, two. By now, I am the Bruce Lee of mosquito swatting, so those are the lucky ones who managed to get a bite in. I have given up any reservations about chemicals and cover myself in DEET whenever I leave my room, and still, I am covered in bites.


In addition to the mosquito plague, the monsoon has brought cockroaches. I live in New York, so I have seen my share of cockroaches. These aren't your garden variety NYC cockroach. These are small-bird-sized monsters who descended from the Himalayas on WINGS. Yes! Enormous, winged cockroaches! My roommate and I had the ill fortune of having one visit our room the other night. After our subsequent freak-out, our teacher, Krish, assured us there was nothing to worry about because they don't bite. WHO CARES IF THEY BITE! Just the look of them is the stuff of nightmares.


I had been very proud of myself because I hadn't had any major freak-outs over the spiders. The spiders here aren't very big, but they jump. *Shudder* I have mentioned on here before that I am not fond of spiders. This is a vast understatement. My Australian classmates think it's hilarious when I scoot myself across the floor during class to avoid the path of a nickel-sized spider. What they don't realize is, that scoot is an exercise in restraint for me. Usually a spider sighting means a full-on spaz attack from yours truly. The Australians can roll their eyes all they want - the huntsman spider is the sole reason I may never visit that continent.


It's not all bugs and rain, though. It's mostly pretty fun. Our days are jam packed, and there's always something new going on. In the evenings, we sometimes gather around for bijans, which are songs in Sanskrit. It's usually during those times that I take a moment to look around and appreciate how lucky I am to be right here, right now.