Losing Track of Time: II

 

Me: Hey Chicago

Chicago: Hey (In Chicago accent)

Me: What’s the weather like over there?

Chicago: F*** Cold but Skilling said it will be warmer this weekend. Supposed to be sunny and in the 40s. We might even BBQ

Me: I miss everyone in Chicago so much. Just hearing your voice on phone always makes me feel great. But don’t miss your Winters. It’s Sunny and in the low 80’s here.

Chicago: But seriously, how are you doing? Are you taking advantage of the great weather.  Are you making new friends?

Me: Yeah, I’ve started to meet some nice people.  Bombay doesn’t have many parks nor a great outdoor culture.  But having people over and eating/drinking outside. There are some great days and some tough moments. Time moves so fast! But I’m trying some new things.

Great weather has led to a couple of things:
Dosa and Samosa Pav

Smritika and I have started night walks where we don’t have an exact spot we are going. Maybe a spliff is involved. We wander a little and eat some street food and stop at a restaurant or two and get this or that.

Vada Pav

A very Bombay centric street food is Vada Pav (pao) and Samosa (Pao). It’s basically a spicy mashed potato packed into a delicious piece of bread called Pav. The bread has a Portugese influence. It’s a salty, minty, spicy, starchy vegetarian sandwich. Eating a heavy spicy potato in between a thick piece of bread sounds like too much? Just try it. The masala (sauce) and crunchy outside of potato is what truly makes the sandwich. Damn it was good. Chances are you won’t find this at your local Indian food restaurant.

Dosa

One of the most famous south Indian foods that exist. Always surprised I had never tried it until coming to India. It’s basically a big rice pancake or crepe that you dip in sauce and can put tasty ingredients inside.

Meditation

For the first time in my life I did meditation. Once for 30 minutes and another time for 45 minutes. I’ve been wanting to try this in some form or another, for the last 15 years and I finally got around to doing it. We went to a friends house to try the guided version for 30 minutes. best part about that was we didn’t realize how long the session was for. It could’ve been 15 minutes or an hour. After a point once we got into the groove, time really did not matter. The other version was slightly different. An hour of silence in a circle with the sea wind blowing and the sound of waves. Just us and our monkey brains. I came away feeling two things:

1. Relaxed. Clear mind afterwards.
2. Great thing to do with your partner
3. I now know I can do it.

My Outdoor Gym

Across the street from my house is an outdoor gym. For $9 a month I have a non-pretentious place to work out. While some equipment doesn’t work and the weights are from 1970s, I love the place and in typical Bombay fashion it’s 24/7 (except the days it’s not open). Doing it in this weather brings me a lot of joy.

 

 

Someone told me a great definition of Meditation: “Losing track of time.” After nearly 10 months in India I’ve found some good ways to do this.   Some things I have always enjoyed and others are new.  Wandering around my neighborhood eating random/delicious food, having drinks with new friends on back porch, working out at the outdoor gym, and taking time to breathe and sitting silently all lead me to focus on what’s happening now and lose track of time.