Here are some more pictures from my trip to India.  (Check out the first group here).

In India, but especially at the ashram, everyone calls each other brother or sister. I took the picture below on the first day I was there, mostly because I thought it was funny. By the last day of my trip, I was referring to brother this and sister that.

When you enter any place whether it is a store, a room, etc. it is required that you take your shoes off. Sometimes you would forget where you left your shoes and end up barefoot for half of the day. In some ways I grew to really like this custom. Since I have been home, I now have a different take on wearing your shoes in your house.

At the ashram, there were several different sleeping arrangements. Some people were assigned to camp out underneath the meditation hall. Thank you to my wonderful mother, for we stayed at an apartment outside of the ashram with beds and air conditioning!

I made sure that I got some henna done while I was there. The design itself only took about 15 minutes but the drying process took 3 hours. My mom feed me my lunch like a baby 🙂

Definately not our best look. However, I thought it nessecary to at least document the fact that we were in India in full effect.

Usually all day long you could purchase chai tea at the cafe, but after lunch the cafeteria type place had it for free. They serve it to you in these tiny little metal cups with rims. It is always extremely hot but delicious.

There were moments that were just too beautiful not to photograph.

Right after I slipped on and then stepped in cow poop on the street, I looked up and saw this. I thought it was hilarious because I was feeling mad and from Manhattan. It is just ridiculous.

I didn’t think a post on my trip to India would be complete without a picture of the bathroom setup. Day one, sure it seems daunting, by day 3 you think maybe you are getting the hang of it, by the last day you hop right in there like it ain’t no thang!

The line to use the phones was usually pretty long, however if you timed it just right and late enough in the U.S. it was all yours. The Indian “sister” below was hilarious to me. She kept trying to tell everyone in the nicest way that she worked too many hours and thought we were all pretty annoying. I think she liked me though 😉

I got into a pretty heated discussion with an Indian friend about the brooms in the U.S. vs. the brooms in India. You see, in American, we would never use brooms that would require so much effort. But my friend explained to me that there are MANY different kinds of brooms that serve different purposes. Before I knew it I was sweeping his entire shop convinced I had to get myself one of his brooms. It is kind of awesome, isn’t it?

The picture below is of the inside of the taxi that drove us around Chennai one day. It reminded me of my little brother (not sure why) and I thought it looked like it had been on an Indian version of “Pimp My Ride.”

I received the opportunity to go to Chennai, India for 2 weeks and stay at an ashram.  At first, I was apprehensive to agree to go.  I know, I know.  You must think I am crazy to think twice about a trip to India.  But I had been to India 10 years ago and my opinion of it was chaos at its worst.  So when this time came around, I was determined to experience India in a different way the second time and man, am I glad I went.

Because cows are considered sacred in India, they are everywhere. Roaming the streets and eating what ever is on the ground. They are frequently walking next to you on the road.

There are hundreds of tropical flowers. I think it is funny that the only picture I took of a flower is at dusk and does not, in the least, capture the amount of its vibrance. But this flower, there is something very special about it, isn’t there?

There was a wonderful looking group of women from a place in Northern India visiting the ashram while I was there.  They told me that they all wear the same colors scarves there.  Another Indian woman overheard my conversation with them and told me that wasn’t true. So, I am not sure what the truth is! They were radiant either way.

Dusk was such a wonderful part of my days during the trip. It was a time to transition from the hot days to the cooler nights. It was my favorite time. Usually, the sun would just fade and the nighttime come.  But on one night in particular, there was the most glorious sunset.

The ashram provided us with 3 meals a day. Every day the food was wonderful. Each meal was mostly dal and rice, however, this meal is breakfast. Those white circles are idly: almost like cream of wheat pancakes. Delish!

We took a 35 minute rickshaw ride (I swear it was the reason for my sickness) into downtown Chennai to go shopping. We shopped for saris, wonderful gold jewelry, henna and kurtis.

The sari stores consist mainly of floor after floor of fabrics. It is hard to wrap your head around. All Indian women pick two patterns to create a full sari. Usually, the fabric is 9 yards long and is wrapped or draped around the body.

This picture shows the massive amount of fabric that you can choose from. It is really overwhelming.

The fruit was extremely refreshing.  We generally bought oranges, bananas and these cute little miniature cantaloupes. One day we bought coconuts to drink from.

At a quarter to 6:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. a bell rings in the ashram to alert you that there will be a meditation in 15 minutes. This is a picture I took before the 9:00 a.m. sitting in front of the meditation hall.

I saw this sign and laughed hysterically. It is so funny. I could not tell if it was a joke or serious. I found out later in my stay at the ashram that it is where you go to register your marriage after your wedding.

Stay tuned for part 2!