Amma's ashram, Kerala

We've spent the last week or so at Amma's ashram between the backwaters of Kerala and the sea.  She's known (by people all over the world, surprisingly) as a guru who comforts people through the power of the hug! - Very unusual in India - where physical contact is not common except between men, that is!  She is literally treated like a God and people pray to her.. there are pictures of her everywhere.  You can even buy an Amma doll - in case you need a hug when she's not around.. I saw a woman walk past yesterday holding a huge doll and talking to it! - Yeah there's more than a few strange characters here that you see around from time to time. There is a guy that appears around corners or under trees who goes walking past playing a guitar or a flute like the one out of 'There's something about Mary' and always wearing only one flipflop... Or a little French girl who comes and hugs me and says 'Je t'aime' then sticks her tongue out or pushes me violently. We just gave the dog a blood test and more antibiotics and changed his drip and when we went to the ashram hospital to dispose of the sringes etc we asked a guy for directions and he just pointed to a little sign around his neck that said 'silence' - just like in the movie Eat sleep pray.  Also, just seen an English Indian boy with a perfect RP accent playing with a white Indian boy with an Indian accent who yesterday was correcting my Hindi.

It's a huge compound with pink skyscapers - well more like the type of blocks of flats you'd find in Birmingham, but in pink. In contrast, everyone wears white and although the focus is yoga and meditation, 'Amma's Way' is a middle way - basically meaning that she doesn't go in for the usual 'Vipasana' which is the really strict silent retreat where you spent 8 hours a day meditating without instruction. Amma's place is more
chilled. You can choose which classes to do. There's a swimming pool, internet cafe and even a cinema, but swimming sessions are separate for men and women.

You are also 'invited' to do seva, which is voluntary service around the ashram for one or two hours a day. When we signed up, all that was left was, for Angel to be a bin man (sorry, recyling technician) and me doing dish washing in the western kitchen. Woohoo! I managed to swap it for painting the children's library after a couple of days but our seva all changed (much to Angel's joy), when we spotted one of the cook's dogs was lying on a table in the garden surrounded by. a crowd of Indian and western nuns dressed in white.. We went to investigate and it seemed that Apu the dog had eaten some rat poison. Angel burst into action to the delight of the nuns who upon discovering that his name was Angel, in unison let out a shriek of celestial delight and then an American woman clasped her hands in joy and announced that he really was Apu's angel sent by Amma! After that, every spare moment was spent checking Apu's drip, giving him various drugs, checking on his toilet visits etc. I hope this means that I can now put veterinary assistant down on my CV! - I left the cleaning up of any poo or puke to Angel though - after all, he was the one sent by Amma to 'bring poor Apu back to life'! ;)

Amma is often away on tour, but she arrived back two days after we did so we thought we may as well stay for 'the hug'.. After a few days here we've kind of realised that there are definitely more than the usual share of nutters here! People have been obsessing about Amma coming back and when greeting each other, they ask 'how long have you been with Amma'?

Angel has finally got 'the hug', though it seems it was less a life changing experience than a hug from a friendly huggable Indian woman. I didn't bother queuing as I was determined to stay to do the meditation course the following week and Angel wasn't sure if he was going to. I got one later with Angel again when we were pushed up to the very front of a ten hour long queue or devotees - just because we were the offical veterinary team ;)  Hug was ok...


We left the ashram yesterday and it was great to be on 'the outside' again -back in India! The ashram overall was a really good experience and the first time I'd done anything like that. Now I feel like I could go to any temple or ashram and feel more a part of it rather than just a random tourist. Actually this morning we woke up early in Munar and we could hear the singing from the temple nearby and we were even thinking about going over and doing some meditation. In the end the bed was too warm and comfy! Freezing outside! Think two days will be enough of this weather - get me back to the heat!;)