The Shifting Sands

Our local climbing crew have all returned from our Christmas break and it was a month before we were able to get people together for a climb.  We were keen on something new and were considering heading to Pune for a weekend at Sinahad Fort and the Plus Valley near Lake Mulshi where we had information on some routes. The view towards the morning crag above the slum on the left hand side of the photo just above the band of trees Fate intervened and we were not able to get away so we went back to Navi Mumbai on Sunday morning.  I was not paying attention while leading and had decked out, my feet after popping off while clipping a bolt with a metre of slack in my hand.  Thomas had done a great job of minimizing the damage with the rope stretch taking up before my coccyx hit the ground.  Despite his masterful belaying, my heel was bruised so we wandered off to the bouldering spot on the other side of the valley as I had not been there for years and I wanted to show Thom

I have lived in Mumbai for just over three years now and in that time the opportunity to practice Yoga Asana in a group setting has grown enormously.  Initially the only opportunity, I could find, to practice Yoga was in small group settings, either through my daughter's school, the American School of Bombay, or in the home, bringing a teacher in on a regular basis.  the Yahoo group, Bombay Expats, was a great source of information for recommending Yoga Teachers.  As a practitioner of twenty years of Yoga Asana Practice, a Yoga Teacher recommended by a new comer to Yoga, I found through trial and error, did not work for me. I know we are always in learning situations, but I did not want to pay top rupee to learn from someone I should be teaching.  I guess that is what led me and my ego to Yoga Teacher Training!  Like many expat 'wives' (be they male or female) we look to 'take' something away from India.  Please do not tear me apart limb from limb just yet.  I kn

The kayak prepared and ready for a first light launch After the crystal clear waters of Sri Lanka and the clean water of Goa and Alibaug, I was back to a morning coffee run in the latte colored waters of Mumbai.   The photo is a trick,  the water was filthy A friend who had moved to the north of the City had told me that Marve beach was very clean and he had started fishing there of a morning.  A clean beach in Mumbai was like being told a bout a sighting of a white whale so I organised a Sunday paddling trip from the clean beach of Marve to Vasai to finish up at an old Portuguese Fort. Sunup on the water, where else would I want to be? I arrived before dawn to launch at the ferry landing at Marve on the romantically named Mud Island.  The beach was clean but the water in the river mouth was filth.  The tide was ebbing and the current was strong so I am sure that they contributed to the detritus floating by.