Chapter Seven: Seventh Trip to India

The next year the Kirtan Woman came again to Mysore, but she would not stay with me at the flat because she did not want people to think we were a couple. I stayed there since I was paying the lease. She would lease it out to Yoga Students who came to Mysore other times of the year and keep the income. We continued having the weekly kirtans, but things had gotten weird. People were saying things to me and reacting in ways I did not understand. I just laughed it off and began to isolate myself in the flat.

This year on Shivaratri the German woman invited me to go with her to Goa to practice with Rolf. When we arrived on the beach a woman from Spain came running up and gave me a big hug. The German woman was not impressed and dissed me even though we were sharing a room together in a guest house off the beach. She started spending time with a yoga student from Denmark. This was awkward. We had bought tickets to go hear a band called Prem Joshua at a club on another beach. I decided to stay for the concert and fly out the next day as it had become awkward spending time with the German Woman. When I got back to Mysore, I had to do self-practice at my flat because when I went to tell Sharath I would be gone a few days he told me I could not come back to the Shala when I returned.

Another yoga student from Connecticut told me to come in the afternoon and practice with Saraswathi. When Sharath saw me coming out of practice with his mother he was furious. When I had told him I was going to Goa over Shivaratri as I was going out the door he asked why. Intuitively I realized he thought it was because I was going to go sleep with young boys. I turned and faced him and told him I was going to practice with Rolf as I had never met him, and the Kirtan Woman had told many stories about him. It was at this point Sharath’s mother, Saraswathi found out the gossip.