India 2005
Guruji's 90th Birthday Party

Disclaimer: These pictures were taken in July 2005 at Sri K. Pattabhi Jois' 90th birthday celebration. It was held in Gokulam, a relatively quiet neighborhood located just outside of Mysore's bustling streets.  The celebration lasted two days.

Day One

Guruji in his birthday suit.

Outside the party in my lungi. I had it made by a local tailor just for the occasion. Despite what Karen insists, it is not a "man dress" and it is actually quite practical in the Monsoon heat of India.  The plastic sign announcing the celebration is a staple of a big party.  These are used for weddings, festival celebrations, and just about any other event of notice. 

Sharath, Guruji's grandson, was the Master of Ceremonies, which meant he was loosely in charge of the semi-organized chaos. Sharath teaches at the shala (yoga school) along with his mother and, of course, grandfather. This is truly a family operation.  He is next in the traditional lineage to become its living master.

Lakshmi, the sanskrit teacher, who in June 2006 finished his Master's Degree at the Sanskrit University. He also recently got married. He told me that his father and mother found a "nice girl" from a "good family," they met and fell in love. One month later they were married and one week after his marriage he wrote his Master's Exams. Arranged marriages are still common in Mysore. Unlike many parts of India, which have slowly changed because of interactions with outside western cultures, Mysore still holds on to its traditional roots.  It is rare to see an Indian woman wearing western style clothing.  In Mysore, about 95 percent of the women wear the traditional sari. The one place were this is not true is the coffee shop after the local high school lets out. It is usually filled with teenagers wearing a hybrid of western and traditional clothes.

A group of friends. Let's see, the countries represented in this photograph are (left to right) Hong Kong, Austria, Spain, Britain, don't remember, and me from the US.  The local tailors must have loved the fact that everyone got clothes made for the occasion.

This picture and the movie below capture the essence of the party. Guruji sat on the front of the stage. As people entered the large hall, they would take a seat in one of the plastic yard chairs, wait for some unknown sign that it was their turn to make their way to the stage to meet with Guruji, and then return to their seat.  In total, Guruji sat on his birthday throne in his birthday suit, for approximately 6 hours the first day and 8 hours the second.  People from all over the world as well as locals filtered into the hall in a continuous stream of birthday greeting.  The food, which I did not see Guruji eat because he was still seated on the stage, was served downstairs and was an amazing meal.

A movie of the Birthday Party Celebration.

Day Two

Lungi Two

My friend Roberto, a veterinarian from Spain had recently quit his job in London, deciding to travel the world for a year and a half.  He had already been to China to work with the Panda population and was now in Mysore for 3 months. He donated his services at the local vet. hospital by spaying and neutering the Mysore cats and dogs.

Some of us wandered to the posh hotel, Hotel Metropole, for a bit of an after-party.

The after-party continues

Marc, Graeme, and Fernanda. Marc and Graeme (and Giles who is not pictured) are the guys who were working on a yoga book about Mysore.  Graeme is a London photographer who works with some of the largest fashion magazines in the business.  Marc was a designer of high end dresses (I mean high, high end dresses). The book they designed is absolutely beautiful and filled with lots of photographs of people in Mysore during the 90th birthday celebration.