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BAGHDAD VIA BANGALORE

September 03, 2007 4:08 PM

Baghdad via Bangalore?  Sounds like a travel agent booboo, but no – last Wednesday afternoon I got on a plane in Los Angeles, and after one stopover in Frankfurt I landed Thursday near midnight in Bangalore, high-tech capital of southern India.  The plan was to interview a group of Iraqis who have been studying yoga and breathing techniques at an ashram outside Bangalore.  After a day talking to these aspiring students of breath-controlled enlightenment, it was back to the airport, on to Mumbai, Dubai, Amman and finally Baghdad airport on Sunday night.

The travel was worth it.  The first thing that struck me on meeting the ten Iraqi men and women at the Art of Living ashram is that they were all smiling, most of the time.  Very rare to see such unbridled happiness in Baghdad these days.  They were a mixed bunch -a railway engineer, a newspaper editor, several middle-ranking government officials – one of the women ran her own NGO in Baghdad.  Most knew little about yoga before they arrived at the ashram, which is set in very pretty and lush countryside just outside Bangalore.  But after a few days they got into the cosmic flow, and were able to sit cross-legged, close their eyes and marshall their breathing with little difficulty.  Of course it helped that the sounds outside were limited to birdsong and the wind blowing through the trees: no gunshots or explosions here to worry about.

The guru of the ashram, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, is a globe-trotting advocate of yoga and meditation techniques as ways of countering stress, even in war zones.  He likes to see people smiling.  He visited Baghdad last May to find “much anger”, and was determined to teach his techniques to at least some Iraqis.  He is strongly opposed to religious extremism, and told me “every child should know a little about all the world’s wisdoms.”

The Iraqis told me they loved the life style at the Ashram, the peaceful environment, and also the opportunity to mix with many other people from other countries.  One thing that they found hard to get used to – the diet.  One man, Haider Abbas, told me he was losing weight.  Knowing India’s hygiene challenges, I assumed he was suffering from a bad gut.  But no – the problem was the ashram was vegetarian.  Iraqis are famously huge meat eaters.  Haider said after four days his pants were already too big for him.

Ali Hammadi, the railway engineer, was one of the few who had been practing yoga for several years.  He tries to get his staff to join in, and tells them it helps reduce stress.  “We hope we bring a smile back to Baghdad,” he said.  It works with me, at least – every time I think of these 10 Iraqis living in the ashram, far away from the stresses of Baghdad, eating dal and rice, a broad smile instantly comes across my lips.

September 3, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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