Six Months in India (Yoga in Its Original Context)

For me, there were many reasons. My parents came to the United States from India in the early 1970s, and although I was born in America, growing up, I felt as if I were balancing two very different cultures. On one hand were my friends, kids from the Texas suburbs, who I played with, ate with, fought with, and went to school with. On the other was my family, who had their strange rituals, loud morning chants, a house they would cram sometimes with visiting relatives, and very different food. Later, as a teenager, I just wanted to get away from the Indian stuff, I mean, who wants to explain to their friends why women wear red dots on their foreheads, or why we wor- ship all these gods, stuff I really had no good answers to anyway.

And so begins Vik Vad's debut memoir, Six Months in India, a fascinating au- tobiography that describes the moment in his life when he went looking for the answers-and the path he took to find them. The bulk of his revealing, insightful, and sometimes humorous narrative begins just prior to his sum- mer 2009 departure to express what it's really like to live in India. In this polluted, yet highly spiritual place, he creates no false utopias as he describes festivals, temples, ashrams, cultural directives, as well as the family members he becomes reacquainted with. Ultimately, his path is one that celebrates the journey of yoga itself-while not always smooth, it's well worth the trip.

Why would someone want to go spend six months of their life in India? For me, there were many reasons. My parents came to the United States from India in the early 1970s, and although I was born in America, growing up, I felt as if I were balancing two very dif- ferent cultures. On one hand were my friends, kids from the Texas suburbs, who I played with, ate with, fought with, and went school to with. On the other was my family, who had their strange rituals, loud morning chants, a house they would cram sometimes with visiting relatives, and very different food. Later, as a teenager, I just wanted to get away from the Indian stuff. I mean, who wants to explain to their friends why women wear red dots on their foreheads, or why we worship all these gods, stuff I really had no good answers to anyway. I just wanted to fit in at the time, and if American parents just don't get it, well, Indian ones really just don't get it.

In my twenties, I started doing yoga, postures I saw from a book I had of this guy who was super flexible. But my practice was irregular, I had no guidance, and though it would make me feel good, I would go through phases where I was hyped about it, then later I would just get lazy and quit. At the time, I did also begin reading Indian philosophy, for some reason that attracted me, it was very esoteric, but it really did seem like that Eastern philoso- phy stuff had some answers in it to life's questions. I didn't really relate it much to yoga though. At the time, I thought that yoga was just postures, and it was only later that I learned that yoga is a complete holistic way of living life, which includes asana (postures), as well as many other things.

**Contents and Sample Pages**