I’ve been interested in co-housing for a long time, and while it’s not officially co-housing in Mysore, the expat yoga student population that forms around the studio(s) here forms an organic, cooperative village.
A network of rentals is continually being discussed and relayed so no one goes without what they need for very long, if at all. I found a room through a teacher from the states; people to play music with through word of mouth, and have been crowd sourcing tech support for the past 24 hrs.
When I fried my computer’s power chord (power outages and power surges are commonplace), I freaked a bit because Mac stores are non-existent in Mysore and I’m here two more months. Between walking from my house to breakfast (that is within 5 minutes), I found three different people who could help out in the interim. Rides, information, news seems to arrive at just the right time.
There’s always someone who knows how to find a movie, a vet, a dentist or a stray piece of gear and people tend to watch out for one another. If you don’t see someone for several days, it doesn’t go unnoticed…. Think Facebook —which, no surprise, is as prevalent among both Indians and yoga students as anywhere else in the world— the ground, in real time and place.
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
