Chamundeswari temple

Chamundeswari temple was quite an experience. You have to walk up loads and loads and loads of steps which are pretty steep as well. There were monkeys in the trees and lovers every so often on a date. It was hard!!! We were really sweaty once we got to the top. A statue of Nandi the bull is available for worship, you (obviously) have to pay a few rupies and you are given some flowers and a piece of scrunched up paper. You hand it over to the Brahmin and he pours a small ladle of yellow water in your hand for you to drink and touch your head with, and touches your 3rd eye with red powder. I was careful to not actually drink the water though. Another few hundred steps and we got to the top, and as I predicted there were loads of stalls selling tat, and little boys asking for money or a "school pen". I had some sweets so I gave them that and a highlighter pen. There was Puja, so we stood in line and recieved our blessing with everyone else.

The walk down from the temple was a nightmare...we suddenly noticed that there were enormous and I mean enormous spider webs above our heads with huge (really huge, like 4 inches long) black and white spiders hanging from them. The monkeys were jumping on the tree branches making them fall. My knees were shaking, and I turned into a complete girl. To make matters worse we were attcked by a monkey who wanted to steal C's water bottle. When it comes to "fight or flight" it appears that I fly. I turned suddenly and fell over the step much to everyone's amusement! We managed to descend by walking behind a family who looked non-plussed by the whole thing.

The evening was pretty chilled, I had dinner at Anu's with Violetta and caught up on the world, chatting with fellow yogis and with the UK via Gmail.

There was led practice today. We turned by 30mins early as there is always a rush on sundays as everyone comes at the same time as opposed to staggered from 5-6:30am. I placed my mat near the ladies room, and then Saraswathi came and sat on the little ledge next to me. This meant that she was able to keep a better eye on me! She helped out in Utthita Hasta pandangustasana by holding my foot, raising it higher, but she also did this adjustment to my neighbour at the same time so it was a little unstable, especially as the leg came out to the side! Then she came and tugged my arms to enable me to bind in Marichyasana D, and then she came over for the Supta Kurmasana adjustment. I thought these were pretty good, they did the job anyway. It's certainly a rigorous touch though. When we were in shoulderstand Guruji mumbled "oh my god", which made everyone chuckle. He always says "6" in a really excited way as if it's the last count, or something is about to happen and then it evens out again and he continues with "7".

Once I got back I crashed out and slept for 3 hours, I am shattered today, this cold is catching up with me. Violetta and C came by to ask me to come to the pool with them at the Southern Star. I might go and join them a little later on, I want to have some lunch as I skipped breakfast, I wasn't hungry. There is conference at 4:30 at the Shala today so I want to go along.

This photo is of little children who wanted Violetta to take a picture, they like seeing themselves on the little screen. They're beautiful. I haven't seen a miserable little child yet, however poor they seem. Some do appear to have grown up quickly though as they are already very savvy business men/women.

Tune of the Day: "God only knows" - The Beach Boys (suggested by Jeff)