Living it up

It was great to spend an afternoon at the pool, we went to the Lalith Mahal palace. The Regaalis (once named Southern Star) also has a pool but it's not that big and it can get busy as well. The Lalith Mahal is also a palace rather than just a hotel so it is much more impressive, it's nice to live it up a bit! It is expensive though, 175rs to use the pool, and the lunch buffet is 400rs. I wouldn't eat there again, the food was bland and really not that special, you'll get a better feed at Anu's. It was cool lying in the grass, chatting about nonsense.

We went back to the Mysore palace to see it lit up for the last time before 3 of us leave. On the way we were nearly in a rickshaw crash, but someone is obviously looking out for us up there. The gates open and everyone pushes to get in, even though there honestly is no rush. It's not like the palace is going to run off anywhere. In the scrum 3 indian teenage boys thought it would be a good idea to feel my bum up. Needless to say that I shouted. We were wondering if the palace lights were like xmas lights where when 1 dies the whole lot stop working. The lights are actually lightbulbs which cover the entire building and its annexes.

Practice today was really good, with little shoulder pain. I went through primary quite happily and enjoyed every minute. It's so good when practice is like that. Mari D and Supta K have to be the hardest asanas in the entire series. Quite a few people struggle with them, including myself. Tomorrow afternoon a lovely yoga teacher from the states is going to go through some technical things with a few of us. There are so many teachers here, I think the majority of people are. I love hearing how they came to do that, they all have colourful backgrounds.

I went shopping with Aj and spent a long time in Ashok bookstore where I got a textbook on Ayurveda. We wandered round the market and took in all the smells the hussle and bustle. A little boy selling dyes took my hand and drew a big flower in pink on my hand. Of course it won't wash off now.

Dr Nagaraj's Ayurveda classes are very inspiring, I want to learn more and more about this stuff. I'm sad that I can't take his yoga therapy course as that's what I'm ultimately interested in most of all. He practices asana and his other practices as he puts it. Interestingly his mother is a western style doctor, they have conflicting ideas sometimes! It seems to make increasingly more sense to me to use ayurveda. It works with the body not against it like a lot of western remedies do. It isn't however a quick fix.

Today's picture is of my space at Anu's, this is where I've been blogging from, and where I'm about to have some food...starving. And I hear Dr Navaraj's voice saying "Do not eat until your are full".

Tune of the Day: "I don't feel like dancing" - The Scissor Sisters (suggested by Amarjit)