Pimp my ride

The afternoon didn't quite go to plan. Instead of going to the gardens we ended up in the local ashram bookshop and wandering the endless little streets of Mysore with all it's tiny shops selling all sorts of bits and pieces. The bookshop sells a lot of devotional books, chanting cd's, prints of different swamis and that sort of thing. I got a vibrant orange OM sticker for my desk at work, but I didn't get any books. C managed to get a very kitsch Ganesha in vibrant colours, very tasteful.

We went to the dvd shop and became members by giving the little man 500rs deposit and we got 2 girly dvd's to watch in the evening. It was fun although the film was rubbish "in her shoes" or something like that. It's nice to chillout with friends in the evening and get an early night.

There are rickshaw drivers who drive around with loud music booming out, some kind of indian dance music. It goes to show that this happens all over the world, people sup up their rides and cruise the town.

We wandered round the city centre today jumping in and out of little stalls and shops, looking at trinkets and such things. I waited patiently until we got to the bookshop which on the top floor of a silk merchants shop. There was a shelf of Bihar books there. I love those books, they are so well written, and everything is clearly expressed. I got the one on Surya Namaskara, Yoga Nidra and a few others as well. There are pretty expensive in the UK, and here I paid 100rs each on average.

I was taking photos of the people in the market and a little lady sat on the floor selling oranges motioned for me to take a photo of her. I took her picture and showed her it on the little screen, she held the camera and passed it on to the man next to her and he passed it on again for the other peson to see so I started thinking "oh god, am i going to get my camera back?" It came back to me and she asked me to take a photo of her little son who was also selling oranges so I did, he was embaressed and smiled. She then asked if I wanted to sit on her bench and have a photo together. After this I thanked her and walked off, and suddenly felt nice inside because she had been so friendly and had never tried to sell me anything or ask for any money. I went back and gave her some money which she refused, but after some time finally accepted.

There are a lot of people in this country who will be friendly to you and helpful, India has a big heart. There are of course those who will try and rip you off, but it's important to remember that not everyone here is out to cheat you. Some come up to you and ask your name and where you're from as a chance to then sell you something, but equally as often it has been to practice their english or just to say "hi".

Today I didn't practice, ladies holiday (last day). I have had several discussions with people about whether you should or shouldn't practice. The majority of those who I have spoken to agree that if you are going to do what Guruji tells you then why not respect this also? They also mention that the prana is pointing downwards at this time and that mulabandha forces it up. On another note, when you are bloated and tender it isn't very comfortable to bend yourself into funny positions, so a couple of days off is just fine. As I thought about going to practice or not this morning I decided that it would be asana to go and yoga to refrain. It fires up the love of the practice because after time off I can't wait for tomorrow to practice again.

I went round R's place, she is a violinist in real life (not mysore life), and she played me a piece from Bach. I love Bach and she is truly gifted. She has an old battered violin here to play on but the sound she made come out of there was phenomenal. It's one of those moments when everything else falls away and there's just her and this incredible playing. I'm going to go round again, the deal is that I get to hear her play and then I make her a mix when i get back to the uk and send it through to her. Music here isn't a big thing really, shops don't play any, we don't listen to the radio, no TV,....nobody talks about it or maybe I haven't been paying attention. I've shared the music i have with me though, mp3's are easy to swap.

I am at Anu's feeling a bit full after having 2 bowls of almond and raisin desert for dinner. I didn't feel like dinner after the food we had at lunch time. The place we went to does Thalis so I had one. I'm not a huge fan of these dishes and I only actually liked 2 out of the 12 little bowls but the chappattis were very good. Desert was a leaf rolled up containing some sugar, and some herbs and spices I think, it was brown and tasted of soap. No one liked this one, although everyone else enjoyed all of the dishes apart from J who is nursing a sore belly.

Tomorrow...practice....bring it on :)

Tune of the Day: "The painter" - Neil Young (suggested by Sylvie)