ups and downs

How to describe the past few days?  There were some very sad moments, hearing that Joseph Dubham had passed on.  We was a friend who had been very devoted to Guruji over the past 18 years, and even used to travel with the family.  He was in Cambodia waiting to get his visa and had a sudden heart attack.  He used to ride around Mysore on his enfield motorcycle with his dog right in front.  Wednesday the shala was closed in his honor.

Friday night I watched the USA vs. Slovenia world cup match with a few friends.  Funny that here in India I have a TV and cable, something that I don’t have in New Orleans.  We had potato chips (freshly made by Krishna’s Hot Chips) and Dominoes Pizza, and homemade cookies from the sweetest little shop around the corner.  The little man also makes chocolate.  So I’m not going hungry as you an see….While here, mostly I don’t eat dinner so Friday’s are a treat.

The training progresses.  Tomorrow I will be leading the class with five other people.  We are expected to know the exact Vinyasa count in sanskrit.  We don’t know which part we will lead, so we need to know the counts for the whole series.  I feel like I know it but get nervous nonetheless.    At least we all seem to be in the same boat.

Watching the world go by here is fascinating and one of my favorite things to do.  Early this morning I woke up and went out for chai, a little place up the hill from me has come highly recommended.  This chai is from Krishna’s Sweet Shop.  It was sweet and delicious.  I decided to head to the coconut stand afterwards.  The coconut stand is at an intersection, and kind of the center of lots of activity.  Perfect place to watch the world go by.  And it is owned by a lovely man and his two sons (Guru and Sons)  They have those beautiful, unashamed and unguarded smiles that I love to see here.  This evening I was there and the goat herder came by with his flock, there were many baby goats, the cutest thing you can imagine.  They come to feed on the coconut scraps from the coconuts that we drink.  Its nice how that works….the cows also feed on organic scraps from human households.

goats having dinner

Bananas at Mysore Market