TOO MUCH THINKING

Today's Vocabulary Words:

Fillum - movie
Talkies - movie theater
NRI - non-resident Indian

This morning I got to the shala and went into the Ladies Cooling Room.... and realized I'd forgotten my stretchypants (yoga pants). Oops! So I had to practice wearing the odd baggy bottoms that go with my Punjabi dress. At least they were black....

I was bouncing, trying to stand up from backbend wearing said pants when Sharath, who was helping the guy on my left, said, "Stop thinking." He was right of course. In fact that's exactly what I tell my own students. At least I'm on the right track. I stood up sloppily and Saraswati asked if I wanted help or to "self" drop back and I said "Self; I must" and went down and up twice and then she helped me. Again we did three times rocking, all the way to the floor on the fourth.

Later I noticed the guy to my right, who had ended at Kapotasana (deep backbend) was having trouble standing up. My fault? He finally stood up quite sloppily and fell backwards and had to hop and skip to keep from losing his balance. Sharath, who was walking by, said -- without looking, smiling or stopping, "No running."

After breakfast at Tina's with Matrika and the Finns -- now there's a band name -- I went to see Jammu's dentist, Dr. Shetty, for a cleaning and exam. Here the woman is in charge while the man is the assistant, ha. When I told the Three Sisters it had cost me Rs 300 they were horrified. But I was not. Better to pay $7 here than $100 for the same thing back home. Unfortunately I have two cavities and must return on Thursday. I will definitely look into the price of mammograms here. Maybe Jammu, Matrika and I could get a group rate.

Later Prasanth and I went to see the Hindi fillum Gangster: A Love Story. It was only two hours long and easy to follow and concerned some very attractive NRI's living in Seoul. No dancing but there was a scene with a Pakistani singer performing a song that was a huge hit over the border -- and here as well. He sang it while the bad guys beat the hell out of the hero. Very Clockwork Orange-y. By the way whenever characters declare their feelings in Indian movies, they always say "I love you" in English.

Afterwords we went up (sacred) Chamundi Hill just outside of town to take in the fresh air watch the sun set, and then stopped for dosas on the way home. Not a bad day considering it's 666 *and* a Tuesday (a very inauspicous day here) and I forgot my pants and all....