WILL THE REAL JAMES FREY PLEASE STAND UP
(FROM BACKBEND)

Today's Vocabulary Words:

Geezer (geyser) - water heater (for bathing)
Coil-Type - tiny water heater (for coffee)*

Yep -- on Thursday I had a cavity drilled and filled without the use of novocaine. Really. The option was there to use it but the Lady Dentist suggested I forgo it since the cavities were small. She was right; the pain was less than that caused by a novocaine injection (as was the price, Rs 350 or under $8). If I had half a brain I'd write a book about the experience. I could call it A Million Little Feces.

This was after I stood up from backbend and dropped back three times -- on my own, with Sharath watching. (This was after 24 hours of self-imposed mental cruelty in which I went back and forth about my body's inadequacies and whether it mattered if I ever did intermediate again / could get authorized (no and no) and then, as Dharma Mittra says, I gave up the fruits of my practice to *god*. I was doing backbends and starting to lose it and cry and then I realized that the worst thing that could happen would be that I fell down and injured myself and was taken to the hospital where I could recuperate with cable TV for less than $100/day.... and never have to do backbends again. That took off some of the pressure and made it a win-win situation all around....).

Today I went to the led primary series class, at 6:30AM. Guruji did the opening and closing mantras but Sharath did the leading (ie he told us the poses to do -- we all know the sequence but this method teaches us the proper breathing and the movements into and out of them). Before class, as we were putting down our mats and the students from the 5:15 class were leaving, Sharath said "Caca! You come here" and pointed to the center spot in the first row. As I collected my mat and moved (I had been hiding near the back of the room and "meditating"), Guruji looked at me and said, "Go one back. You go there" and pointed to the center spot in the second row. So that's where I put my mat. Age before Bollywood good looks and all that.

Sharath's count is slower than Guruji's and is almost perfectly suited to my particular breathing pattern. It was an exquisite class. And yes, Miss Tough Chick held utpluthith (ie, I held myself off the floor with my hands while my legs were in lotus) for his entire count (he counts to ten but it's far longer than that). My favorite moment though was in headstand, when I couldn't help but look at the woman behind me, also in headstand. She had very long dreadlocks that were coiled here, there and everywhere -- from upside-down 'twas very pleasing to the eye.

Tomorrow (Sat) and Sunday are days off and no trip is planned. Yet. I want to go to Bandipur or Nagrahole -- big forest preserves -- which were off limits to foreigners until a year and a half ago. That's when Veerappan-the-bandit, who lived in the forest and sometimes kidnapped foreigners, was finally taken down by The Man.


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*I spent hours and countless rupees in a rickshaw scouring the city for a coil-type in 2002. I drew a picture of it and described it and said "coffee! hot water!" to a million little shopkeepers but no one knew what I was talking about.... until I asked a shopkeeper call the handsome bilingual manager Arun at the Kaveri Lodge. After hanging up the phone the man looked at me and said. "Oh! Coil type!" and sold me one for Rs 50 (just over $1). It helps Madame make instant soup and ramen noodles and instant coffee and, most important, organic Tulsi (holy basil) tea purchased right here in Mysore itself.