LOOSE eMOTIONS

Photo: my room at the Kaveri Lodge

The unwritten rule is that students, no matter how advanced, do primary series during their first week at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute.

Since my first class here was last Thursday, I figured I should begin adding my few intermediate series poses at the end of practice today (Thursday).

Wrong!

I was in Danurasana when Sharath said, from across the room, "Caca! First week - only primary series." He came closer and told me to add the extra poses on Monday. I apologized and thanked him and did my backbending. Dropbacks were sloppier than yesterday but at least I could do them.

That surprised me; since Wednesday morning I've had eggy loose motions (diarrhea) and gas as well as bloating after eating. I think it's due to something I ate in Ooty -- and it sounds suspiciously like giardia.

So what did I do?

-On my first trip to India I waited until I could barely walk before I went for help.

-On my second trip I learned to go to the hospital if I feel like crap for more than 24 hours.

-On my third trip I learned (from Jammu) that if I feel like crap for more than 24 hours, I should skip the formalities and go directly to the pharmacist behind the Kaveri Lodge.

So I went to see him yesterday afternoon.

He gave me four magic pills for just six rupees.

The round pill is taken while eating (to help digest the food), followed by the oblong yellow tablet two hours later (not sure why). The process is repeated with the next meal.

The following day you visit the pharmacist and tell him what happened. If you're not better, he gives you the hard stuff (probably metronidazole or tinidazole.). But only as a last resort. As he told me, "Why use a hammer, when sometimes a nail will work just as well?"

Of course the magic pills gave me the opposite of loose motions -- tight stiffness -- which is why I thought backbends would be a disaster today.

But it all worked out in the end....





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Photo: Ammu's growing empire.

The pharmacist recently interviewed for a job with a high-tech American company in Bangalore. He made the third round of interviews, where he was told that he could have the job if he adopted an American accent. They gave him 22 days to do it, and suggested he study American TV and movies in order to get it right. He asked me for a list of ones he should study; any suggestions? Please post them in the Comments section.

In the meantime, I went to Reggae and Raga and made a list of American movies ranging from Meet the Fokkers to The Pursuit of Happyness. (Can you believe they even carry Pan's Labyrinth)?





TODAYS FUN FACT:

The Vijay Times newspaper has folded. Now there's a sensational new tabloid with a lot of red splashed on the cover, called the Bangalore Mirror. Like Chicago's Red Eye paper, it seems to be aimed at the younger set. Yet it appears to be owned by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living Foundation. Ah, India.