RUNNING IN CIRCLES




Practice was good today.

I did five kapotasanas before S. came to help me. Five.

He put the hands on the arches and called it a day. I thought I could have gone a little further..... but perhaps not. So much for big breakthroughs on the last day of class.

After class S. finally gave me an answer: yes, I can stay one more month. But it turns out I simply cannot do it. I will stay here one extra week, and hopefully study with his mother for that week (Rs 6000, or $150). Part of this is an attempt to be less rigid and less addicted to previous patterns, and to listen to the inner intuition. More on that in a future post.


Over the next week I will go to Bangalore to visit QE (whose husband is in the US at the moment) and take the train to Tirupati with the Three Sisters and K. There's a famous Balaji temple there, and it should be fairly empty during next week's Ganesh puja.



* * *


Today, after breakfast with Krista at Tina's, I went home for a wash and a nap.

The nap was interrupted by the shrill sound of the door buzzer.

I ignored it.

It started up again.

It was the day manager, with the receipt for Rs 292 from the post office. It had official stamps on it. It looked official. But I had my doubts.

"Friends have paid US $30 to send this, or 1500 rupees,"I told him, showing him MY receipt. "No more money is due."

"Customs duty," he explained, pointing to the numbers. It looked like someone - him? the mail carrier? an actual customs official? - had picked a number out of the sky and written it in.

"Not paying," I said, explaining again that I have received many packages here and never once paid customs duty.

We went back and forth.

He would not take no for an answer.

I would not give in, either.


Finally, I handed him the lavendar yoga mat and the US Post Office receipt. "You send it back. I don't want. Beda. They can have. It is only worth Rs 200, and they want Rs 350. I will not pay."

He seemed taken aback that the promising package had contained just one cheap yoga mat.

"That is all that came?"

Yes, I said, and began closing the door.

I haven't seen him since.