Had another great sleep in my new room Tuesday night. After my lovely chat with John and taking off my soaked socks, I sat in bed to eat yummy vegan chocolate cake from the bakery, and read my new book on ayurveda. They were giving them away at the yoga festival, and Loraine managed to snatch me a copy just before leaving. It's the perfect "textbook" to accompany the course I took. And then I sang bhajans to myself and fell asleep to the sound of loudly falling rain and howling winds.
After a busy 4 days with C&L, I let myself lazily sleep in till 8:30. The winds were still strong, but the sun was back out and the sky was blue. Practiced a few more bhajans before walking to LaxmanJhula for breakfast on the Buddha Cafe rooftop, overlooking the sparkling emerald Ganga. Then a superb satsang with Prem Baba - divine chants and music, surrendering to the heart, emotional healing, beautiful inspiration. Sang out loud to myself as I walked back through the busy streets. Stopped at my friend's rock shop for some mala bead shopping, then walked up the hill to Pyramid Cafe for a delicious kombucha. Home for a little rest before heading to internet, where I spent the next 3 hours catching up on blogging, e-mails, article reading, banking, etc... which I hadn't done much of when C&L were here.
Thursday morning I made my own tea for the first time - there's a communal kitchen at Ananda guest house - then met Swati at 9:30 to head to her mother's, where we were spending the day to prepare special sweets for Holi - that crazy festival of water fights and colored powder throwing that's coming up on Monday. It was so much fun being part of the sweets preparation, with several other women and girls from her mother's neighborhood joining in the work. Though it didn't seem like work at all - they chatted animatedly and laughed the whole time... hopefully not always at me and my pastry rolling skills! (Couldn't understand much of the conversation...) I took detailed notes and look forward to making these scrumptious treats (called gujia) for teatime back home! We made about 200 of the little pastries! I asked Swati if the other ladies would take some home, and she laughed and said, "No, they're all coming back to my home!" The others had spent hours on previous days helping each other with their respective batches. Such a beautiful and strong community. That night, a little more web before reading in bed.
Today, Friday, I got back to yoga... hadn't been since Monday! Had a lovely morning class with Anup, Swati's brother-in-law, followed by brunch at the Health Cafe with an Aussie friend I had met my first year here. Took it easy today, felt low on energy. Did some reading in the sun on the rooftop of Ananda then went for a mini-satsang at a nearby resto. I'm used to large satsang gatherings with Prem Baba and Mooji, but at this one, we were only 4 plus the "teacher". It was very interesting and different. Just a casual meeting where we could chat, listen, ask questions at any time. Back to my room for some toenail painting, and now I've just come from dinner at a new rooftop spot where I had one of the best pizzas and herbal teas I've ever had.
Time to get back to room for an early night. After taking it easy today, I've scheduled a busy, busy weekend for myself. Only two more weeks, still so much to pack in!
After a busy 4 days with C&L, I let myself lazily sleep in till 8:30. The winds were still strong, but the sun was back out and the sky was blue. Practiced a few more bhajans before walking to LaxmanJhula for breakfast on the Buddha Cafe rooftop, overlooking the sparkling emerald Ganga. Then a superb satsang with Prem Baba - divine chants and music, surrendering to the heart, emotional healing, beautiful inspiration. Sang out loud to myself as I walked back through the busy streets. Stopped at my friend's rock shop for some mala bead shopping, then walked up the hill to Pyramid Cafe for a delicious kombucha. Home for a little rest before heading to internet, where I spent the next 3 hours catching up on blogging, e-mails, article reading, banking, etc... which I hadn't done much of when C&L were here.
Thursday morning I made my own tea for the first time - there's a communal kitchen at Ananda guest house - then met Swati at 9:30 to head to her mother's, where we were spending the day to prepare special sweets for Holi - that crazy festival of water fights and colored powder throwing that's coming up on Monday. It was so much fun being part of the sweets preparation, with several other women and girls from her mother's neighborhood joining in the work. Though it didn't seem like work at all - they chatted animatedly and laughed the whole time... hopefully not always at me and my pastry rolling skills! (Couldn't understand much of the conversation...) I took detailed notes and look forward to making these scrumptious treats (called gujia) for teatime back home! We made about 200 of the little pastries! I asked Swati if the other ladies would take some home, and she laughed and said, "No, they're all coming back to my home!" The others had spent hours on previous days helping each other with their respective batches. Such a beautiful and strong community. That night, a little more web before reading in bed.
Today, Friday, I got back to yoga... hadn't been since Monday! Had a lovely morning class with Anup, Swati's brother-in-law, followed by brunch at the Health Cafe with an Aussie friend I had met my first year here. Took it easy today, felt low on energy. Did some reading in the sun on the rooftop of Ananda then went for a mini-satsang at a nearby resto. I'm used to large satsang gatherings with Prem Baba and Mooji, but at this one, we were only 4 plus the "teacher". It was very interesting and different. Just a casual meeting where we could chat, listen, ask questions at any time. Back to my room for some toenail painting, and now I've just come from dinner at a new rooftop spot where I had one of the best pizzas and herbal teas I've ever had.
Time to get back to room for an early night. After taking it easy today, I've scheduled a busy, busy weekend for myself. Only two more weeks, still so much to pack in!
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