Down Time continued...

Today is the first of three consecutive days off from the shala...Guruji's family will be offering puja for the death of Saraswati's husband, Sharath's father at this time last year. It was at this time last year I was preparing to go to Encinitas, CA for Guruji's stop on his tour...but the tour was cut short by this unfortunate incident. I still went to Encinitas and practiced at Tim Miller's studio for 3 1/2 weeks...what a lovely vacation it was. Guruji is going back on tour next March to make up for the stops he missed last time. Students will likely practice at home during this break.

It's very quiet around Gokulam at the moment. Many students take such an opportunity to go on excursions...usually in groups, to one of the many great places you can visit in South India. I still haven't seen eveything around here...so, here I will stay. My scooter will take me to Lalitha Mahal palace, back to Chamundi Hill (looking for a clear, sunny day this time), to the cinema, to the Mysore Palace..etc.

Hard to believe I have just 3 weeks left here in Mysore before leaving for Kovalam. Also on the agenda over the next several days is a trip to the post office to ship some things back home, a stop at a travel agency to see about train tickets to Kovalam (actually to Trivandrum...major city close by), a chat with Shiva about the house I'm living in...I'll only need a partial month...hopefully ok to pay partial rent.

Well, without boring you to tears, that's about it. It's actually quite "normal" here now. Nice to just be still throughout the day...maybe read, update this journal, stop for a couple of coconuts and call it a day. More in a couple of days.