At the Risk of Boring You to Death...

Mysteriously curvy tree at Mysore University

Some folks have mentioned that they'd like to know more about my everyday life here in Mysore, so here it goes.

In many ways, my day is organised around my yoga practice. I get out of bed around 5:30, drink coffee and try to wake up. I want to be on the mat by 6:30 for about an hour of yoga therapy. I have some lower back issues I'm trying to work out. Some days I follow this up with a brisk walk or jog at the Mysore University athletic field. After a quick bucket-bath, I either make myself breakfast or head out in search of food. Breakfast at the local joints is absurdly cheap-- about twenty-five cents for two iddly and one wada, thirty-seven for a masala dosa, twelve for a small cup of chai (though at the chaiwala's it's only five or six.) Most days I buy a couple of newspapers, one for the news, the other for the "Chai Time" puzzle page (sudoku, crossword, crypto quip, etc.) Even though I read quite a lot, it's still something of a battle, trying to keep my brain from rotting completely. I'm not entirely sure how well I'm doing.

By the time I've read two papers and run my "little grey cells" through their exercises, it's time to start thinking about food again. Why so soon? you may wonder. Well, because I'm currently doing the 5:00pm asana practice at Sthalam8, and if I eat after 1pm I have a pretty rough time of it (I'll spare you the details.) Then there's usually laundry to deal with. I bucket wash everything by hand, so I really need to keep on top of it. And the usual household chores, all of which seem to take more time here.

Mysore currently has FOUR Cafe Coffee Days (India's answer to Starbuck's,) and if I am so inclined I can easily kill a couple of hours there with a book. A cappucino costs seventy-five cents (compare that to a 5-6 cent filter coffee at your local chaiwala's, and you'll see that there are two parallel economies operating in India,) a brownie a bit more.

Now that the Southwest monsoon has retreated, I occasionally spend a few hours by the pool at the Hotel Regaalis (formerely The Southern Star.) Mysore is fairly quiet for the time being, but that will change once high season hits in a couple of weeks. Until then, The Regaalis is bearable.

I return home from yoga around 7pm. I don't usually have much appetite at this point, so often I just eat fruit and yoghurt at home for dinner. Another bucket, and it's nearly time to get in my half hour of reading before bed. If I have time, I'll watch an episode or two of The Simpson's or Blackadder. Admittedly I'm not doing everything on my own all the time, but more about that another time.