Sunday, January 09, 2005

dude without a shirt

ok. there's a dude in this restaurant without his shirt on. now you don't see signs here that say, "no shirt no shoes no service," and the shoes part is ok, but something about looking at a hairy pot bellied white dude without his shirt on makes me lose my appetite. listen up-it is never ok to eat in a restaurant without your shirt on unless it's a beach hut next to the ocean. AND demand a tablecloth change! (i happen to like the company of ants myself)

bindi has her own soap opera in her yard. each morning when i swim, i can watch from the two tallest palms in the area. i've never stayed perched so high above the tops of coconut palms. it's a world above me. however, in these palms live the hawks. they look like mini eagles with a body in tan and head in white. they are magnificent. they have a nest and kids and the big drama is the crows that constantly take the food right out of the mouths of the babies. this is a never ending drama and way better than tv, no commercials! i guess i will miss this place.

heads up-new book reviewed for those who care called, "and......PRAN!." for those of you who like old bollywood filums know who he is. the greatest most popular villian during the 70s through the present. don't know where you can buy it, maybe amazon, but looks like fabulous reading. (hi jeff-i know you will have read this one before i get home-pass it on to mintz)

so bindi is seriously considering ending her blog. why? i just don't know what to say in my life which won't make me feel and sound trivial. i think being spared by a tsunami will do this to you. anyhow, i have under 5 weeks left in india and i have sort of become speechless. the world around me is no longer strange, but has become familiar, part of me. this is my 7th month this year in india and i'm afraid it's grown on me-not only it's beauty and magic, but it's turmoil. i accept the pain within me and around me.

talking about yoga feels tired and trivial. it is not a spectator sport. it's highly personal and discussing "posture" is posturing! however, i do know there are people out there who are interested, so i'll try to keep it interesting. today was a moon day and i haven't been practicing on those days. i do notice a difference in energy level and am affected by it. however, lino is kind enough to keep the shala open between 630-8 entrance times with no chant and very little adjustments. some people don't think they're getting their money's worth. he understands this. in mysore, you are often given 4 days off in a week just because or if they are in need of another holiday. it can be very expensive, especially with the first month fast climbing past 600US.

i watched, "quotation," yesterday with sharaf. i wanted to see a tamil filum called, "jayasurya," which he took me to, but upon arrival, refused to let me into the theatre. "theatre very bad" he said, don't know why except i did feel a little freaky being in that part of town. hard to explain the vibe, but it just wasn't right. SO he took me to the same malayalam (i apologize for repeatedly misspelling this word)movie he went to see when he dumped us off last week to see, "swades." (he is NOT a fan of hindi cinema and there was no way he was going to sit through THAT one again.) the movie was shot entirely in the dark, which got old. twas only 2 hours long with only 2 musical numbers, but instead felt like 4 hours. there was tons of blood and merciless violence, which looked real good in the dark rain. women are not spared, the hero was not spared. this was NOT your typical hollywood ending. women were the fattest i've ever seen(merely an innocent observation) and quite proud of their bellies, bless them. and i had no idea what was going on. sharaf with his very limited english thinks that i only care about fight scenes in movies. it's true i can't get enough jacke chan AND the tamil people are role models for hong kong, but i need more than that in a movie. i know it was mostly about revenge, and a sort of love thing that almost happened, but that's it. still, even without knowing too much, it is interesting to watch the south indian people in movies cause they are very dark skinned and have jobs just like everyone else around here-rickshaw drivers, cooks, coconut and iron wallahs. and the backdrop is often chennai in tamil movies or kochi in malayalam.
i think i take out my frustration of not really knowing what is going on by binging on bad english movies, cause i won't do that at home. i even buy many of the films i see here and watch them again with subtitles, opening a huge door of discovery. cept the malayalam and tamil ones are very hard to find with subtitles, even here.

so i am not formally concluding this blog. i can only promise to write less often until i return to the states on valentines day, trying to update once a week.

bindifry

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