Recent developments

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I'm hearing London has been covered with snow!! I love snow (but not cold) and would be sooooo happy to see some now. It is so dry and hot in here. I'm drinking buckets of water a day to keep me hydrated. Massages, travelling and yoga are very draining. Actually I had my first sweat a few days ago. Until then not a drop. This climate is so dry that the moist doesn't even have the chance to form. Now, with plenty of water I've managed to get my armpits wet! Loving it!
The other day we went with our teacher to a festival organised in honour of Mr Ganesh the God. People, mostly from the villages, were gathered near this temple and all sorts of cheap plastic objects and food were sold from hundreds of stalls. Music was played with full volume, sun was hot and we were feeling it. We started to feel a bit uncomfortable, especially because we seemed to be more popular than Ganesh himself. Linda, even though she is from Guadalupe, is of Indian origin, so she blends along well. Michaela also has dark hair but is white. Me, with blond hair and white skin was so out of ordinary for them that it was hard to shake them off and stop them taking photographs. We legged it soon.
Michi has been a bit unfortunate, is now a convalescent to the extent that she can't join us to the college in the morning as she can't put her shoe on. She went and opened a pressure cooker when the pressure was still in and BOOOOOM! it all flew up in the air and she burned her hand and foot. She was very lucky it didn't come off to her face.
The other day Linda and me were travelling home from college and the bus driver bumped into a motorcycle, the driver fell, and the bus with us inside just continued our ride. Hmmm. Soon we found angry people stopping the bus, getting in and dragging the poor ticket controller out of it. Poor man, it was the driver not him... Anyway, we got off and walked the rest of the way home under Linda's black umbrella with white dots. Dr Aakash told us later that evening that he had stopped a bus once and gotten in to teach a lesson when someone from the window had spitted straight on him on his motorbike. Spitting here is quite something. It is very common to chew this pan, a mixture of betel, tobacco and spices. It dyes their teeth and mouth blood red. Every once in a while they spit the liquid out, for example from the bus window.
That's all folks this time. I'll be telling you next time what happens in a Tibetan refugee camp where we are going for a tourist tour on a minibus on Sunday! Superfun! Until then, enjoy the positive vibes I'm sending you.

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Photos

At Ganesh festival
Dr Anita talking to her friends

Ganesh tower
This was then carried around

Michi's henna tattoo
... on her burned hand and foot.