more sweat, more mosquito bites, not indulging in gluttonious behaviour today.

---

so today has been insane.
firstly im fasting. for those of you who havent done this much i will advise you not to go into a crazy busy indian city to run errands. firstly, you might not get much done. secondly, you are inclined to be impatient and maybe even a tad sour. these are very inappropriate traits for this kind of situation. firstly, everything here takes around ten times longer than you think it shoudl take. secondly, not speaking the language you need to realise that most of the time peopel have no idea what you are esaying. being a native english speaker from an english speaking country this becomes increasingly frustrating but is also extremely humbling. it really becomes impressed upon you that you are not the centre of the universe and that your great resume full of 'well developed communication abilities' means absolutely nothing here. this was beautiful for me because it has created a shared experience for me with my parents. i could imagine how they felt coming to australia.
i bought 'light on pranayama' today for 6 australian dollars. the woman in the bookstore taught me a beautiful lesson. she noticed that i pulled out a wad of notes out of my coin purse and she very kindly, almost apologetically proceeded to explain to me that this is not the right way. it's not even about being organised, or having a clear mind, or keeping your affairs in order. To a Hindu, this kind of haphazard, apathetic attitude toward money is a blatant slap in the face to the goddess Lakshmi who is in charge of prosperity and abundance and money. She made a point of getting me to straighten out all the money and to arrange it in order of currency and put it back in my purse. this was awesome. another amazing experience which sadly i dont have time to detail is that i was involved in cutting down a tree today (yes i know, so much for tree hugging hippie) but it was necessary. i then was involved in trying to burn bull ant nests (so much for practicing the Buddhist precept of not causing any suffering to any other sentient being) and then was bitten by many bull ants. I also learned how to sweep with reeds, drank the most amazing delicious energy drink from a homeopath it had fruit and seeds and yumyum spices in it, igreatly put Australia to shame with my cricket skills, not being able to catch out a 5 and a half year old. i am getting very settled into my life here and cannot complain. the only issue i can anticipate is that i might not summon the will to leave. having to lug around my backpack and go to new places feels like something i dont want to deal with. this is not good because i have a very limited time here in india and i really shoudl be doing more. at hte very least i shoudl be seeing stuff but im not. im just chillin wiht the locals, hanging out, meditating, reading, and eating. tomorrow i will go for a walk. i might even hire that bicycle i have been talking about for days. write me emails. i miss you people. x
ps. im aware that gluttonious may or may not be a word. i also realise that this is extremely hypocritical of me as i am so obsessed with grammar and what not. in my defense the fact that internet is so slow and lame here and the keyboards jam so much i have been forced to leave behind all these moralistic ideals about the English language. so for the meantime i have allowed myself a poetic licence to make up words. i am graciously extending this to all of you for this same period of time. ha. xxxxxxxx

---