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The past few days have been a daze. It seems to happen to me at least once every time I come to India: the dreaded mysterious illness….headache, stomach ache, fever, a haziness and fog to sift through. After days of simple foods, loads of sleep and a fair bit of reading, I’ve mostly recovered. I did manage to pull myself together, at least momentarily, for a few events over the past few days. We went to a free concert sponsored by the Times of India at Shaniwarwada Palace. The old castle was lit bright orange with a turquoise lit stage in front of it, stars in the night, traditional music from Rajasthan, and twirling sequined girls with water carriers on their heads. Anywhere else, the outfits they donned would be considered gaudy, but here in India, I find myself thinking how beautiful all those sparkles really are. Funny how one’s sense of fashion can be so easily changed by environment.


Though the concert was fabulous, I perhaps overdid it and yesterday had to take it extremely easy. At some point, I pulled myself out of bed, dragged myself to the nearest decent restaurant to eat dahi idli and finger chips for a plain lunch. Idli is something akin to a sweet/spicy solid cream of wheat lump, though I’ve convinced myself that I think it’s rice. Dahi is yogurt. Finger chips are nothing more than French fries. They brought me the Indian version of ketchup, which is much thinner and not so sweet as the American version. The ketchup bottle was white and cylindrical, the head red with a small spout on the side. Someone had placed google eyes on either side of the spout (or nose), making the device reminiscent of a penguin. Of course, they also forgot to put the lid on tight so the penguin looked as if he had been partially beheaded as the ketchup oozed out of his neck as he pensively examined me eating my fries.

Later that evening, I decided to venture out to Iyengar’s 91st birthday party 45 minutes late. I managed to find a seat on the cool stairs and while I could not exactly see the stage, I could easily see the crowd and was thankful for the air, space and coolness of my location. Everyone else was sitting on the floor packed in like sardines, visibly sweating, some of the people desperately fanning themselves through the long speeches and yoga demonstrations by the local students. Mr. Iyengar himself proudly sat tall and strong on a chair towards the back of the room. I stayed for about an hour and then, with no end in sight and my fever catching up to me, I managed to escape. Though I missed the free dinner and the speech by Iyengar himself, I’m sure that I will hear from the other students any highlights. Instead, I made myself a bowl of oatmeal, took a shower and went back to bed. Today I’m feeling much better and am looking forward to classes, which were cancelled yesterday due to the celebrations.