Not much happened the last few days so I thought that it is a good idea to give people at home what life is like for me this past week. Since I landed at Mumbai airport Thursday night, I have had a really good time with Neel and so many people I have met. We went shopping yesterday and I feel so happy that I am now not limited to the wardrobe that I have at home. I bought new styles of dhoti and new kurtas. Furthermore, I have also a few white pyjama pants that look really nice, now what I need to get is some churidars.

I went and saw my old housemates Sunday night and had dinner there. The only person that I saw was VIkas. Abhik and Sunil were not there nor was Renjeet, the live-in servant who was there last year. I also called Vaibhav on the phone who is still in Delhi, Bhavesh is still in New Zealand.

The first four days I came here, sleeping has been pretty difficult but since last night I was able to sleep pretty well. What’s been keeping me up at night was the mosquitoes and despite using a net, they still give me lots of problems hence I decided to buy a spray yesterday and sprayed the entire room. The smell is very strong and and probably dangerous but what the hell. It keeps the mosses at bay, they did not give me any problems last night and I’m planning to use it tonight.

Front door to Neel's apartment.

Neel's 500 sq ft. apartment.

Neel's afternoon yoga class with the kids in apartment complex and Savita, an aspiring yoga teacher. I live on top of this place and I have a place this big all to myself...hahaha! 

Vaibhavi, in the 6th grade--very silly.

incredible boy who is very flexible, the best in the class.

Savita, a sweetheart. She's married and has 2 child I think. while Neel thinks she will not be the greatest yoga practitioner, she is as sweet as a mango! love her.

Water has been a problem since I have come here. Not all parts of Pune are without water. My former roommates somehow have water running 24/7 while at Neel’s place water is only available at 6am-10am and then there will be no water until 9 or 10pm. Sometimes we don’t even have running water even at night. I know it sounds terrible but there is a way to survive without running water. We just store it in a 20 gallon bucket and use that throughout the day. Instead of taking my usual 3 showers when I’m at zen center, I take around 3 bucket baths with a small cup, so really it’s not that bad.

The biggest problem is the heat which is unbearable for those who live in temperate climates. Coming to India for me is a 20 degree difference. In SF we average about 13-15C...but in Pune which is the best place compared to most other places in India, the temperature is around 35C..and it will only go down to 26C. Other places in India, the temperature goes up to 40 and stays there...which is really intolerable even for Indians.

One of the best methods that I have learned to cope with this heat which I haven’t seen any Indian people use is to wet my head scarf and cover my head and face. As I have mentioned earlier, Indian men do not wear head scarf unless they’re going to a funeral. And the other one was discovered by accident--wearing a wet t-shirt that was waiting to be dried on a laundry line. It makes such a huge difference to have a wet tshirt underneath my kurta.

Unfortunately at Neel’s place he drinks directly from the tap which I will not dare to do. I have heard a few horror water related stories and so I’ve been using my own MSR water filter which takes like 10 minutes to pump just 1L of water but at least I know that the water is safe to drink. Neel said that for him the water directly from the tap is safe to drink, but no matter how comforting that sounds, I will not definitely not take that risk.

Again my regular eating schedule has been compromised by the fact that Indian people eat much later than me. Breakfast is not until 9 am or later, that’s if they eat breakfast. Lunch is around 1-2pm which is extremely late. Lately I have been eating at 2:30 which is not an ideal time at all. And dinner is at 9 which is considered to be the earliest. As you can see I am not a huge fan and I definitely need to think of some strategies because I feel so weak especially when I have to wait this long for lunch. The reason why we have to wait is because the last class is over at 1pm at the university and Neel sometimes take really long because he likes to mingle with the girls. And it’s not like breakfast is served in huge portions like what we have at zen center...but even at zen center we usually have a light snack around 10 am before lunch at 12:30am. So I need to really think about snacks since drinking two coconut juice is definitely not enough. This second time around, keeping myself hydrated is not a problem but I need to solve my hunger pangs.