“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” Paulo Coelho
Today I didn’t see time in the day except the morning alarm and time for meals. The routine was set in its way that I knew what was coming next. After yoga would be the amazing ghee procession, then tea, consultation, call for massage and then tea again. Lunch was same as yesterday, a bowl of soupy rice in coconut milk and ghee. I was proud to finish another book in 2 days, funnily enough I had decided not to carry books in this trip as I felt I would be stuck to reading and won’t do anything else and here I was, heading to the library for more reads, whatever was available in English. The subjects were interesting I must say, these were books that I might not have picked consciously; so I was happy to be busy and informed. I must add that I actually enjoy reading while traveling but the reason I didn’t carry any books this time was to spend time with myself, know more of ‘who I am’ and ‘what I want’ as I detox internally and externally. This still remains a task in this trip and I am certain I will be able to get some insights.
Today during consultation, the doctor checked my back for some points as I mentioned the pain during yoga session in the morning and we hoped the flow of some postures directed by him would help. Today was also the last day of the German lady who came from the other place where I am heading in few days so lunch was special (farewell meal), there was a note on the board for her and more than anything, I was still on soup. I could see tomato rice, banana chips and 8 other items on the menu, so much for patience and perseverance I thought. I silently promised to myself that soon I shall have this amazing meal too as I had only one more day to go with the ghee consumption. On my way to lunch I saw something interesting, a local lady was weaving a leaf from the palm tree into a shed and then we saw how a coconut is peeled, cut and scraped with old style tools. Life was so simple back then I thought, one used what was around, brought stuff from trees like nutmeg or the Jack fruit that was served for tea time, what happened to all of that? How did we become so complicated and packaged? Or were we trying to make life simple in the form of what it is today? I took some pictures from the recipe book since they didn’t have a spare copy to buy and the new edition was under print. I hoped to pick few copies next time as it had so much in it that I would love to share with my family and those interested in the Ayurvedic concept of cooking. From the family culture of 8 generations, to the current family, their places, food, the culture etc. It was a homely book and I aim to make some dishes one day too.
I got two more books to the room which was Adiyogi – The source of yoga with Shiva on the cover written by Sadguru & Arundhati Subramaniam and Festivals of India to brush my knowledge. By dinner time surprisingly I was done with the latter one, a light read for kids so was easy to comprehend and register with illustrations. It went on from January till December, how awesome was the read to learn about the occasions I knew little about and refresh the ones that were core in the north. It has been a while since I have been away from home and sometimes I wonder when Diwali or Holi is, the festivals were were close to and wondered still if people celebrated Baisakhi or Lohri.
