For the love of idlis...

Sylvia's idli count so far: 11 in the past 3 days, thanks to the buffet breakfast we wake up to every morning here at the Vedic Village.



Garrett enjoys his fistfuls of papaya and mango, and hard boiled eggs.

Today we participated in Dinacharya, the Sanjeeva Spa's morning Ayurvedic ritual. We woke up at 5:45am to brush our teeth with an herbal paste, used a copper tongue scraper to get the night's filth off of our tastebuds, and drank an herbal concoction (300ml, to be exact), which Sylvia puked up shorty after. We went for a small walk to the spa center, where we got our second day of Yoga, this time, focusing on channeling our prana (or energy) in hopes of learning how to control it. Then it was off to our massage and oil treatment, Abhyangam Shirodhara . And they were not light with the oil. We were brought into separate rooms where our masseurs proceeded to douse us with oil, working in sychronizing strokes that felt as if we were massaged by one person. Our entire bodies were worked over, including an extensive eyelid massage for Sylvia. The Shirodhara treatment, which is where warm oil is constantly poured onto the forhead for about 10 minutes, was quite relaxing and the feeling it produced was undescribable. Then it was off to the shower for a full body scrub, some nose drops and ear drops, inhalation of tumeric smoke, and application of kajal and vermillion--Garrett came out looking like an Egyptian pharoh with his black eye makeup. We also had a consultation with Dr. CM Pradyumna, who suggested practical lifestyle routines to follow in eating, sleeping, yoga, and bowl movements.

Other events of the day so far? Ping pong, reading magazines, and lounging. We did go into the city yesterday for a hectic afternoon with the Internet on Chowringhee to upload pictures, Garrett's trip to the Foreigners Bureau to book train tickets, re-visiting the New Market and getting some souvenirs, and eating at the Blue Sky Cafe on Sudder St., which was full of white people and East Asians! It was a sight we haven't seen in awhile. We're here until the 12th, when we'll travel to Orissa to prepare for Rath Yatra. Until then...peace and love.