2 Dec 08: Mysore – it’s a wrap

It was with mixed feelings that I said good-bye to Mysore on Saturday November 15th. I was sad to go because 4 months of practicing in the shala with Sharath was a complete luxury. Plus, I knew that I would suffer shala withdrawal symptoms i.e. daily tendencies to cheat leading to a rapid plummet of my practice. Would I have stayed longer? An extra month would have been nice but my last week at practice was great and it’s always nice to end on a high note. Plus, since I had to leave, I was looking forward to my last month further north. Then home to see especially my twin nephews and my sister’s growing belly.

To wrap-up my time in Mysore, I’d like to summarise developments from my earlier updates. I will begin with the biggest stress of my Mysore stay:

Ants Part 8+++
Looks like taping up the hole and poking a hole to spray into is the way to go. We got a lot of ants behind the kitchen cabinets. Then I found 2 more nests in my room before I waved the white flag. ‘You win Ants, you can have the room!’. I moved to James’ room after he left. They must have missed me because I saw ants moving out through the window and the door before Elena moved in my old room. So, she got an ant-less room and I still had to deal with them. I unexpectedly found at least another hundred in a bag of dried snacks in the kitchen! Quite a shock. The good news is that was the last batch although there was a HUGE spider which moved into my new room. Thankfully only for a night.

Green leafy vegetables
I found street vendors around the corner from where I live that sell palak (spinach). At 4 little bundles for 10 rupees, it’s a steal. I am rather sick of sautéed spinach now though.

Guru, my coconut man
About a month ago, he got a haircut (no big deal) and dyed his hair & moustache jet-black. He looked about 20 years younger. I almost couldn’t recognise him. My friend didn’t. She went up to him, ‘Are you covering for Guru today?’, getting a sheepish grin in return. He does this every six months it seems. Now, a month later, he looks a little speckled when he doesn’t shave. White stubble whilst everything else is black.

Beck – the other coconut man sadly died very suddenly of a heart attack. Ironically, a day after I sent out my Guru email. He was only 45. It was big news as he was a favourite with a lot of the students. His son has since taken over his job outside the shala. Very pleasant. Always smiles in greeting and you can see the resemblance to his father. I smile back but sorry Beck Jr, my loyalties lie with my main man, Guru.

Breakfast
I’ve found a new favourite local eatery for breakfast – Hotel Gokul. Clean, cheap and good. The owner is now used to our weird order. Plain dosa, 1 chorta (half) normal tea, 1 full sugarless tea which we will mix to get the perfect level of sweetness. Best place to ‘dao bao’ (take-away) too – they happily fill up flasks for us.

Names
The young guy at the local bakery still calls me ‘Jimmy’. Maney’s wife still calls me ‘Dosa’. My Mysore friends now call me ‘Jimmy Dosa’.

Maney, my rickshaw man
He called me on my last day sounding really awful. He was sick with flu but still offered to come over to say good-bye. His wife wanted to speak to me so we had our usual 3-4 word conversation. Then she impressed an expanded vocabulary of, ‘Husband very sick’. True to form, Maney, never ceasing to amaze me with his thoughtfulness, sent his friend to deliver a rose to me as a farewell gift. I was very sad not to have said good-bye to him in person but very happy that he will not be able to reject the Ang Bao I left for him with my landlord.

The important people in my Mysore life
I made it a point on my last morning to say good-bye to the important people – no coincidence how so many are related to eating. My coconut man, my milk & curd man, my Hotel Gokul man, my rickshaw men. It was quite embarrassing going back to Hotel Gokul in the afternoon for more chai though. My man there politely said as I left, “Now you going?”.

Now as a test to determine my most diligent reader, here’s a pop quiz for you:
- What was my first mysore ‘pet’?
Correct entries eligible for a lucky draw. Grand prize is a value pack of 4 Indian toilet rolls. These can also be traded at a local Mysore eatery for not one, but two thalis, with enough change for 2 large chais!

PS. I close my Mysore 2008 chapter with this photo taken after stealth attack, Operation Masking Tape, was carried out. Here are some samples of the results.

In case you can't see the black specks are ants .. lots of them!