2 Years, No Monsoon..... (Nov 30)

We still haven't seen any rain and it sounds like we may not any time soon. This part of Bihar has gone two years with no monsoon. It's very, very, very dry. The river has almost gone to nothing and the wide, dusty, dry riverbed stretches far into the distance. The river bed is really quite wide so you can tell there used to be water.

Brad got up early(ish) and walked to the train ticket office to get our tickets for Haridwar. The restaurant across the road (Gautam, next to Pole to Pole) told us last night that he was making fresh cinnamon rolls this morning! I walked over to pick a couple up while Brad was getting our tickets (they were still warm!) We had expected him to be awhile queuing up so I was surprised to meet him as I exited the restaurant. We went back in and had some apple and cinnamon porridge to supplement our rolls.

We finally had an internet connection that seemed to be stable so I stayed for a couple of hours updating. It had been so hit and miss, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. While I was madly typing away, Brad walked to the market to pick up some fruit. The police station is just down the road from where we were and as Brad passed, there was a crowd of people standing around. He stopped to see what was going on. I guess you'd call it old-fashioned justice. Prisoners were being brought out one by one and flogged. I was shocked when he told me! He said that one was even strung upside down by his ankles and the soles of his feet were beaten. I guess the punishment depended on the individual crime. He also said the crowd wasn't cheering, just watching.

Our train is departing December 2 so we decided to get some shopping done. I picked up a beautiful sari in one of the shops. The owner had the most delightful laugh and he was so excited about showing me all the fabrics that he had. I could have walked out with a truckload! I limited myself to just one. Brad did the measurements for the blouse and the owner indicated it would be ready later that day.

As we looked around, we stumbled across a statue maker who did wood and stone carvings. Most of the statues here seem to be churned out at an alarming rate from some factory and shipped in. I had noticed him sitting and carving these small pieces of wood. Apparently they carve these very small wooden buddhas that the monks often wear around their necks. We bought a very nice stone Ganesh.

We had decided to head back to Root this evening to take their Mindfulness Yoga class and stay for dinner (like I said, the food was really good). We arrived about an hour early for class so we went up to the library to hang out for a bit. I was reading a book on ritual in Buddhism. It helped further explain the thinking behind ritual in the first place and why ritual had fallen out of favour in Western society.

The library closed at 4:00 so we went over to the dining hall to relax and have a tea. Rita, the monk who had done our course, was sitting and relaxing so we joined her for a chat. I asked her about what we'd seen the monks doing in the courtyard with all the clapping. It is a form of debate. The monk standing asks a question and punctuates it with a clap and a stomp. The seated monk answers. She said one question might be something like "what is the meaning of Buddha". The seated monk might answer "awakened". So the standing monk would say "are you awake?"
"Yes"
"So are you Buddha?"
"No"
"Then how is awakened, Buddha?"
and on and on.
It's quite rapid fire and she said it makes the mind very sharp. The clapping is also to, metaphorically, crush the ego of the questioner in case they thought they were getting too smart with their points.

Yoga was with Jean-Claude, a Parisian. It was a slow, relaxing, methodical class. We did the standing poses on the bare tiles which was different. They gave a nice grip and you could use the lines to get your feet aligned properly. The Parisian accent is quite delicious for the ears. Even Brad commented that he'd go home with him if he asked (he kills me!)

Back to the sari shop. I went into the back and tried it on. I tried to wrap it in the way Kamala had shown me but that was a year ago and the lesson was very short. I came out, somewhat wrapped. We all had a good laugh. I have to say I was pretty close but it wasn't quite right. My pleats were apparently too big. Back into the back room and, with some assistance, I was rewrapped. I looked like a princess! The fabric is a rich, blue georgette with nice detail embroidery. So pretty!

The owner had Brad try on one of the men's wedding shirts as well. We didn't buy it but we got a photo. It looked like it would be nice and comfy as well.

None of the internet cafes were working so we headed back to the hotel.