Goooood morning, NESCAFE!

I'm here! Literally here:

I lost the New Year in the dateline. I left New York at 10:45 on 31 December and arrived in Mysore around 9am on 2 Jan. Thanks to the horrors of long haul flights, I slept until around 7pm, then went out and picked up a few of my favorite things--a mobile (974 369 8179, just like a Qatar number!)--and some Nescafe. And now I have a new favorite thing. I passed by a man slicing potatoes with alarming speed into a vat of bubbling grease, behind him was a store full of bagged potato chips. Small one? I asked, and ended up with a fresh bag right out of the metal bucket he was spooning the chips into. As luck would have it I had a packet of salt from god knows where in my purse. Dinner. Delicious.





At around 5am this morning I awoke to what sounded like the Star Trek TV show theme song singer practicing with a whole chorus to do a horror movie. Honestly, if I hadn't been to India before I think I'd be terrified at this point. The only thing that really is scaring me at the moment is the prospect of a month of bucket showers. That and the yoga. My Astanga practice is awfully rusty and I fear the emotional repercussions that may result from a month of forward folds. But my yoga teacher told me to come, and so Valerie, here I am.

This balcony off my room is a lovely spot to work on the book and maybe I'll figure out what the fruit is.