Day 59 - Sivananda Ashram

Escaappeee! I'm in the real world again - today is free day at the ashram, so we all piled on the bus to go down to Kanyakumari. I thought the day off would mean I could lie in - wroooong, wake-up at 5.30 as usual, leave by 6. I also thought I got out of the chanting for one day - wroooong, as soon as I got on the bus they put a CD on at full blast - yes, you've got it - all my favourite chants - starting off with the classic 'Jaya Ganesha' - aaaargh!!

You know you want to....listen to the wonderful chanting (You love it? I thought so, listen to more happy music here, and be jealous that I get to do this for hours on end, every day - huzzah)

First stop was at the waterfall - we changed into t-shirts and sarongs and shuffled out to the ledge under the waterfall. We stood there, grasping the railings, as the water hammered on to our backs. It was painful, like the meanest massage ever - but I loved it (heaven for my aching back muscles). Unfortunately our attempts to be modest failed as we emerged looking like contestents in a wet t-shirt competition - oh dear!

Next we went to an old temple - lots of wandering around in bare feet, circling random buildings with painted rocks in them, getting various coloured pastes smeared on our foreheads and sickly sweet rice goo shoved in our hands. Then brekkie down the road at a random 'hotel' (I think they confused the T with a V - else they have a veery loose definition of the word 'hotel' here) .

After eating we hopped back on the bus and along to a wooden palace. Palace was v. nice, started saying things like "I would put a sofa theeeree, t.v. theere" and so on. Unfortunately the place is an Indian heratige site ('5000R fine and 6 months harsh imprisonment' for anyone damaging the property - meep, scared much) so probably not for sale (not that I could afford a wooden palace anyway).

Back on the bus, lunch at a random Ashram (eeew, grim, we have it good at Neyyar dam). Somewhere through the meal I lost my common sense for a moment after eating a paticularly spicy bit of goo and drank some of the water (please let me not spend tomorrow throwing up).

Finally back to Kanyakumari town and the beginning of epic search for an ATM that was in order and not rejecting my card. After an hour of trudging backwards and forewards, and my third ATM, I finally got lucky - I have now got money to pay back the various people I've borrowed it from, and purchase a t-shirt that I've had my eye on for a while (it's a huge Sivananda tshirt with a lovely sketch of the man himself on the front - so hideous that it is cool, at least I hope so, else I've already been here too long!!).

Now happily holed up in an internet cafe (suffering withdrawl symptoms here) and next we go to another temple (joys) then dinner at a nice restaurant (hope nice actually means nice, I really do). Back to the ashram at 11.30, thenup again at 5.30 the next morning. Aaaaaaaaaargh.

Tomorrow is the talent contentest (shivers run down my spine at the words). We've been encouraged to take part to 'conquer our fears' and all that milarkey. Despite the fact that Lisa is a cutting edge modern drama student, and took all her clothes off infront of a room full of strangers for her show, she has copped out - her response to my teasing being 'noway - I get nervous on stage'. Whatever. So without her as my ally in shame, I've joined a couple of other nutty girls to bellow out a song. We want one that is catchy and funny, but as we still haven't decided which to sing this could all be the biggest disaster ever (Beatles 'all you need is love' is the popular choice thus far). Becca gets my full admiration as she is reading out one of her poems (she's a philosophy major, so I'm sure the peom will be really deep and intelligent - but still, the pressure!). Anyway, everyone will get my respect, however bad they are... although I have to say that if someone tries to chant 'Jaya Ganesha' as their entry, I shall personally beat them to death with their tambourine. Shall announce results in a few days.