Last led yoga class in Mysore and movie night

Saturday the 24th, was the day off and I really did not do anything, no stretching and no exercises... I really needed the break. (I usually do stretch and do some additional exercises before going to bed.)
Yesterday morning, Sunday, was my last led class in Mysore, as I am leaving a day early and missing Friday's led class. I also noticed this morning that the shala was getting a lot emptier, and the tailors around town, who do a lot of work for the Yoga tourists, are saying that this will be there last really busy week. Guruji is also closing his shala on the 14th of March to go on another world tour. I don't know exactly where he is going except that he will be in the USA to open a new shala there.

Saturday, I had a lazy day and basically just shopped around town... Stores close around lunch time and open again either 15:00 or 16:30 and then stay open again until 21:30. At 13:00 there was another demonstration at the KR circle yesterday. Seems to be a very regular occurence. Streets just get blocked and demonstrators walk onto the road for 5 or 10 minutes and then it is over...
My shopping was not very successful yesterday, but I did scout out some shops and I tasted some of the local speciality sweet called Mysore Pak, which is incredibly oily. All of the shop attendants always handled the sweets with their bare fingers, which I did not like, but I haven't gotten sick.
I also phoned one of the local cinema's to find out about what time the movie Guru is showing. It has been on circuit for about 3 months and I am told is very good. The newspapers don't show the times, just what movie is showing. The movie house is called Skyline, right next to Sterling... in SA this would have been Cine 1 and 2 :-)

Instead of watching the movie on Saturday at 17:00, I ended up at Jaganmohan Palace at 18:00, the same place the talent show was last week Saturday, to watch some traditional Indian dancing by a famous Indian dancer. This time it was not free, but there was a seating plan and tickets cost anywhere from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000.
When "Amma", a women with the status of a saint, arrived, everything stopped and she was escorted into the auditorium with a choir of song from women following her. The dancing was very very good. Am trying to load a video snippet on the blog ...

Sunday, the shopping was successful. Bought some indian style outfits for my nieces who have just had a birthday, bought a Kurta (men's traditional garment) for myself and I bought some other bits and pieces. I found out that there are basically 4 different outfits, other than a saree, that women wear traditionally. All come in different fabrics from cotton, cotton/silk mix, crepe silk, pure silk, synthetic material etc, which affects the price as well as how much embroidery etc is on the garment.

1. Sharara: short top, with bell-bottom pants and a scarf
   
2. Gaghra: long/short top with long skirt and scarf
   
3. Salwar (Ladies Punjabi): long/short top with tight fitting pants or ali-baba type baggy pants and scarf
4. Choridar: long/short top with push-back pants (wrinkled) and scarf
   

After we were told that there would be no conference again this Sunday, I raced to the cinema to watch the movie Guru in Hindi without subtitles. The movie cost Rs 25 and started at 17:00 on the dot, no advertisements and finished about two hours and 40 minutes later with 5 min. intermission (yes, very short).
The movie was about a businessman who started with nothing and built a huge company but was then sued etc, as well as a love story. It was fast paced and only about 4 musical dance sections in the movie, but I also enjoyed that... and Aishwarya Rai, the bollywood actress, is very beautiful :-). The audience was quiet throughout the movie, which I did not expect, and the movie house was old and had outdated equipment, but not bad or extremely dirty... all in all, I had a good experience and I hope to see the movie with english subtitles again in future :-)
The story was shot in Bombay / Mumbai, and I recognised Chowpatty beach that I had walked to on my arrival in India at the beginning of my trip... What I also found interesting was that in the movie, the main actor always touched the feet of people he respected. I have not seen this being done other than by westerners doing it to guruji as a sign of respect. I always thought it was a little strange, but now that I have seen it being part of the Indian culture, I am more comfortable doing this myself to guruji. In fact today, a child begging for money touched my feet.

This morning, Monday, I had a brilliant practice... I got my chin onto my shin during quite a few forward stretches, my jump back and jump throughs went well and for the very very first time I bound Supta Kurmasana (sitting on the floor with legs in front, bend forward and put your arms under your knees and wrap the arms around your back, cross your ankles, place head under legs and then grab hold of your hands). Don't know if I will be able to do it again tomorrow, but that is ok :-)

At ten o'clock, I was met by someone to take me to Madhu for a massage. The last massage I had was by a women who had been working for 12 years at the Ayurvedic Centre in Mysore and she cost Rs 500. A massage by a westerner will cost in the range of Rs 1,500 to 3,000. I only get massages by someone who has been recommended to me. The nice thing about that lady was that she came to your place to give you a massage.
Ayurveda is the ancient science of indian herbal medicine and holistic healing. Lots of tourists try there fasts during which they have to drink medicated ghee (clarified butter) and eat only brown rice cooked with specific spices etc. I had considered visiting the centre, as they have consultations where they then explain to you what type of body you have according to the 3 doshas. The centre is a full spa with a 25 metre swimming pool, tennis courts etc., but their prices are in US dollars, so a deep tissue massage will cost over Rs 1,500.

Madhu was recommended to me last week and what impressed me was that Katie said she never screamed in pain before where others had, when being massaged by the "three sisters" as they are known, but Madhu made here scream :-). The cost was Rs 750, which is still less than a simple back massage back in South Africa.
So when we got there, Madhu was just finishing off doing his morning prayers. He did not have a nice house, like the houses in Gokulam, so no seperate puja room, so he just had pictures of the deities like Shiva on the floor and candles and incense in front of that. He then ushered me into a bare room that just had a wooden massage table only about five (5) cm high along the floor. I later found out that he comes from a long line of Ayurvedic massage therapists... ie: his father and his grandfather etc all did this, and the table was apparently over 800 years old. It was made of wood with absolutely no cushioning on it and its surface was not flat but convex, tapering down along the sides and then a little ledge... I guess so that would collect any excess oil running down. The oil he used (he said it was medicated oil... don't know exactly what) smelled very very good. The massage like the previous one started in a seated position, with the head, then down the neck and back. Then I had to lie on my back and he massaged the down the front of the body and down the legs. I always thought you are supposed to massage up the body towards the heart, but this is not the way it is done here. While massaging my legs, he stretched my legs in the split etc and he made me scream too :-) He asked me how many years I had been doing yoga and after hearing that it had been multiple years he said... "Well, I don't think it was regular (practice)!" No, I have never practiced yoga daily until now and that is why I am still so stiff!!!
Then he put a blanket on me and told me to relax and he left the room. When he came back I thought it was all over, but he said turn around onto my stomach and the massage (and the screams) continued... Then he got out a gas burner with a similar top like a skottle braai and he heated a little bag containing some medicinal leaves and he rubbed me down with the hot bag. At the end he asked me to push my upper body up and he stretched my spine backwards. Finally, he asked me to stand up and standing behind me with his back to mine, he grabbed my arms and lent forward picking me up on his back and stretching me. Maybe not the most hygenic of massage parlours but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

In the afternoon, I finalised the embroidery design for the pants I am having made and then I had my second last sanskrit class... The final class on Wednesday will be a test, so I need to revise a little. I basically have two days left in Mysore.
I have decided not to visit the Tibetan village as it is 2 to 3 hours drive one way and I am going to visit the Tibetan community in McLeod Ganj anyway. Other than that I did not have any other unaccomplished activities / sights while in Mysore.