November 21

Early rise, and walked with Uday to the Yoga Centre that he is a part of. Very interesting. This centre does yoga research. They offer all kinds of services, particularly Ayurvedic treatments etc. I did not have time to do a class, but booked an Ayurvedic massage for later. Then walked to the Krishna Consciousness Temple. We went to the temple, and listened to a talk, along with many others. After that we had breakfast, which was a special kind of yellow rice, with many different herbs. The drink was sweet, and flavoured with special herbs, quite delicious. This is the yoga centre below. I may come back and do a retreat at their retreat place

 Treatments....Neti pot station, and other water based procedures

 The quiet zone

 Hare Krishna temple

 Below...listening to the talk

 Breakfast...delicious drink.....slightly curried herbal rice

 Floor ornamentation

 Drums below

 Two pics of a devotee, whom Uday spoke to. I got the book!!! He is a very humble, gentle soul!

 The American Swami, who is the world head of the organization was here. I got an audience with him!I bought his book, and watched a video on the Hare Krishna movement.

 Pic with the Swami...the American head of Hare Krishna

Below, Uday with Swami

Below is the poster of a concert I went to in the evening.It was in New Bombay. Long taxi ride with Uday. He got tickets for us, as he is a big fan of Indian movie music. The concert went 7 pm to midnight!!!lol!!

 Everyone uses their cell phones to record music and video below!!!

 Various artists singing, surrounded by the band: lots of drums to left, and guitars, sitars, synthesizers etc.

 Movie screen at the back, which played the take in the movie, while the performer sang it. Indians love movies with singing.  The show was being videoed.

 Lots of talking in Hindi between items........audience loved that but lost to me

 The movie in action at the back of the players, as the guy in red sang.

 At 10 PM I was done. So Uday took me backstage to meet this guy ( the one featured on the poster above). Uday loves to sing this kind of music.

 Another one of the stars with Uday

 They guy with the green jacket was one of India's top movie singers. The crowd adored him. The lady next to him sang also in some of his songs.

 Below, audience, and sound mixing crew facing the stage

Below, full house.......

 More of the big star!! Rear end of the video guy who was up on stage

 Indian men are so easily able to sit cross legged, as you can see below. It is so hard for Westerners, as we use chairs. They have "free" hips

 Some of them needed chairs as it was better to play the guitars below

 The guy with the white shirt, back to us, was an orchestra leader....he did a lot of cueing, not conducting as is the western tradition.

 AFTER the show, we had a snack.....to right, papadum with onion , tomato, and crispy pieces. The huge crepe is rice, called a dosa. You eat ONLY with your right hand, ( guess why?? lol!!) I used utensils as well, as eating with your hands is difficult to the unpracticed!!

 Nearly forgot to show you the Yamuna juice.....bright purple, sweet, fresh juice, and tasted good!! You won't find that in Edmonton! On the way home from the concert we used a freeway. Can you believe that there were pedestrians crossing!! We nearly wiped them out......scary!!!

 Above and below: forgot to show you the thank you pics from the Khar kids. Zoom to see it better. It was quite an experience. They enjoyed my energy, as some of their concerts have been dreary.

Reception at the Yoga Centre. The massage was very unusual. You were covered in warm olive oil, then gently pound with a bag of Ayurvedic herbs. Not deep tissue like we get in Canada. Different. So funny. The reception staff below, talked to me. These brothers asked me to sing, when I told them I was a music teacher. So I sang "O Canada". They were impressed. All the staff agreed to sing the Indian national anthem, so I stood, like I do at the Indian movie theatre!! SOOO different to us!!