November 6

Great early start today. I walked for an hour along Marine Drive. This is the Queen's Necklace.....a crescent shaped bay ringed by street lights. It is the ONLY time of day to exercise outdoors.....relatively cool, and no sun. Lots of people walk along the promenade, most exercising, and socializing. Then I went to the studio for another great lesson with Natasha. She is my guide. My new sun protective shirt had been ripped off me in the train, so I went down after yoga and bought two more....stylish, and have SPFs of 40 and 50.....as well as a pair of sun protective pants....better to wear the shirt than put on sunscreen!! Most Canadians don't need this attire, but I will sure need it later in Africa.I include a pic of the little dashboard shrine in the taxi. Usually it is for one or other Hindu god, like Ganesh, the elephant. Not sure what this one is. Usually there are garlands of marigolds in the shrine.After yoga, Desai, the front desk guy, always gives me tea. He is so welcoming, and pleasant. He told me there was a singing class at 11, so I was allowed to observe the women's singing class. They sang some Bajans at my request ( spiritual songs ) but their main focus was Bollywood songs. The leading lady in the pic is a performer, and teaches all the other women. They learn the notes by rote, and go around the class, each going over the intricacies, and believe me they really are melodically complex to the Western ear! I took videos of them and will upload one, and we will see if you can hear it. I took several videos of them singing. I was impressed.They were accompanied by a blind guy on the harmonium. He is from Wilson College, and is degreed. He has a great ear for music, probably enhanced by the fact that he is in fact blind. I met him before class. I was treated like a royal guest. It was very impressive to the Western ear, singing in their particular scale, with so many embellishments!!The lady with the white pants is the leader, and she was superb,

I go most places by taxi, and I'm learning how to choose a taxi, and learn the system. Going anywhere by car is very eye opening!! Tonight I had supper at Shiv Sugar. It is an Indian restaurant, and is very reasonably priced. Food is excellent. I like the fresh juices. I had Vindaloo tonight....I squeeze Indian lemons all over this vegetarian curry, and cut chopped red onions......they are so so prolific in Mumbai. I took a taxi to the studio to watch the martial arts there,but they were doing kick boxing, so here are a few pics.The guy in the pale green T shirt was the instructor. Looked all impressive to me.

I have lyrics now for all 6 songs of the concert for the kids. I now need to put it to music. Simple grade 1 to 3 music. Diwali is gearing up already for next week! Fireworks are going off on the sidewalks, and the place is getting lit up gradually.