Day 470: Fuck-off Ganesha

(Monday 5th August)
There’s an embarrassment of things to be grateful for, not possible to say them all. One of my favourites was the lady across the aisle from me on my flight. She had a cover-your-hair-for-modesty scarf on (can’t remember what they’re called and I’m not live online to look it up). It was an unobtrusive dull sky blue, covered in black moustaches! I’m not sure exactly what it was about it that pleased me so much. It’s partly that it’s facial hair, but on her head. Also that it’s BOY hair. Man hair, I suppose. On a woman’s head. A head that she’s covering to remain modest in front of men. I loved it. As we were landing, she looked round. I communicated my delight – no detail, just glee eyes and pointing. She accepted and grinned back.

When the lady next to me opened her bag, I saw in it a decorative British crown, visibly made of plastic, in a display box. Tacky brilliance, valuable enough to her to carry carefully in her hand luggage. I have to say, she didn’t look the type.

I had a go on a stinky brown doberman on the train. He wasn’t in great condition, but he was very pretty (much slighter than my old beefcake of a dog, who was apparently some kind of German steamroller of doberman, hence the chunk). He was responsive and sweet and afterwards, my hands smelt like they used to when I’d stroked Osh. Stinky sweet memories. I didn’t think to do the digestive biscuit test on his paws, but we were in public, so maybe best not anyway.

We finally got to where we were going, to find that not only is it a yoga centre (I kind of knew that) but it’s a full-on ashram (called Yoga Vidya – a! my spiritual name from when I trained as a yoga teacher at Christmas). It serves only vegetarian/vegan food and yogi tea on tap, has a fuck-off Ganesha* on the check-in desk and I can go to satsang morning and evening if I like. No doubt I can borrow a yoga mat too and join some classes. Satsang, though. How cool is that? 

Just last week, I was thinking ‘I’d really love a yoga holiday, but how, when, how shall I pay for it… and here it is, wrapped up in this mask course that I am the very last participant in after others dropped out, like a mini Bounty in a pass-the-parcel round. I’m ver excited… and late to bed.

I’m going, right now, with nothing but a huge oooommmmmmmm for company.

* Maybe I’ll be wiser and more ommed up by the end of the week, and won’t be saying “unforgivable” things like ‘a fuck-off Ganesha’. I reckon if Ganesha was real (rather than the visible representation of a concept), he’d have rather liked that phrase, though. He might be a deity, but he was a mischievous little fucker, as the story goes.