XXI. Breaks

When I am home, if I do not work in my garden, or at least explore around the place, a couple of times a day, my academic productivity suffers. That’s why I created an outdoor office (under the umbrella) by the pool. Forcing myself to sit and work does not produce good results. I am good for 45 minutes, at the most, before the most distressing things start to happen. I know this is true because I have done a few small experiments to test the hypothesis.

Self-discipline is another matter; it is something that all great masters recognize as essential to success. It is always some kind of yoga. Today, it was hatha yoga, walks, eating lots of fruits and nuts, and then a planned treat to go to Kharghar in the early evening and eat at a nice restaurant. The delay in gratification worked. It was a very satisfying day – including two postings here. At certain times, I need to build things in wood, or metal, brick or stone; though that option is mainly unavailable here. At others, I need to chase a ball moving at high speeds in a small space at close quarters with another human being (who is a friend). That option should be available soon!

I like being new places; and sometimes even visiting old ones. Typically, though, “being” someplace usually is a lot better than “getting” there. Like most things in life, though, it depends. After the 14th World Conference, I planned two outings – one with other conference attendees/friends (mainly Americans) to a beach house south of Mumbai and the other, with Glorian Sorensen, to Lonavala (a Hill Station West of here) on Monday before she went back to the states.

We left for the beach trip from the Gateway to India (that’s the boat we took for the great escape, a bit obscured by the early morning fog). This Gateway and the Taj in front of it got a lot of notoriety back in November. But I relate to these places mostly from having visited often with Christine when we lived here in 1997-8. On Sundays, we would often sit on the first floor (equivalent to the second floor in the US) restaurant of the Taj eating pesto and enjoying the scene below. Of course, it also was nice to be part of the scene, spending a little time hanging out on the esplanade in front of the arch.

Going into rural India is always such a treat. We passed by boats dressed up for Holi, a market with people selling flowers and food, another one of what must be millions of archeological ruins, and then on to this most amazing beach.

That’s Ratesh (who also applied to be a Fulbrighter next year) and his wife Petra (Glorian took the picture). I swam off this beach for a long time and it felt like a great big, whole body massage! Then, I actually got a whole body massage! Well, it doesn’t get a lot better than that. I don't get to see Americans, or any other foreigners, here very much. So it was a real treat to talk to people who shared elements of my culture. Our Indian hosts also made people feel very much at home, including providing a spectacular venue (that we agreed we would not photograph), exquisite food, and even massages!