A good day

Without wishing anyone anything but Mashallah the Will of Aloho as we say in Syriac it's awfully warm over here. And as if to stop me gloating there was some article on how in cold weather everyone gets more sex, although that has never worked that way from personal experience hmm nope can't say that I have found any connection with atmospheric conditions and my love life possibly a more modern cutting edge astrological thing then. So I have that highly satisfactory feeling Johnnie Major oozed after a most excellent day of high altitude bombing over considerably inferior to non-existent enemy. But why.

I feel I will gain a bank account with ICICI Bank on Monday. The main reason I feel this is that the Bank of Baroda into which I popped in briefly just wasn't interested. And I attributed this to the Indianness of the clerk. I mean yesterday he tells me I can't get a PIO account without an OCI card but people OCI just stands for overseas citizen of India it is just a way of paying a larger amount once for a once and for all visa. It doesn't make you a citizen or confer any other rights. So armed with my belief in the rationale of my now favourite PIO site, and I think I prefer the term person of indian origin because NRI is really a citizen of India who is some kind of tax exile what we call in British English an ex-Pat. So I feel Baroda turned me down more due to the Indianness of the clerk. Yesterday he tells me he can only give me an ordinary chequeing account but for that I must bring my passport and photo. I asked him whether the Director of SEERI would count as someone who could verify my identity and he said I just needed to bring passport and photo. Today I have passport photo and all sorts and he says oh I need someone to introduce me. After quoting FEMA 1999 at him and declaring myself to be a PIO he then suggested it was procedure. So I did make an attempt explaining my theory that I have money and they were a bank and you'd think we could do business but if not I would go to one of the many banks outwith who did seem to want the money of PIOs. Makes me sound like a Vietnam Vet a bit Don't PUSH ME but he just smiled and I did say well he could have told me this yesterday before wishing him May you be happy. Anyway ICICI offer a platinum visa debit card. I never really like Platinum cards Baroda were offering a visa electron but either will supplement my Maestro card so if I did need to make an impulse purchase it might be possible. So that is why I think ICICI will open an account for me. Well two actually one a current a/c where I intend to have 5k pounds transferred which should pay fees and fun for the next year. The second Foreign Currency Non Resident External a/c which used to be called in British English well something similar for which I will be able to claim back the tax on the grounds that you only pay tax once and I pay tax in Blighty and I do because the cousins are volunteering to pay my tax for me out of my money even though I am not liable for tax. And when I can think these meaningless meanderings without reacting at all, then I know the vipassana is kicking in. Oh I have been having more luck with that.

Morning prayer had been cancelled for the funeral anniversary mass of one of the previous lecturers. Alex came and got me while I was trying for breakfast for the later Qurbono. Then we had prayers for the dead at the cinerarium wall. That set me up I thought it was thoughtful of him. My guess is Fr Jacob will mean well. I met with him twice now for lessons, but he won't really have time to give tuition. Alex has mentioned the lack of support here. But that really suits me. It means I can get on with my own stuff and learn at my own pace. And for me because this stuff I do sort of have loads of experience in dead languages, it's all going to come together and then start to make sense. At present I am building up vocabulary daily, starting the brick building and it's quite meditational or boring whichever. Learning to chant some simple prayers the trisagion for example, and the Abun d'Mashmayo and I must have a go at the Hail Mary before evening prayer. So that adds to the good feeling. It will come together and then I proceed formally to phase two and start on text reading with a lexicon which I now possess.

Oh and Alex lead me to a fine bookshop. Kottayam is known as a bookish town which some make fun of. Not much here but quite a nice bookshop in DC books also a local publisher of Malayalam classics. Now Alex not that impressed, it's not Landmark. But I got another of those learn in 30 day books this one for Malayalam but for some reason I feel I will do better with Malayalam I think because it is the secondary language for office and qurbono and it's more for me to pray with rather than chat with. so semi dead as the Indians might say. Which means I can write again to Irom Sharmila. Be nice if she writes again but it's not looking great. There is continual power outage not just like we have here. Some areas of the country just don't get utilities. All students have been on strike for the past four months so 4 lac children and young adults will not proceed to the next year of study/graduate this summer. That was over another murder by the security forces a few months back.

So yeah I am happy and settled it's just the rest of the world is going down the toilet but as we say here in the south anything that far north doesn't really affect us here in Kerala. So just have to work out the routine here. Morning prayer 6 evening 7.30 the Qurbono usually after morning prayer and probably midday prayer around 12.30 once it restarts. Two hours of vipassana and regular Tai Chi, then Syriac, Malayalam, internetting, oh I hadn't realized I was able to download 20 films in Kandy Cottage it did mean nothing else could be done on the internet. Only when I get here do I realize how nice that was. My download speed is now about 20% the speed of Kandy so instead of a film a day it will be a film a week but how many films do I need to see. Oh have some novels to read and plenty of juices and bikkies. I have decided to go on a 3 day fruit juice fast from 29 January before joining the Ayurovedic diet for the remaining 6 weeks or so here coz fruit juice is not a fast really, it's like saying a sweetie and chocolate fast but technically it works as an ayurovedic detox almost. Which reminds me I should email that other Monastery in Katmandu just in case the WSL volunteer monastery doesn't follow up it's acknowledgement, or given that I am a free man of a free country (not an Indian then) I could obviously go to Bali should it become. Probably something else good about the day but it is the feeling which I intend to observe during Tai Chi and let go.