This morning was the last class of August at RIMYI, and Guruji taught with compassion through Abhi and Raya – a challenging class of chest openings followed by seated Pranayama. The class was only half full, as many of the students have already gone home.

Last night, the Pranayama class was taught by Rajlaxmi, and she was marvelous! As my friend Jill said, by the end of the class it felt as though the room was one big communal lung.

After Pranayama class Jill, Kathleen, Sharon and I went to Vishali’s for dinner, and then after that I went to Kathleen’s flat where we stayed up late laughing and talking about how much stuff we bought, whether we’d have room for it in our luggage, and how heavy it will be, among lots of other things …

This being the last day of the month and my last day of classes, I think now is an appropriate time to clear up some misunderstandings I was given before my trip about interactions between Westerners and the Indian people at the Institute. Without going into too much detail and keeping this as simple as possible, I found the Indian people to be gracious, nice, generous and absolutely lovely. Here’s how it works… a smile in India, no matter where you are, never goes unnoticed and is always returned.

On Tuesday, Nana took us for one last rickshaw ride to see another temple. Along the way, more views from the rickshaw …One scooter, three adults and two large bags of rice.The guy on the block wall must be the GF.Water buffalo (yay) have the right of way.Hoofed animals can sleep wherever they want.Along the way, we drove through the military base area. This is the Indian Army Hospital. Where else can you get fresh coconut milk and corn on the cob on the way to the emergency room?Here is the Command Hospital.The Military Intelligence Training School & Depot.Officer’s Mess.Artificial Limb Centre.Armed Forces Medical Stores Depot.Then we made it to the gates of the temple.

Look what was on the other side of the wall … Yay! Piglets!

And on the way back to our flat… here’s an Army kid school bus.

More child safety.

This afternoon I’ll have one last practice at the Institute before leaving tomorrow, and tonight Kathleen and I are going to a really nice South Indian restaurant within walking distance. We’ve been gearing up and looking forward to it!

Tomorrow we don’t have to be out of our flat until noon, so I’ll have plenty of time to post one last blog from Pune before the long haul to Mumbai to catch our flight.

I’ll leave you with a self-photo I took while riding in the rickshaw. Fumes can get quite bad.

From Pune with Love!