Passando pelo museu

A good balanced day of feeling productive, with some interesting meetings. Limited overtime and a nice, healthy lunch. On a hot day I walked back to the office from lunch and passed the Natural History Museum, which was looking pretty in the light, surrounded by vegetation.

The balance persisted until I headed to yoga at the Hindu temple; the very place where a sense of balance and tranquility should be restored, or at the very least, maintained.

As I was stepping through the temple gates, I was accosted by two uniformed characters, demanding to see my documentation. These street checks are legal, but they're an annoyance, and usually done with a degree of menace. My passport has an array of stamps, which usually distracts the interrogator until he or she becomes bored and dismissively thrusts the passport back.

The most inconvenient thing about this is having to carry a passport at all times, to avoid the palaver of not having it and risk being extorted for a fine, or threatened with a trip to the police station.

I scuttled into yoga. The guru's child (with head now completely shaved since the class the other day: I suspect a lice outbreak) was still tottering around the mats as we attempted our balances, but it was a good class with some challenging moves. A Mozambican guy who has taken one of the Indian High Commission scholarships to visit India and learn more yoga said a few words about his experiences. That was all very enjoyable.

At the end of the class during a strange humming exercise that I haven't encountered before, the yoga instructor became very agitated when the class wasn't giving him feedback, becoming quite aggressive and critical of people's techniques. It was entirely unproductive as an approach to a classful of yoga learners. The first line in any yoga teacher's handbook must surely preach patience and understanding. I nearly shouted up from my mat that he was being a knob. Others were also tempted to, judging by the looks on their faces.

Luckily a couple of people voiced up to explain that the language barrier prevents people following at all times. His Indian English accent is so thick that I struggle to follow it, so Portuguese speakers are going to find it fifty times harder. Let's hope it was an off day and next time he thinks to use the various people in the room who could translate and keep his blood pressure down to a manageable level.

The walk back is a bit sketchy, with lots of characters hollering out at the random guy carrying a yoga mat. Someone thought it was normal, as we were crossing paths, to undo his fly and urinate.

When I get back from the upcoming UK trip I will acquire a bike to make journeys in the city a little easier. It would be nicer to be able to get between apartment and the temple a little more quickly, especially after dark.