Tuesday, January 8

 

 

This morning the national strike began and we decided not to attempt to do much travelling or visiting.

We spent the morning reading: the New Indian Express, Daniel Dennett’s Intuition Pumps, Monocle, other magazines, and more.

We also played a lot with the dogs whose capabilities have grown in leaps and bounds. They can now both go up and down the stairs, and can appear on any of the three floors of the house at any time. They also prefer fighting over the same thing rather than using one of their own.

When we gave them two bowls of food or water they would invarably both use the same one and tussle to get most. The same happens with their chewing sticks, or with the tennis balls.

In the afternoon Irma went for her final treatment and I uploaded eighteen episodes of this diary, taking me to January 2.

I also decided that I would make Todoist the subject of a sustained experiment this year. I began experimenting with it at New Year, and I decided that I could find a very useful place for it in my workflow.

Yesterday Irma bought some lotus flowers at Chailai market, and the seller showed her how to open them by banging them.

When she returns home she opens them and puts them in a bowl. After a few bangs she peels them open in a manner demonstrated in a video by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. They look good and I photograph them.

Why do we watch a video of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar opening flowers? A long story.

The short version: he has branched out from the guru business into the fast moving consumer goods business. He manufactures toothpaste, cosmetics, and foods. He had a bigger turnover last year than Nestlé India.

I use his toothpaste and like it.