Pure fool

Ok sorry for the long time no post. In my infinite cunningness I omitted to pack a few essential items, such as a sleeping bag, blanket, coat, hat, and scarf. It's pretty cold at night here in mid-January. It's quite cold indoors even during the day. In fact unless you're basking in the midday sun outside, you'd better wrap up warm. Trying to rough it, 'iron yogi' style may have contributed to a minor collapse in health yesterday. In hindsight, the two weeks prior to coming over were so full of activity and devoid of sleep that it could have been expected.
The night before I also had a dream that I was pulling a long, dirty string from my stomach. "Purification!" exclaim my fellow students as I relate this. Yeah, maybe, I reluctantly admit. There is, they say, a strong effect exerted by imminent meetings with highly realised spiritual teachers, sacred places or simply studying dharma or meditating intensively, that causes people to get sick much more often than usual. This is said to be a purification of old, bad karma.
The reaction of the other students was touching and bemusing in equal measure. Everyone was concerned on seeing my pale face, and most people's reaction was "Oh! Do you want some medecine?". Well, I don't really know what's wrong with me, I would explain, so we don't really know what medecine would be appropriate. This reasoning in no way lessened anyone's desire to medicate me. I decided to eat less and sleep instead. Today I feel somewhat better, and was able to attend classes.
We have been discussing impermanence, and this precious human life and how fragile it is, which is very relevant. We also did phowa yesterday for a couple of relatives of students here who very recently died. This awareness of the fragility of life is with me every day now. I think it's healthy, as it gives you a bit of perspective and can encourage you to think about what is really important.
On the other hand, I really have to work on my paranoia. The cumulative effect of all the advice about India, how you can't drink the water or eat in most places, the impressive list of diseases that are rife here, the fact that everything is dirty, even the air, the frequency of people getting sick here, and the sheer in-your-face poverty of the place means I'm reluctant to even step out of the gate of the Institute. Tomorrow I hope to break my self-imposed isolation and go Outside.
Unfortunately, I also forgot to pack a plug converter, so I can't recharge any of my electrical equipment. I have taken some more photos, but I can't show you them yet..
Instead, here is an artist's impression of me in my cunningness so far:


Stay tuned and maybe it'll get interesting soon.