March 2007 Holi follows Mahasivaratri by a fortnight, and this Holi while in the Bay Area a friend recounted to me the (extremely appropriate for Holi’s naturally rowdy energy) story of the guy who had a few days previously come to her yoga class as a walk-in. She became briefly flummoxed when he emerged from the dressing room wearing what could have been nothing but a giant dildo under his yoga togs, but recovered promptly, and instructed him firmly to depart thence, pronto - which he did, after which the ladies in the class all enjoyed a good chortle.

Movie I & my mother enjoyed watching during this month: Bridge to Terebithia.

Notable vegetarian restaurants of the month:

Sublime (954-539-9000, www.SublimeRestaurant.com) - newly reopened, Sublime again offers gourmet-of-today veg meals at its dramatic Ft. Lauderdale location.

Nu Age Café (2425 Exposition Blvd, Austin, TX 78703, 512-469-9390, 512-469-9309) - plead, if need be, for the sublime wonton soup.

Surrealist moment of the month: being accosted, just as I was about to enter the building in which I stay when at Kashi Ashram, by an agitated Italian asking me repeatedly, “Where is the river?” Fortunately someone appeared just at that moment to provide an accurate answer for this gentleman, who had just landed after jumping and enduring the shock of a main chute malfunction. Having landed safely with his reserve chute, he was now searching for the failed parachute that he had watched land high in a tree near that river.

Notable guest at Kashi that month: Monsignor Matthew, a Catholic priest from northern Uganda who works with youngsters retrieved after being kidnapped and turned into child soldiers by the malevolent “Lord’s Resistance Army” that stalks that region. Monsignor Matthew, a gentle man who has seen too much and worked too hard, had “parachuted” into Kashi for a month of R & R before returning to the front lines. Let us pray for the Monsignor, and for the good work that he does with such severely damaged kids.

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