I got attunement

My unsatiable desire to learn something new all the time (the bane of my life), took me to my first Reiki session. Wow! What an experienceeven though I ventured forth with my usual armour of skepticism. The Reiki Master is a professor in my department. (Actually the emphasis should be the other way around!) After a brief introduction to the history of Reiki, its effects, code of ethics (healing without touching) etc, he offered to "attune" us. There were four of us and he would perform a parallel attunement. We were asked to close our eyes and relax. I was prepared to spend a boring twenty minutes, not expecting anything to happen. I started wondering about dinner and cooked up some delicious recipes. However suddenly, I was confused about where I was. My eyes were closed and yet I saw stunning colors. Hues of violet, electric blue, indigo kept flooding my vision. If it is possible to blink with your eyes closed, I sure did! I tried rolling my eyes (all the while closed) trying to check if these colors were just imagined or caused by some distortion in the lighting. And yet they persisted, especially the brilliant blue (which is related to the chakra at the throat). It was a fantastic experience and I felt so rejuvenated at the end of that session. All this is done just by transmitting energy using your hands (without any physical contact) into the chakras or other focal points which need attention. Congrats me! I am supposed to be certified at Level I Reiki. Now I can pass energy using my hands and practice Reiki on myself and some unfortunate others.

Life isn't all ha ha hee hee

Fiction is make believe. Somehow the past few years I had lost the inclination to read any fiction. They were too cliched and predictable. And then suddenly, I discover a gem of a book. My pulse races. The first few chapters are tantalizing. However, I beg myself to prepare for the terrible disappointment of mediocrity that will inundate the rest of the book. But Meera Syal guarantees quite a roller coaster. Weaving together the lives of three Brit-Asian women she creates a colorful tapestry of friendship, pretense and betrayal, laced with humor. The mellifluous writing cleverly disguises her satire of Indian customs and traditions.

An extract from her book which had me laughing really hard.

Context: Chila and Deepak have just got married. The Chila's family is outside the marriage hall, and they are all bidding their teary farewells to the bride (who is supposed to jump into the chauffer-driven car and be off to her new life)

"....awful endless moaning, broken with pleas in Punjabi "Please God, dont take our daughter from us, our baby leaving us for ever, please God, keep her safe...." Other members of Chila's family followed in a hysterical wake, raising impassioned eyes and arms to the sky, towards Deepak's family, towards Chila's parents, the all-purpose Indian gesture of 'Life's crap but what can you do, huh?' "

"...Deepak's family stood now with the sorrowful but resigned air of funeral directors, saddened by their unpleasant duty to remove this woman from her grieving family but determined to fulfil their role with dignity and if need be, a gentle shove. "

After Confederacy of Dunces, I had almost lost all hope of ever finding a good read. Well, now I am back to my Wodehouse, unless you have other suggestions!