Tina Brandi will be thrilled to know that I finally gave in and had my hair hennaed. This was after an old one-armed beggar called me "mother" for the third day in a row; I thought, right I've had that! - bit bright I think, but no doubt it will fade! Rupa, the hairdresser down the lane who I went to, kept hugging and kissing me and feeding me and then only charged me Rs100! It's the ease of Rishikesh.

On my last day in Rishikesh I went to a charity concert of Odissi dance- the dancer, Guru Jyoti Rout, was fabulous and danced Shivo Ham; I have a photo of that and will put it up soon. The star attraction was Krishna Das who first went to India in the late 60's - the kirtan was a bit light and centred around Hare Krishna Hare Rama, which naturally I enjoyed; a short version of Shiva Bole and a Christian gospel song before going back to Hare Krishna. The dancer won hands down to my mind!

I added some flexibility to the yatra and am now in Vrindavan but I'm not comfortable in Krishna world. However, I love to sing Hare Krishna so as I'm staying at ISKCON guest house I took part in morning aarti and sang it a lot - (although not as much as at the Krishna Das concert)! Then followed a teaching from the Bhagavad Gita, but it was far too cold in the temple for me to concentrate. And of course, the gender segregation is still too much for me. But every one and I mean everyone, in the street, in dabars, in markets, in taxis says Hare Krishna to you as soon as you come near. I like that.

Had to go to the doctor on New Year's Day with an infected nose (how come all India picks their noses constantly and I get the infection!) Doctor prescribed a saline spray and when I opened the packet last night here in ISKCON land a cockroach came out! Oh India! Mataji will love that but I had to chuck it out - what I think is that it's probably been in there since Haridwar. The bonus is one less thing to carry.

So off to Gwalior tomorrow (a short tourist deviation) then Bhopal.

I seem to find the arrival in a new place hard going, dealing with ricksha and other touts. Must admit I'm feeling better today as the sun comes out and I find my way around. Went to the museum in Mathura (10kms away) which was really my main objective in coming to this area to see the great archaeology that I first came across in Shimla, but it's closed today and tomorrow. So I went to the station and bought a train ticket for tomorrow!