Religion is dying for the first chai of the day.

Why would anyone get up that early in Goa? Only the yogini seeking chai having no facility to make her own in her rented kitchen. The corner cafe with the statue of Lord Siva out front has just opened so she makes her way over to it, asking for chai. The boy who works the cafe, maybe 9 or 10 years of age, tells her with glee that "chai is coming, wait wait".

She waits, outside, smoking.

The boy comes out with a glass of chai in hand, she reaches for it and the boy flashes her a look which says: "Are you crazy? You want to die?"

She returns her hand to her bag strap.

He empties the first chai of the day at the feet of the statue of Lord Siva out front.

Maybe in the past it was common knowledge that if Siva did not get his morning chai then there'd be destructions? Just like that famous study with the monkeys in the cage with the ladder, the bananas and the water spray, the eternal truth of 'feed the boss or he will eat you' while none of the people in the cage know why we must always offer the first chai to a memory or a story about a man or a god or a dream.

Just in..

Do not smoke dried milk. Apparently it does not work and it may cause vomiting. Thank god for networks like Erowid or we would never get these anecdotal reports from each other. Simply cannot trust our governments to spend our tax money on the research that we really want doing.

Don't be surprised if your bladder falls out if you take lots of ketamine either. Teenagers, you have been warned!