Month: June 2026

Kaveri and the women in her family.

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I had the pleasure of meeting Kaveri from school and spending some time with the women of the family.

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Kaveri and I first visited the new babe.

His mum Radhika (her auntie) Kaveri and I have spent much time together over the past few years, especially in school summer holidays when they’d go to swimming lessons, stay with me and we’d have vacations in Kannur and Wayanad.

The little one, entertained by Kaveri and Radhika.
Gotcha

Grandmother is forever avoiding my camera.

Next I visited Chandrika’s (Kaveri’s mum’s) new home for dinner

I had a lovely catch up with Kaveri and Chandrika drawing the neighbourhood kids in to say hello
I reminded them of the agreement Chandrika and I (on behalf of the business, with the invaluable help of Sarvesh) had for us to support Kaveri and work with Chandrika to help Kaveri do the best she can be

I used the opportunity (hobby horse —soap box) to emphasise we should help Kaveri to be strong, a good communicator, and be kind. This was more important than stuffing her full of facts, in order to pass exams.

Kaveri was the full on interpreter.

We needed to encourage, support, even put pressure on Kaveri — who can be a bit lazy— to do better

Just before I left Chandrika, Kaveri and I went back to bring all the girls together again.

I explained that my current meetings with advocates were to enable me to stay in India My priority being continue to support Kaveri for ten years into adulthood.

I am so proud of Kaveri, MAnjula is sooooo pleased.

Signs

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Losing (of course— we don’t lose them and they’re with us always) a loved one opens our minds to all sorts of possibilities.

On my grief journey. I’ve had some surprises.

Manjula, as a Hindu, believed in reincarnation. I supported her and completed the rituals to help her spirit find its new body.

I’ve read many books and gained support in trying to understand what might happen after death. But …

After watching this Netflix documentary I complained to Manjula that I’d not seen or heard a sign. Maybe I’d missed it.

The very next day, I was standing, with a friend, on the rug in the centre of the downstairs lounge at our old house.

A dragonfly (acknowledged as a potential messenger from the ‘other side’) flew in.

It tightly circled the two of us — one — two — three times as we stood in the centre of the room. It then landed on the ‘M’ (on Manjula’s pennant) on the wall nearby.

The dragonfly
The pennants bought on a holiday in the U.K.

I opened the doors and windows and encouraged (arms flapping) the dragonfly to leave the house.

The next morning Sowbhagya found the dead dragonfly on the wooden cabinet, underneath the framed photo of MAnjula where we hang flowers and lights in her memory.

I’d failed to get it to leave.

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This year we’ve moved to a new house. It’s extra challenging as the previous house is the one MAnjula and I had shared for nine years.

Most of the furniture had gone and so this was one of the last removal trips.

As I walked across the room there was a crunch underfoot.

It was the cow head that had been hanging between the two pennants. It had fallen on the floor and I’d broken it again as I stepped on it.

I looked up to the place it had fallen from. The two pennants were completely reversed and facing the wall.

How is that possible?

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Seems like an acknowledgement, a message, a sign to me. Who knows?

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I generally have an open attitude. A belief that anything is possible. Life is complex, much of which we don’t understand and there are layer upon layer to discover.

Clearly. I’m open to the signs.

Thank you MAnjula.

Maybe Billet-Doux was one too.

Billie too

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A teeny tiny kit came to sit on my lap on a visit to the local chai shop.

I guessed — she wanted to be adopted.

Blurred snatched photos

I wasn’t prepared to, so I gently shooed her away.

Later that evening, the first image you can see on this video appeared on my Facebook page. It was from exactly five years before when MAnjula and I had adopted a ginger cat.

We called him Billie, only to discover he wasn’t male so we changed it to Billi reflecting the Hindi word for cat.

He disappeared one day and never returned.

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The next day after the photograph appeared I went out to find the new kitten.

It seemed like a message from MAnjula to adopt this new kitten in memory of ours, that we’d lost.

I announced this to my Facebook friends and called him ‘Billi too’ as a play on ‘two.’

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Some of them were not impressed with the name as it clearly was a message from MAnjula and this should be acknowledged in the cat’s name.

So I callled her Billet-Doux which means sweet (or love) letter in French as it was a love letter from MAnjula.

Was this a sign?

How cool!?

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The video also includes images of Billet-Doux and her kittens.

Manjula continues to be with us in many wonderful ways.

So what is CSR

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(or Corporate Social Responsibility)?

You’d be forgiven for feeling confused. It can mean something seemingly quite different to many people but that’s not surprising as so many different individuals, groups and organisations have a stake in it. 

So here’s a quick rundown of some of the key perspectives. 

At its simplest it’s corporate philanthropy, (funding community organisations and projects), it works well when it also involves ‘help in kind’ through actual people’s involvement and action, but in its broadest sense it also means ethical standards, positive caring values reflecting how the business and its representatives behave. This might show itself  in who and how they recruit, how they treat customers, suppliers and employees, their role in the wider community. 

It’s therefore part of a wider agenda of CR or Corporate Responsibility and relates to all aspects of a business. That includes its policies and practices, its people’s behaviour and is reflected in how they’re perceived as a part of wider society. 

Strategically it relates to the business overall and its success beyond making a profit.  It covers policy, management, marketplace, workplace, environment and community. Handled well it actually enables it to be a more successful business.

Nowadays it’s sometimes known as environmental, social, and governance or ESG

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It’s actually about doing good and having a positive impact. 

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The legal situation for businesses in India

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India is a legally binding obligation. Under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, eligible companies are mandated to spend at least 2% of their average net profits from the preceding three years on approved socio-economic and environmental initiatives

Lifted from the Internet.

India leads the way in making CSR mandatory for certain larger businesses. It’s voluntary for smaller businesses and all throughout the world.

Stephen 

Now lives in Mysore South India. He’s worked in all sectors, community groups, Non government organisations, government itself, large and small commercial businesses. 

All of those are relevant to this subject. In particular he was a consultant and trainer (he prefers facilitator) on corporate responsibility (includes CSR) and developing people , communities and changing organisations; utilising leadership, experiential learning, managing diversity.

In particular he worked for HRH the Prince of Wales’s (now King Charles) NGO called ‘Business in the Community’ and continued to deliver workshops (on CR) for them until 2019.

He’s worked with commmunities and businesses in U.K. and India and it’s included: 

Princes’ Seeing Is Believing events and related events in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore 

Workshops on Corporate Responsibility (delivered by Stephen to hundreds of businesses in U.K. and India) , motivating employees, stakeholder dialogue, diversity and managing change. 

Individual consultancy, leadership and team development.

Working with Oracle, CISCO, TATA, Veolia, Royal Mail, EDS, E&Y, KPMG, Camelot, amongst others.

So he’s lived and breathed the subject through all his careers. 

He now leads a small tourism business in South India that proudly engages in supporting young people in its local community.