This site is about Manjula and Stephen.

We set up Mysore Bed and Breakfast and MYCycle tours seven years ago , after meeting nine years ago and marrying in 2018. I’m sad, to share with you, that Manjula died in March 2019. She has left a massive hole and a presence in my heart as in many other people’s. The wonderful open house that we created together continues to welcome guests.

This site is where we share our stories and celebrate my beautiful wife, my star, Manjula.

Feel free to dive in.

A coherent version of our story (ha ha) will be posted in due course. Much is already here in these pages if you care to look, start on our life together or the contents page (radical.) 🙃.

Manjula’s Story

Manjula was born and brought up in South India in and around the Royal City of Mysore. She’s lived in Mumbai for over ten years working for a family and has managed to tolerate working for and with Stephen (and all the rest!) for almost exactly nine years. Her English is pretty good, admittedly with a bit of a Yorkshire accent. We’ll hear from her directly as she has recorded her personal story and view on life in her mother tongue: Kannada. A good friend of ours, Vidya has transcribed and translated these to help form Manjula’s story.

Our life together

in the mainly wonderful, often confusing, occasionally irritating and amazingly paradoxical India. There are tremendous cultural and material differences between us, our origins and the lives we’ve led. There are also sometimes astonishing similarities, not least our sense of humour. So as with India we promise to be ‘consistently inconsistent’. Sometimes you might need to delve a little deeper to see the whole story, as we do afterall live in a relatively parochial city. Well, let’s not be shy. Yes Manjula and I first met when she came to cook and clean at what is still our home which we share with our guests as Mysore Bed and Breakfast. We became a couple over five years ago and married in 2018

Stephen’s Story

I’m from the UK and first realised I’d fallen in love with India and its people, fifteen years ago, after what seemed a lifetime of wanting to get here. I was lucky to get work travelling to India to organise events promoting CSR and designing and delivering leadership training. Eventually I plucked up the courage (or was he pushed!?) and moved to live in Mysore ten years ago. I have two sons  based in London and Vancouver, a grandaughter and work experience primarily in the UK and India working in a range of organisations and communities in Government, NGOs and Business.

Together we set-up and the Mysore Bed and Breakfast and provide guided MyCycle tours.

More details of what we do can be found on:

http://www.ManjulasMysore.in or http://www.MyCycle.co for details of what we do

http://www.facebook.com  /MysorebnB or /MyCycle for what’s happpening

Or the more personal and political stuff on http://www.facebook.com/sfindia

http://www.tripadvisor.com for our reviews

Who does what and how we relate has intrigued and amused our guests for years but we’ll leave you to decide, should you choose to read on…… This journal, blog, our history is for old, new and about to be friends. You may have stumbled across us, be one of our wonderful guests from over the last seven seasons or amongst our tolerant and patient friends, family and colleagues.

Welcome, you’re all friends.

Please join us on the journey….

Manjula and Stephen