It’s actually Ganesh who’s left to go swimming in the river kaveri.
He rested with us, had his fill
and now he’s gone.
Followed by lunch at Poojari’s where MAnjula and I used to go.
Elvis has left the room
Category: our friends
Revealing
What an interesting couple.
Part two with Julia and Tom
Not only cyclists but tri-athletes— so serious that they do ‘iron-man’ , quick cycles ( 40k!) and runs in the morning — It tired me out just hearing about it.
After their looooong cycle ride across Asia and Europe peddled back to England found a new place in Yorkshire.
They’ve created a lovely home in their Sheffield terrace almost identical to the house Tricia and I shared with her cousin and boyfriend (bit of a squeeze). In the mid 70s
Then they kindly tidied me up a bit
Plus
They reflect something that MAnjula taught me. For a successful sustainable living relationship, to be present and attentive
Spot on.
Thanks guys for a great visit and my sorely needed trim.
Memory Lane
Part one with Julia and Tom
My tour of England led me to Sheffield, my home city.
Warm showers
I was visiting Julia and Tom intrepid cyclists who’d visited us last year, in Mysore, on their journey across Asia, through Europe and back home to England.
Warm showers is a network we’re part of where hosts offer an overnight stay to distance cyclists.
They now live in Sheffield the city of my birth and their new home is just round the corner from the first place I escaped to at age 18
That was fifty years ago. I lived with my first serious girlfriend Tricia who kindly supported me for the final few months of school
A great revisit. The house no longer exists but there was plenty of reminiscence.
Part two
Connecting communities.
The wedding ceremony means so much.
On the surface it’s bringing two people together. But it’s the joining of two families.
It’s also an opportunity to dress up, reconnect with family and friends, realise how we’ve all grown.
The bride arrives
We’re part of the family as many of the grandsons of our house owner and extended family have lived on our roof
Awards
Everyone who visits Mysore Bed and Breakfast deserves an award, partly because they’ve tolerated me and also missed MAnjula.
Some people go above and beyond such as …
Ina visited every year and became our biggest and closest friend. Here she’s sharing memories about MAnjula.
Her award is for constantly reminding me of the wonderfulness of MAnjula, visiting us each year and being a solid support after ‘losing’ MAnjula.
Tom and Amy, also became wonderful supportive friends being part of our life, through many visits and helping me in so many ways including at short notice, visiting to support me after MAnjula died.
She adapted the ‘glass half full’ saying to full full.
Florian a good friend who recently returned to Mysore from Germany for some bizarre reason has read the blog site. He’s commended for fighting his way through that jungle.
Kaveri for being my adopted granddaughter who miraculously popped into my life and with her fab character reminds me so much of MAnjula. She could have been our daughter. Here’s a video taken shortly after we met.
… and a thank you to the many people who’ve found us via the net and just said hello in the street, at a hotel, or visited us, particularly those who attend our reflective space event or come to stay in our home.
We couldn’t, of course, forget Lucie and Billet-Doux.
or Sowbaghya (aka SB) who
manages everything
Seen here with Ina
The very first reward was given fourteen years ago and still hangs in Manjula’s Library.
Manjula and Ina
After that first visit she would field questions from our guests who came to share our home — Mysore Bed and Breakfast– were we a couple?
Ina acknowledged before us that we’d fallen in love.
Ina came every year (except during the pandemic) from that first visit, for a total of ten years. She became a very close friend of my wife Manjula and a great support to me helping me grieve Manjula. She was our favourite and most regular guest, here Ina is promoting us with the new mug and proving she became an essential part of the team (furniture!).
The photos are from our last year with Manjula visiting the local Tibetan settlement and Somnathpur Temple. Ina, Manjula, Willan (our workawayer in 2018) and myself, Stephen
I was their sometime chauffeur
Together, celebrating Manjula’s last birthday in 2018
There’s more here including Ina’s visit a month ago
We will miss Ina, a wonderful caring character, who has become part of our life, here in Mysore. After Manjula died she often referred to her as a Lotus who had survived and thrived through the mud. They both radiated their goodness as sisters and had a wicked sense of humour
Ina lit a candle for her and what we’ll do each year is a Puja for both Manjula and Ina to help their spirits find their new home.
Just as we recently did for Manjula
We look forward to meeting again
Stephen
Ina
To both Manjula and I.
Ina visited us again this year to become ‘part of the furniture’. It was her tenth anniversary of visiting us.
We celebrated Manjula’s birthday with friends, visited Bylakuppe and Dorjee the monk, (the Tibetan who she sponsored as a child), and Ina got to know and appreciate our burgeoning Kaveri.
She left us after a month’s stay to go back home and visit family and friends in Singapore.
I learned this morning that Ina died last night and her spirit joins her great friend Manjula’s on their next journey.
I’ll dive into my photos and post again with memories of Manjula and Ina together.
Matching Money
Kaveri is already an ace negotiator
I’ve now agreed to match whatever she saves this (financial) year, with the equivalent each year up until she reaches 21.
We’ve started counting her savings and placed them in a box at my home
That’s now over 5,000Rs from the two years I’ve known her, from selling bracelets at the kids market and generally extorting from the foreigners. 🤔🤭🙂
It’ll be put into a protected account so no one else can get their grubby hands on it.
One of the many many lessons I learned from Manjula is how she experienced people, particularly men but not exclusively, and also family members (and first husband) who would take her money, gold and send her out to the moneylenders to borrow more.
We will have protections in place, help educate Kaveri and hopefully the strong woman I know she will become will help safeguard her as an adult.
…
Plus she’s astute at reminding me of my ‘pearls of wisdom’ when I forget to follow my own advice. So we’ll also keep an eye on each other.
..
So Kaveri… the savings are for you to choose how to use BUT it’s a waste to spend on parties. Leave that until you’re rich.
…
Here’s how we arrived here —- from Facebook
Maria hits town..
I’m back in Mysore
To meet my queens (both sets)
What’s one of the first things they want to do on my return?
Go for a walk
After a lovely time in Italy with Maria
With plenty of lovely food …
They want pizza….
And presents
I’m so lucky to have them in my life…
Me and MYCycle 