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…
“Don’t forget your sun screen and water!”
Maria checks that I’m properly equipped for the day ahead.
Maria first visited Mysore five years ago, a few months after I lost MAnjula.
I’m on my annual trip to the U.K. but Maria had noticed I was coming and sent an invite for me to visit her in Italy
This wonder puts me up at her house, ferries me around, provides simple sophisticated food, takes me on day trips, guides me on walks, introduces me to her fab friends, provides happy insights into her own life and Italianeeeeez.
Maria is a good example of the lovely people that visit Mysore Bed and Breakfast but she’s even more special.
I’m trying to emphasise BK with Kaveri who can quickly tell me what it means: Be Kind.
Well Maria is overflowing with kindness.
Not just in hosting me…
That’s nothing by comparison with the total package …
…. she goes way beyond the stereotypical caring mama … to be a caring precious friend.
She has a social conscience reflected in the life she leads and her work in helping others to flourish through the organisations she sets up and the services they provide. She lives and breaths this throughout her living.
She’ll be revisiting Mysore again in August to undertake training as a yoga teacher and look forward to her becoming Kaveri’s Italian auntie.
I’m honoured to count Maria as an important person in my life, a cherished friend.
Footnote
She claims I photograph her as much as her dad (I think mine capture her essence as I’m certain her dad does) but she’s tolerant and I love that she’s my friend.
….
Thank you Maria for a happy time and the closeness we’ve established. I look forward to more to come.
Love from Stephen.
No not (just) the car.
It’s important to recognise and realise how much my adopted family here in India as helped me survive the most difficult years in my life.
Sowbaghya is so critical to my life here in Mysore
She’s project managed and coordinated the rejuvenation of the radical red, that is now attention seeking in and around Mysore and Srirangaptnam
That’s the tip of the mountain of help she has been.
Sowbaghya is important to me and has kept me and the business going.
Thank you Sowbaghya for all your help.
I firmly believe that grief is always with us but becomes more manageable as we fill the space around it with important valued people and ‘things’ we do.
The next member of the family, everyone knows, the irrepressible Kaveri. Grief manager extraordinaire.
I can’t begin to list what she does for me.
She makes me smile (and cry.)
She’s cool.
Our mini team is complete with Kaveri’s ‘sister’ Radhika, a wonderful young woman.
I look forward to witnessing her develop and we growing together through the years.
Oh ….. Trishalla and Eregowda, have been a great support through difficult and remembering times, you’ll have to wait to see where that leads.
A special mention for: Sarvesh, Vasanth, Satish, Tanuja and their families.
We’ve all worked together to cherish and continue Manjula’s radiance through our projects: events, school, community meals, creativity days, supporting Kaveri, and making Manjula’s garden in the park.
Not to forget our guests who have become family and my very own DNA family folks in the U.K. and Canada
There’s not only humans in my family…
Since Punith introduced us I’ve realised how much Anjali is a real star
She got married today. Every wedding is same but different, down to caste, experience, attitude and get-on-ableness of the generations, so it’s not unlike absolutely everything else in consistently inconsistent India.
Even in the midst of planning a wedding and balancing the interests/preferences of in and out laws Anjali was instrumental in making our creativity day for the children at Kaliyuvamane.
There was a great mix of people and more recently found great friends.
They were obviously also having fun
Guess which twit forgot to put his kurta on?
Congratulations to Anjali Sakleshpur and Veethahavya Kootanoor Sheshadrivasan
You’d be correct in assuming it’s to celebrate MAnjula and help more people meet her.
It’s also ..
.. because it’s life affirming and fun.
… meeting new lovely lively people,
what’s not to like?
Thank you to our latest new friends from near Barcelona (one of my favourite cities) for spending time here and we getting to know you….
… that’s Martina, Jana, Marta and Angel
It’s a special day (Raksha Bandhan) when sisters give a bracelet known as a Rakhi
It symbolises brotherly love and a promise of protection, bringing good fortune.
Radhika is Kaveri’s auntie but they’re really like sisters.
I’ve got to know Radhika quite well over the past year, especially during the school holiday when she came with Kaveri and I for swimming, skating and often stayed at the BnB.
We’ve all been on holiday together to Kerala. Twelve of us, the first time and we’ll return in October with Kaveri, her mum Chandrika and Radhika. .
Radhika passed her exam this year, got a high-scorer award and is now at PUC- Pre-University College.
Rubbish weather, high prices, useless government, the kingdom is collapsing.
But it’s also magical
On this tour I’ve found ….
Unicorns in Bristol
Gorillas in London
Monsters at WOMAD
And wonderful friends everywhere …
Fab
The world music festival in south England
There’s a group of us that meets and camps together each year. Sharing cooking and news of our lives, supporting each other.
WOMAD 2023
We’ve lost two from our group that’s MAnjula and Peter but they’re still in all our hearts.
‘Til later…
Somewhere to stop, read, reflect and remember.
The opportunities are not only in the library itself, but every space in and around our house offers a place for quiet reflection or when it’s not so quiet, meeting old and making new friends.
Join our family, including the birds attracted to the greenery bursting from our house, our pets… Lucie, billet-doux and
…. our garden.
Originally in pots on our roof, it’s now shifted to the park opposite with granite benches or hammocks available from the house.
Please come and enjoy.
Have we got it right? As in this article on how to nurture a personal library, “according to Cicero, if you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need.”
I’m visiting one of the Sari Sisters, a group of women cyclists from Vancouver Island.
They came to India stayed with us and cycled from Mysore to Cochin.
This is my third visit. Lise and Michael kindly ‘put me up’
I’ve had a wonderful few days exploring Victoria, the capital of BC and cycling along the Galloping Goose Trail.
Victoria and the island (as long as England!) is a great place
Cyclists are catered for with cycle routes, great maps, considerate drivers and safe secure places to leave your cycle
With random deer, not cows.
Trixie was with me all the way.
Me and MYCycle 