Tom and Amy of lovely couple fame have been testing out a few new ideas for our guests. More and more people are now coming for longer. Some even stay with us for the whole of their holiday, using our home as a base and reaching out to other places for day trips or even further a field.
Here’s a great example of a day trip from Mysore. There’s more to follow and on our main site here
Here’s an update on my visa situation. Be prepared it’s a long one!
I’ve been based here for nine years. I’ve set up a tourism business for Manjula to ensure she has a secure income.
The first mention of a little local difficulty was Here where I give credit where it’s due
The story starts when entering Bangalore Airport in August (after five weeks in U.K.) I was questioned by FRRO/immigration. They let me in but insisted I register with the FRRO on arrival in Mysore. I did. I’m a bit confused as to why.
Anyway, I registered.
So in October, I get a phone call from Anant, one of the original Directors of the company. He’d been contacted by the FRRO (police/immigration) in Bangalore with a whole series of questions. They were investigating me.
Subsequently they wrote to the very local police station asking them to contact me and get documents and a statement. They were focusing on the fact that I’d ‘wilfully’ not registered at the mysore FRRO each time I’d come back into the country.
I wrote a statement saying that if I had to register and hadn’t it was purely a mistake. I also explained Manjula and I had got married earlier this year, the company was set up for her, I wasn’t employed by the company and received no remuneration. They subsequently asked for my tax returns which I couldn’t supply as there were none as I wasn’t employed and had no income. Get it? 🙃
So as of last week.
I was due to fly to Sri Lanka for my first ever visa run. The time between my arrival in August and the next time in the U.K. was over 180 days so I had to leave the country by the end of Jan.
So what could go wrong?
The day before I was due to leave the Mysore FRRO telephoned and asked me to come in. It was the same helpful chap featured here
Bangalore had informed him, they had decided that I was on the wrong visa.
Sugar!
It was presumably because of the low level of investment/turnover in the business. It’s a small business predominantly for Manjula so doesn’t earn much money and doesn’t require much investment, just some furniture and cycles.
Sugar, this is a real problem. If I leave the country as planned they will not let me back in……
This is a critical time for us.
It’s our busiest time with just a few days with hardly any guests so my plan has been to nip out and rush straight back. Also Manjula had not been well, because of a recurring problem (more later) so I was essentially holding it all together (that’s juggling all the stuff, preparing rooms, making breakfast, leading cycle tours. ( I know, I know violins are playing, but I’m a man, multi tasking is NOT easy) thankfully there was the help of our two cleaners and a Special mention for Tom, Amy, Anne and Dave and of course the forbearance of my panicking – will he get back in- wife.
I’ve just got to go. It’s now or never but it can’t drag on.
What to do?
I feel like I’m appearing in Fawlty Towers and Keystone cops! here I come 🙃
The great guy at the police commissioners gave me an option. Apply for an x (aka entry) visa as a spouse. Great idea. I wonder how long would this take? I just can’t be away from home and Manjula for more than a few days. It doesn’t seem feasible.
I’d planned to fly out of Mysore to Chennai, then onto Colombo on the friday (next day) and back on Sunday. Tickets were bought, small bag packed. Eek.
Tom had a solution: Get a tourist e visa to get back in. I applied on the Thursday, it would take 72 hours to be processed, I flew out on the Friday due back on the Sunday but wouldn’t expect to get the visa until Monday so would forego the flights and dash back as soon as I got the visa. Then I would fly in to Chennai where I’d hope they’d let me in.
Phew. Sounds like a good idea. An Indian solution.
I apply and I’m off….
So it’s Saturday and this trip has proven to be one mishap after another. More details here.
After a day walking aimlessly in Colombo I had supper ( no micro breweries) and headed back to the hotel with my sea view from the balcony.
You know, sometimes things just work out. It’s a hallmark of India. On getting back I get an email confirming my e tourist visa. Wonderful! Not only has it arrived it’s in time for me to go back as planned on the Sunday using the tickets I’d bought!
So what was Sri Lanka like? Loved it. As they say it’s India lite. More later.
Back in our piddling little airport. Yes we walk from the plane.
Next.
I go and get an x visa in March in Sri Lanka when we’re not busy and hopefully Manj is feeling better.
Oh no I won’t.
It’s now March and I’m just heading back to Sri Lanka for a few days. I have a second e tourist visa that will see me through to May when I return to the U.K. and I’ll get an X visa.
Confused?
I just wonder what form the U.K. itself will take in May.
So what’s your job?
And what’s it now?
It’s always good to find similarities and differences, the places where we Bridge and others where the paths fork…..
We’ve discussed a few times about how important it’s been for Manjula to keep the place going even while she’s not been so well these past few months.
It’s been the right decision when she’s out and about or amongst our visitors she’s enlivened by being connected.
We see it when chatting to guests, at the hospital, or coordinating her network of help, from her good friend who brings home cooked for her each day, the boys at the veg shop and our own team of drivers, cleaners and gardener.
As with me, she’s clearly energised by connecting and engaging with people. 
I’m called to the door by an Amazon delivery. There are no guests so it’s been an opportunity for a lie in. Now cut short.
Manjula has not been well for weeks stretching into months. Most of the day she’s in bed but with significant wobble will stumble gracefully to the outside sit-out and sometimes a walk in our park.
She excitedly tells me of hearing the birds visiting her window towards the back of the house. It’s her first experience of the morning.
Today, for some reason, I can hear them clearly. The whole air is full of joyous birdsong. Our house outside at the front, in the drive, hanging from the car port, on the mezzanine, the balcony and the sun terrace is bursting with life. Our greenery welcomes, as you arrive.
Now the presence of the wonderful birds brings a whole new dimension.
This to a house already marked by its openess. We’re far from but also reflect a traditional Indian home. The matriarch, the Amma, is Manjula, formerly the maid. Her husband who she declares: ‘the maid’ now provides her necessary support. As with established typical local homes. It’s a vibrant active place. Ordinarily there is a constant flow of people. Our cleaners, gardener and that husband-assistant feverishly ensuring it’s prepared for our paying guests at the Mysore Bed and Breakfast. It’s inward flow of guests, a mix of generations, the conversations mingling from the different lounges, with their languages from around the world, in a very Indian way creates a mish mash, a melange of jeek by jowl. A pick-a-mix of rich experiences.
The smells, noises, colours, the feel and texture of India is enhanced by the beautiful bird song. Less than an hour ago it was full flow. It added a perceptible glow to the already shining house. The bird song is more than the icing on the cake its part of our whole.
It helps at this very difficult time of Manjula’s constant challenges to bring a natural soundful beauty.
This house, our home and the memories it creates are a natural consequence of my Manjula. Her smile that radiates is for our many guests, the first and last experience and a remaining mark of their visit.
The presence that is at its heart, the source of our life here, the link to all those who shared our place. This woman from a poor background, with little formal education who has a kindness reflected in those of the stories she shares of her father, a delightful beautiful woman who has made so many people happy by opening her home as the soft, gentle caring golden thread, linking it all. She, my very own Maharani, has…. no surprise here…. gone and stolen my heart, completely bowled me over… leaving me a marked man.
All this helps remind us of how lucky we are, here in our Indian home in a world of infinite beauty. Where things continue to amaze, draw us out of our sadness and bring a smile on our face.
A visa run (*) to Sri Lanka.
What could possibly go wrong?
1 flight bookings were made from Mysore to Chennai, then Chennai to Colombo in Sri Lanka. Return in 36 hours or so we thought. Sugar. The return flights we’re booked for the following month! Erm and quickly changed 🙃
2 the day before I’m due to fly the immigration Police inform me I’ll not be let back in on my visa. 😩
3 I apply for an e tourist visa so I can at least get back in. It’ll take 72 hours so I’ll have to miss the rebooked return flights, assuming I get a new visa🤪
4 hotel arranges taxi pick-up at the airport. All goes smoothly until we arrive at the hotel at about 4 am. There is no room at the Inn. How did they manage to book the taxi but not reserve the room? I sleep on the sofa in the dining area. 😮
Thanks booking.com
5 this hotel is a fair distance from Colombo so I check out Airbnb options and find what looks a very promising place to stay in Colombo. I can’t book it. Our AirBnB entry is now in Manjula’s name because of our Mysore Bed and Breakfast listing. 😕
5 there are no micro breweries in Colombo😩
So what could go right?
6 I tramp the streets. Find a cool boutique hotel with sea view, get a basic orientation of the city while creating a list of things to do. Meet some lovely people and do some shopping 😋
6 the e-visa arrives (within 48 hours) on the first night so I can leave on the booked flights. 🤩
7 they let me in at Chennai🤫
8 flights go great and it’s a dinky affair in Mysore 🙄
9 I can surprise my beautiful wife who was a little worried that i might not get back in 😘
A visa run * an extra trip out of the country is sometimes necessary so as not to overstay one’s welcome, usually beyond 180 days.
As a young child in the 1960’s my grandparents used to take the grandkids driving through France to holiday in Spain. It was unusual for a working class family from Sheffield (grandad was a steelworker) to go on holiday abroad. What a great experience!
One of the things I noticed changing during these occasional visits over the years was the price of ice cream.
In Spain and England it was at a very low price and affordable on my pocket money. In France it was a little different. You know, more classy with prices to match. 🙂
The price of ice cream was of course significant in my world!
Over the years the prices gradually increased and merged. They became global and consistent. The price (and quality) changed dramatically.
In retrospect I was experiencing from a child’s world view both globalisation and the way products are now priced ie at a level that the ‘market can take.’ Price was increasingly determined not by the cost of raw materials plus the cost of production plus a profit. There was a dramatic shift towards the price-we-can-get-away with charging. There were key stages of this change, including; the increase in international travel especially holidays, higher disposal incomes amongst more people in society, middle class growth, the moving on from the effects of the war, decimalisation, sales taxes such as VAT and of course globalisation and not least internet sales .
In a few short years the cost of ice cream went way beyond my pocket money. Obviously my own disposable pocket money income didn’t keep pace.
Now, I’m here living in Indya age 61.
I often say that India is a good teacher it illustrates and illuminates many contemporary issues.
We’re seeing exactly the same process going on here. Ice cream was and still is cheap but now there’s a whole range of premium quality options so prices differ wildly. There is a massive surge growth of the middle classes so new demands and greater disposable income, India has always been the world leader of flexible pricing (the least local you look the higher the price you will pay). Now we’ve the introduction of GST (a General Service or Value added Tax) and the idiotic demonetisation which resulted in over 80% of currency becoming worthless overnight, so another reason for prices shooting upwards! So the price of ice cream, amongst other things goes up and up.
We often think that India is a cheap place. That’s both true and not. It can be incredibly cheap and shockingly expensive.
A case in point.
Medicines.
The big box of twenty tablets costs, …….. wait for it……. 1760 Rupees! (That’s one GB pound per tablet) I’ve managed to get a 15% discount and I’m not paying firangi (foreigner) prices. The minimum daily wage here is 250 Rs per day how is someone who is poor, supposed to manage? I can tell you as an exceedingly rich (not) foreigner it’s hard to handle! Imagine what it’s like for poor people, or Manjula for that matter if she didn’t have access to our resources!
So what’s the point?
So, I’m seeing the same process of prices increases at work, here in India over fifty years later.
Prices are becoming more consistent around the world, reflect what’s possible to charge rather than actual costs, are often increased when there’s a convenient policy change such as change in taxation. It also serves to accentuate and polarising difference, it reflecting the severe differences in levels of income and wealth, life and death experience in society.
Update 17 Nov 2018
We’re getting so many requests about Manjula’s health. So we’re providing occasional updates.
She’s lost so much weight, I asked the local diagnostic lab to send someone round for an impromptu blood test to check haemoglobin levels.
It checks out ok at 13.1 reference range 11.5 – 14.5 in India with an ill wife one gets used to diagnostic centres, reading results, drugs, records, co-ordinating between different docs, trying to keep track and paying!
Cost was 50 rupees, so that’s great, this time!
A word from our sponsor
I have now developed a long and significant list of excuses for why I’m unable to speak ANY foreign languages:
The British Raj, due to them the English language is so prevalent I can easily get by without Kannada here in Mysore.
British Arrogance, see above.
My parents and therefore my genetical inheritance.
Wax in my ears and assorted other hearing limitations.
A wife and extended team that speaks English and seemingly endless other languages. I get by.
Teachers that couldn’t cram French or German in me.
Probably the top of the tree…. abject laziness combined with being idle, severe inability to stick with anything for more than five minutes and being 🐻 of small brain.
This list is to help whenever I’m questioned why after nine years do I not speak Kannada. (Clearly I cant speak English properly anyway)
STOP PRESS
Manjula reckons it’s because Ive got a short stubby tongue.
Whereas Manjula, with all the languages at her disposal, yes you’ve guessed it, has a long slender one.
I rest my case
Has arrived…. was the typical headline in the local paper…..when I first moved here. I used to joke that this isn’t winter. This morning on the way to gym I feel the drop in temperature. Maybe a combination of the times are changing…. my body adapts and the climate shifts.
Oh yes, I was going to the gym and yes it is intense.
But I go for my half hearted attempts at yoga not this hectic stuff, it’s still intense.
Me and MYCycle 