“come on, you’re supposed to be an experienced manager from across the sectors, a consultant and trainer, known for his adaptability (?) and ability to communicate, and now with some great insights into India and with almost forty years experience.. ”
” Yes but…..”
well here was the first attempt, a Job Description on a whiteboard.
I’d only been here a few weeks (it was six years ago) and I asked my friend Cary and his wife if they knew of someone looking for a job.
I was was called round to their house to meet Manjula. She seemed quiet, even timid and perhaps she was a little worried about meeting me and the prospect of working for a foreigner. She’d brought a friend with her who seemed to know her stuff. After the simplest of introductions. (We didn’t speak each other’s language.) We went round to my house.
I was looking for a maid. Yes a maid. My two sons (who were in their twenties and back in the UK) were not impressed. “You’re seriously going to have a servant!”
we’re a very liberal, left wing family so even the idea of having a cleaner back in England was a bit of a stretch. A maid? Quite another matter. I explained as best I could, that it’s different here. It’s about giving employment and I’d be a good employer. They weren’t convinced.
I just wanted someone for a couple of hours a day. To do some cleaning, clothes washing and cooking.
so we arrived at my home.
They ladies were not impressed. The place was sparsely furnished, not unlike a trad Indian home. So that’s not a problem. But horror upon horrors. There was little equipment in the kitchen and THERE WAS NO ELECTRIC GRINDER. I had just this……
I promised to get an electric one!
By the next day it was bought and installed in the kitchen. Kudos and Brownie points or what?
Hang on a minute! What have I done? I’ve set the pattern
so, on reflection, it was pretty easy to employ a maid (it’s maybe not so easy now) BUT how do I get her to understand what I want her to do?
and the message… “application being reviewed by the Regional Passport office” which is a completely useless update.
So we’re all going to have a break and not do the passport blog thing over the weekend.
I can hear the sighs of relief and hip hip hoorays reverberating around the Facebook and blog world…. 😉
To bring it, nearly up to date (blog time is like winter time as its a bit behind) so far, we’ve:
phew……
It’s cost thousands of Rupees, endless meetings, hours on the internet and in traffic and a ton more grey hairs
and I’ve learned a LOT
but there is the risk of it taking over and lethargy air got there first, so let’s have a nice relaxing weekend and a cycle trip with Simon in the morning
Ok ok we were disappointed that we weren’t getting the new slick service promised by the minister. BUT we do have two other services on our side:
The police service are with us and on the job. They might be a bit traditional BUT we’ll have no worries
Thankfully, we’ve also got the SMS service also ‘on our side’ otherwise it might be confusing and not very fast.
So its happening
Manj has met the Policeman, neighbours sign to say Manjula is who she says she is and lives here. Result!
Our SMS arrives on Stephen’s trusty phone (it even gets a chortle from our friends in Mysore!)
they come fast fast and furious, usually in the middle of the night…
Your GSC no. for Passport verification is xxxxxxxx. Contact Nazarbad PS for verification. Courtesy: Police Computer Wing 20/02/16
Your Passport Verification is complete. Contact your Passport Office. Courtesy: Police Computer Wing. 05/03/16
Police report has been submitted by your Thana and its under review at Commissioner Office, District Mysuru city. 09/03/16
Police report not yet finalised by Commissioner Office, District Mysuru City (Mysuru). Contact Police for details 11/03/16
xxx Police has submitted clear report for your current address. 11/03/16
called at Police Commissioner, report has gone to the RPO, I called, they received it. OK the final bit did take ten days but it’s sorted. The Police service has had to deal with 800 verification reports just for passports. It must take a heavy toll.
the SMS service has now gone quiet
At our interview the assistant passport officer stated that they would issue the passport and get police verification (they visit your home to check you’re who you say you are and that you live there) done afterwards and When we get back home….. We realise. He wasn’t telling the truth.
The passport will NOT be issued until after police verification and there is a statement about verifying original documents. This isn’t going to be as straightforward as we once thought and it’s going to take longer. It was clearly a waste, doing the affidavit and following the ministerial announcement.
Whoopeeeeeee
and this is what it means in practice…..
[What’s in a Name no 8].
this feels like an enormous achievement but we’re not there yet!
we do wish you well but it’s actually a wishing WALL…
It’s a great example of what fun we have at Mysore BnB and how it sometimes feels like a big international family.
This latest project started from a photograph
Andrew Murren, one of our wonderful previous guests, posted this photo on facebook. It’s from Japan and called Ema. Found in Shinto Temples, visitors buy a plaque, write a wish and hang it on the wall. Well, we thought it was pretty cool.
So we discussed it with various guests who also liked it.
We all thought it would be good to create our very own. I recruited Suresh from Sri Muruli Fine Arts to make some wooden shapes as a bit of an experiment. They are the guys who I reckon are amongst the best wood inlay and marquetry artists in Mysore. Here’s two of the team at work.
So check it out, below.
Ok, there isn’t very much so far… but that’s the point, it will build up over-time and become its own work of art…. you are invited to make a wish or statement or just design a plaque and hang it on our wall. It’s launched by a lovely family of artists from New Zealand. Admittedly they have set a rather high standard with beautiful plaques and other recent guests with a similar artistic bent have risen to the challenge. But it’s not about great art, it’s about making a wish or a statement, if you want to make it art, then that’s fantastic, an added extra. But what’s really important is that we invite all those taking part to buy the plaque and all the money goes to the Asha Kirana Charitable Trust and their wonderful work with people in Mysore who are HIV+ and with AIDS.
some of you may remember the story (earlier in this blog) or shared in our conversations over dinner, in Mysore, about Manjula getting her voting card.
She declared that her life was half over before she managed to vote. Well that set me on a journey to help sort out her various ID cards, in a sense to legitimise Manjula in the eyes of the state! This is still a very informal society, at least in some respects, so many people don’t have a birth certificate, know of their actual birthdate and maybe even just have one name. It is, of course, very important to get these things sorted especially if you want to do any formal business or even travel abroad. So this was to become one of our major projects. I immediately I realised there were all sorts of problems….
we’ve had a few. The latest might be a bit of a challenge.
Vasanth has been a great help in so many of them: whether large or small. He fondly remembers the horse riding period, the riding boots fiasco, finding new ways to experiences India but, I must say, our projects do seem to have got a wee bit bigger: moving to India in itself, is of course, no small 
challenge. This, in turn has led to renting a house, furnishing it partly from the lovely things at Ritz Hotel, creating the cycle tours, registering the business, finding the drivers, herding the cats (aka drivers), spending money on lovely art and working out how to haggle so as not to always pay too much foreigner tax, getting a visa every few years… to mention just a few of the different examples of being tossed out of our comfort zones, into the wild unknown. But I wonder if the latest one is a stretch too far….
Do I really have to declare that I’m not an idiot? and if I do and she subsequently finds that I am, is that grounds for divorce?
In India, until recently, holidays were visits to one’s family or for religious pilgrimages. Some might say… not much of a holiday! But as with everything in India, it’s changing.
A sign of these times is the growth of the middle classes and the idea of holidays as ‘leisure’. Take the Kerala Backwaters as an example: ten years ago the vast majority of those hiring the converted rice barges for an overnight trip would be white tourists from abroad, nowadays the majority are middle-class Indians.
Manjula is a good example. She’s travelled a fair amount in India: Calcutta, lived in Mumbai, even out of the country to Nepal but it always related to visiting family, work or worship. Her first leisure holiday was only recently to Kannur Beach.
On holiday, she was like a young girl, almost shrieking (in her quieter, slightly reserved, dignified way) like a young child at the first experience of the waves tickling her toes.
We stayed with Rosi at Kannur Beach House with a good friend Frances and her daughter Alex. Many of our guests at Mysore Bed and Breakfast also stayed there.
It’s been quite difficult to get Manjula to take a holiday but once she’d ‘bit the bullet’ and had a great time, within just a few weeks, we’re on the overnight train (first class, I’ll have you know) to Hampi.
I think her family thinks she’s won the the lottery, maybe she has!
We stayed at what is jokingly referred to as Israel, the more traveller/backpacker orientated place on the other side of the river from Hampi. Our recommendations include eating at Mango Tree and visiting Sagar for a breakfast or snack. Most of the accommodation across the river is much of a muchness but ‘Top Secret” has great food and wonderful views back over to Hampi.
We’ll post our and guest recommendations on our main web site at http://www.Manjulasmysore.in
Well, we both had a wonderful time and so there is no doubt that the holidays will continue, let’s see where our adventures take us!
Me and MYCycle 