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.
I know it’s not fashionable but loved working for local government in the UK from 1986 for twelve years. It was a real challenge, government always is, but felt we made some radical changes and I made a significant contribution whether it was funding innovative not-for profits, getting to grasp with environmental impact through agenda 21, consulting local people and dramatically changing services for minority communities and especially disabled people. That was then, now it’s in a dismal state.
It’s often useful to see how others see us. Check this article.
“The disaster in Northamptonshire did not arise from nowhere. Since 2010, when David Cameron became Prime Minister, Britain’s Conservative-led governments have responded to the impacts of the global financial crisis with a program of austerity. In line with other European countries (but unlike the U.S. and China, which passed stimulus packages), the U.K has sought to manage its debts and repair its economy with a relentless trimming of public spending. For the past eight years, these cuts have presented a complicated picture. In some areas, like education and health, budgets haven’t actually gone down; they have just failed to keep up with the needs of a diverse, growing population. But central funding for the nation’s four hundred and eighteen local authorities—Britain’s busy quilt of local government—has fallen by fifty per cent.”
YES, we struggled to meet the changing and growing needs over twenty years ago and now there is far less money available. It’s a scandal.
here is the full article
I came across Selznick after watching the Scorsese film Hugo religiously adapted from this book
It’s a wonderful film and Selznick’s book of pictures and text is almost a storyboard for the actual film. Both of which are wonderful. It led me onto other books by the same author. Including…
It seems like he finds a germ of an Idea and creates a wonderful story from that seed, presented in an innovative way. In the case of this novel he uses a wonderful historical house in the east of London as his creative foil. It’s well worth a read and a visit to the house.
It’s featured in a Guardian article
First stop. Diagnostic centre. These places are all over Mysore. You’ll see patients traipsing around the city with files and bags full of results. Doctors having sent them to their ‘preferred’ centre so the get their backhander. But not here at Kannan, the first established here in Mysore they have a fair and transparent policy of No commissions. Lakshman the head doc has been especially helpful to Manj and I.
Well I deposited my blood and urine samples with the instructions to go have breakfast and come back to repeat the process in two hours.
Next
For Idli, (twenty rupees for two servings, that’s 4 Idlis) at reputedly one of the best joints in Mysore opposite Wellington Lodge (why’s it called that? Find out on a cycle tour…. sooo blatant! Says mythical Ed)
Number Three, chai, eight rupees.
4 shopping therapy, yes I can even get enjoyment from buying a replacement squirty water gun for the toilet. Know what it’s for? This photo is between Ashoka Road and Gandhi Square of the hardware capital of Mysore 🙃
5 next one of my fave places, old trad juice shop for sasparilla soda.
6 hotel Indra Paras for sweets!
And just to proof there’s often action here and we don’t have to wait for the big annual Dasara event which only finished last week…. a great procession brought the centre to a chaotic standstill as opposed to the usual
chaotic movement….
And finally the diagnostic centre to take the piss as they want more blood. Results back at the end of the day. Cost is very reasonable at 2200 rs. That is however almost ten times the supposed minimum daily wage.
India and Italia
Unexpected connections…..
It’s a little light relief..
India and Italia, begins with I and ends in A
Some of the best Veggie food in the world…, India and Italy.
What seems like chaos on the roads, Italy and India.
Do you get the Drift? It’s uncanny really. I’ll continue…..
Corrupt politicians, India and Italy.
Politicians in Jail, India and Italy.
Politicians who should be in jail.
The need to bribe public servants to just do their job,
The highest concentration of wood inlay artists in the world. India (Mysore) and next is a village in
Italy…
Sexist society, well OK thats everywhere.
male dominated, Patriarchal society, Italia and India.
except at home Where the big boss is mamma (Italy) and amma (India) , who serves their little ones, fusses and feeds their children until well into their teens and sometimes beyond
The family and it’s extensions are pretty big in both countries and children, particularly boys, are worshipped,
so, Extended family, children focussed, India Italy.
People who squeeze children’s cheeks, India Italy.
Spoilt boys who become little Princes, India and Italy.
And what’s all that about not getting round to things until the last minute, if at all, ever? Maybe Manana was not from Spain after all…..
there are some bits which are not so easy to be light hearted about…
Preoccupation with skin colour between north… light and south, dark.. (southerners, work in the fields, of course!)
And that’s playing safe, without getting into the politics
And who’s responsible for these uncanny links…. I wonder?
Remember that song?
The this bone connected to the that bone. Well it’s connections and especially medical or body ones that are the subject of today’s missive.
We’re visiting the umpteenth medical centre.
Manjula has been losing weight having gone from a Telly Tubby (Ok I exaggerate) to being thin as a rake at 35 kg in just a few months.
so very worrying.
Well her usual doc tested liver, kidney, thyroid all ok so he’s sent us to Dr Darla who tested and found her deficient in vitamin D.
Well we hope that’s it and the treatment works.
The connection?
Since being ill earlier this year and as a result she’s been home based hence there’s been a lack of sunlight. One problem, response, leads to another, a vicious circle of happenings let alone connected bones.
It occurs to me (and I’ve checked it’s OK with the Maharani) that as we’ve had so many friends ask about her health it’s about time we brought you up to date, so watch this space.
it’s the first day of the biggest event in our calendar. A great opportunity to show the marvels of Mysore. It’s late in the afternoon , yes peak travel time.
and so they decide to block half the road to lay tarmac and patch the road as part of the preparation for the big event.
Presumably they didn’t know when the event was happening and there was only a year to plan.
