UK refuses holiday visas

July 6, 2018July 6, 2018 SFLeave a comment

“The Home Office also refused visas by saying it was not confident the applicant would leave the country at the end of their visit despite applicants clearly visiting for a specific purpose, such as a weddin; submitting evidence that they had booked and already paid for hotel accommodation ending on a certain date; presenting letters from employers, that stated they had been granted a specific period off work for the holiday; or running their own, successful business back home.”

Guardian Article

This is exactly what happened to Manjula two years ago….. check below for links to the story of Manjula’s visa application.

A holiday visa is applied for

All she wants is a holiday

Let’s try again

She did succeed in obtaining a visa and now has had two wonderful trips to the UK

Will it won’t it? No. 2

June 22, 2018 SFLeave a comment

I think we know who’s going to win the bet. It should have been 1000 Rs per flower!

Nearly there.

There are five or six coming out tonight

Ruby

June 22, 2018 SFLeave a comment

Street dog Update

Ruby was first adopted as a puppy by one of the neighbours. I asked them to deal with her skin problem when it first arose. But they first neglected it then threw her out when it became a real problem.

Ruby disappeared.

She reappeared last week in a sorry state. We’ve always been friends so today once she’d appeared during the day, I managed to catch her.

Here’s the rest of today’s adventure.

Vasanth and I took her in the auto

. She stunk! But settled in quite quickly. Our destination was PFA – People for Animals. Right over the otherside of Mysore. It’s a great place, we know them well 🙂

I left a donation. The vet will fix her and neuter her. I’ll check how she is when I get back from the UK in August. We can’t have her because of Lucie and she’s unlikely to get adopted. So, she’ll be let back into the street where she was found (it’s the law) we’ll adopt her from a distance.

Lucie was of course very put out and jealous, as you can see. But where is Billi?

Will it, won’t it?

June 20, 2018 SFLeave a comment

The bet is on! Each year we have a lovely array of Brahma Kamla flowers.

Here’s the buds.

Manjula reckons they will not flower before I leave on Monday. I believe they will. The wager is 1000rs.

Here’s what it will look like

The nest is bare

June 15, 2018June 15, 2018 SFLeave a comment

Where have they gone?

Its an incredible job giving birth, raising your children, being there for them, setting them up with the right skills, having to let go, being there to support whilst pushing them to be independent… its difficult to get the balance right.

There are so many risks

The fledglings have flown

yes, our latest guests have left home.

It was not an easy process, as you might imagine.

Mum and Dad found a great place to nest, in a hanging basket under the driveway roof. It was so quiet at the beginning (were they ever here?) so much so we thought they were being neglectful but the eggs were hatched and three fledglings made their appearance.

One seemed to be a tad bigger than the others, the BIG BROTHER

Today however, just a few days later, has been really hectic.

They flew the nest and ended up all around the drive. We’re using the term ‘fly’ a little liberally, it was in fits and starts… but they were moving and perching……

It did help us realise what a relatively safe place it is and thats maybe why we’ve actually had THREE nests here this season.

Nevertheless in the chaos in the drive there was one fledgling missing and the parents (and us were frantically looking).

they are still hungry guys

But the lost one was found

The parents managed to corral them, get them perched and fed, on one of the plants behind the chair near the front gate!

Where they still are.

sorry about the standard of the photos, can’t quite get a great shot, there are three there

Manjula

June 14, 2018June 14, 2018 SFLeave a comment

I’ve been toying with the idea of having a portrait painted of the beautiful Manjula. Fact is I’m trying to work out if I can afford it. As part of the process I’ve pulled together a few of the photos taken of Manjula over the years, they’re mainly my photos but there are some crackers taken by friends.

Occasionally someone or something else gets a look in…..

and there’s even more here

Manjula caught me doing this earlier and has no idea about the portrait. it occured to us that she’s had hundreds of photos tasken in the nine years that we’ve known each other and to her knowledge just a handful in the thrity six years beforehand.

If I decide to go ahead with the portrait, I’ll send the link to the photos to the artist (my daughter-in-laws sister) who will use them, not to copy but to help her create something that reflects the real person but also emerges from her artistic insights!

a wedding ceremony

April 13, 2018April 13, 2018 SF2 Comments

a ceremony but where?

you already know, there was only one place to choose for our wedding and the formalities themselves were completed at the registry office 🙂

no it wasn’t in a glitzy bhavan with hall for reception (means a totally different thing out here – its the photo opportunity and gift giving session with the newlyweds seated on thrones on a stage) and another hall to feed hundreds, nor a band, althoug that would have been nice

instead, we decided on Srirangaptnam island, of course …… my favourite place. As you may have seen already we chose a tree in a field

once we decorated the tree… all sounds a bit pagan 😉

we made final personal preparations at Satish’s house…

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there were around twenty guests: local friends and members of our team,

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Vasanth’s family (V was ill), Satish (project manager) and his family, Rakesh (mr energy), Lokesh, Babu, Vidya ( a good friend who transcribed Manjula’s recordings) Heechang and her friend and family (husband Justin was away picking Henna), Asha, my yoga teacher, her family and Suresh, (who arrived fashionably late so aren’t n this photo) and the friends from the UK: Mike and Sue, Tom and Amy. We’re sorry to say that Tanu, Vasanth and Vinay were indisposed with a heavy bug so they just had to watch the royal wedding ceremony on the TV (I’m joking, OK) and not together!

the ceremony itself

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we and the children used a traditional Mysorean Tonga (horse drawn taxi) to our next stop

20170304-DSC03432 where we visited one of the wonderful riverside locations on Srirangaptnam for a prayer beside the Kaveri and to float our flowers

followed by lunch

and finally …. tea and cakes at Satish’s house

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here’s a link to the full set off photos of the wedding ceremony and here for the meal

Well I never….

April 9, 2018 SF2 Comments

My favourite ‘hotel’ which is an Udupi (meaning pure veg) restaurant cum cafe (without accommodation) is Indra Paras. Just opposite the market it’s been a long term favourite of locals, domestic tourists, and Firangi (foreigners). Great food. Slightly hectic at times.

Well I never. Hang on a minute. What is this?

One of my regular snacks. Sev Dahi Potato puri with a refreshing fresh lime soda, plain (no sugar or salt) but horror of horrors.

There’s a straw!

For the past two seasons we’ve tried to reduce our use of plastic straws wherever we can. Last year we sold bamboo straws for a local charity this year I carry stainless steel straws on the mycycle tours. (Yes, and clean them each eve.)

Well at first I was very disappointed but then discovered they were actually paper ….. wonderful

The very first I’ve seen in Mysore.

Well done boss!

Update

April 3, 2018 SFLeave a comment

We’re nowhere near back to normal. Fact is, I’ve yet to find normal in India. Maybe it’s one of those contradictory statements I like which reflects that it’s ‘organised differently’ hereabouts… or my fave ‘consistently inconsistent’ it’s abnormally normal…

Anyway, enough of my rambles. We have four lovely guests at breakfast this morning. Two newbies from Switzerland and two from UK who are going for gold resident status. It being their fourth visit all adding up to a few weeks.

Manjula had a good sleep and with the help of her technology has good oxygen levels this morning. Great stuff, Manj

Settling in…

March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 SFLeave a comment

We’ve set up Manjula in the NQAR (not-quite-a-room) we use it for children, grand parents, Liz and Tibetan Buddhist nun from Oregon. (Get your head around that one) sorry Ani

We’re getting into a bit of a routine. Eight tabs after breakfast alone, sixteen in a full day, not to mention syrup and the tss tss. Nightmare getting the drugs today. pharmacists had no stock of a v important one. Mask and ventilator overnight , oxygen concentrator during day (hip new oxygen bar to be opened next week in Garage).