Lucie departed on Sunday 26th January
That afternoon we buried her in a lovely field
Today we returned to do 11th day puja to help her spirit find its new home
Then lunch back at home
It’s very sad to lose such a wonderful friend, I miss her—-
—-being at home when I return, going on walks together and just being in my life.
Billet-Doux also misses Lucie
She’s such a famous dog with everyone asking about her.
Radhika was 17 this week so with Kaveri back for a skating race we made Sunday into an extra celebration.
Happy Birthday
Radhika B Radical
Kaveri grows fast.
Well if ‘last’ years birthday is anything to go by I’ve fully localised.
31st December can seem a weird day for a birthday. Or maybe not.
Endings and beginnings
There’s always multiple celebrations
It was wonderful.
A steady stream of lovely friends making it a day to remember.
Plus my girls were here (kaveri and Radhika) having missed Christmas together, we shifted Christmas to the morning and began my birthday at noon 12.35 sharp 🤭
and Rinkal and Sheetal are seriously becoming an integral part of the team. Welcome to you.
Next morning
Happy New Year.
Even in our first year we were no 1 in Mysore on Trip Advisor but there were no contact details. Guests couldn’t quite believe it
As they realised, I’m Yindian, (Indian by marriage, Yorkshire by birth) the Yorkshire bit means I’ll not spend money unnecessarily. (that’s one way of putting it)..
We’d also joke that we only wanted guests that would put the effort in and find us!!
Our Facebook entries also meant we were on Google. All that helped.
AirBnB was our other big thing. We’re still on it but sometimes forget as most guests come as returners, byword of mouth or recommendations.
Just to prove it, here’s some of the reviews from our lovely AirBnB guests.
We can assure you, that we don’t chop people’s heads off
Yours, Alice
Slivers of paper, pencil sharpenings, crisp packets,
Neighbours blame the inconsiderate young people but let’s look a little closer….
Yes it’s adults with babies dumping their diapers (nappies)
A bag full goes in our bin to be collected by the city corporation (MCC).
Why can’t the people give their rubbish to the MCC who collect most mornings?
The fading Firangi (foreign pensioner) chooses to clear it up. My neighbours blame the students and it’s partially true but on closer inspection — it’s the babies shit now smeared all around by the dogs — who’ve adopted the park that’s made it worse.
So all ages are responsible together with their team mates, the dogs…. It’s not just due to the corporation not clearing up. People need to learn to put things in a bin and not expect other to clear up after them.
We had similar problems in the U.K. in the past.
So there was a countrywide campaign, decades ago to stop people littering.
Yesterday evening as I was waiting outside a shop selling dots for one’s forehead —
—Manjula used to give them as gifts as we travelled through England—
A woman asked where she was.
I pointed to, inside the shop and after a perplexed reaction, realised she wasn’t asking about the little girl (Kaveri) or Manjula, for that matter, but the dog (Lucie).
The girl was stocking up for the return to school.
I’m well known in my area and in Mysore generally but usually because of my appendage.
I am nothing, not even a number.
…
I once walked into a hotel (restaurant) right on the other side of the city, for the waiter to ask me where’s the dog. He also lived in Siddarthanagar.
So I’m well known for who I’m with …
As of this morning, as I realise, I stick out like a sore thumb as generally there’s rarely other firangis (foreigners) here. There’s a new appendage.
A tree
As I was tossing and turning in the midst of my AWOL, nightly sleep I realised there was only this morning for me to be able to decorate the tree for Christmas.
Kaveri will be going back to school.
Kaveri is here for less than 24 hours and we’ve decorated it together for the past three years since we met. I’ll not see her again until a few days after Christmas Day when we’ll belatedly celebrate Christmas.
A bit too late to do the tree
Plus our usual totem is now too big and heavy for the hall aka lounge.
What to do?
Easy
Get up before the girls and after walking as man and dog, I go out again, to the nearest ‘nursery’. It’s run by guys from UP on the roadside. I haggle with them from the Firangi-Gora (white) — tax – price, to something resembling the price a local would pay. About half.
Then as I’m trudging home— convincing myself that I’m exercising my muscle diminishing 60+ years arms —- with very regular rests. I realised I’m another spectacle of the foreigner ‘variety’ who is entertaining the locals, especially the men at the chai shop and the women sweeping the streets. They’re interested as no one can possibly work out why the rich foreigner is carrying a tree and not using an auto rickshaw.
A wonderful young man, rescues me from the ordeal of the last stretch, stops for me to balance precariously on the back of his bike and gets me home.
I’ve become the foreigner, not only with dog and girl but now the tree
It suits me
…
Ok it doesn’t look very heavy but the weight is in the pot.
It’s now decorated.
But now the cats eyeing it up, for a potential attack thankfully for the moment she seems satisfied with the empty decoration boxes.
After watching Ina’s family’s celebration of her life, (funeral).
I’m reminded to try and always leave meeting someone with warmth and care as it might be the last time we see them. I did with Ina but still need reminding to always be attentive, kind and share compassion.
There’s more about Ina here
Each year we will do Puja for MAnjula and Ina to help their spirits ‘on the way’ to their new lives.
After that first visit she would field questions from our guests who came to share our home — Mysore Bed and Breakfast– were we a couple?
Ina acknowledged before us that we’d fallen in love.
Ina came every year (except during the pandemic) from that first visit, for a total of ten years. She became a very close friend of my wife Manjula and a great support to me helping me grieve Manjula. She was our favourite and most regular guest, here Ina is promoting us with the new mug and proving she became an essential part of the team (furniture!).
The photos are from our last year with Manjula visiting the local Tibetan settlement and Somnathpur Temple. Ina, Manjula, Willan (our workawayer in 2018) and myself, Stephen
I was their sometime chauffeur
Together, celebrating Manjula’s last birthday in 2018
There’s more here including Ina’s visit a month ago
We will miss Ina, a wonderful caring character, who has become part of our life, here in Mysore. After Manjula died she often referred to her as a Lotus who had survived and thrived through the mud. They both radiated their goodness as sisters and had a wicked sense of humour
Ina lit a candle for her and what we’ll do each year is a Puja for both Manjula and Ina to help their spirits find their new home.
Just as we recently did for Manjula
We look forward to meeting again
Stephen
The flower would appear each year at this time, carefully nurtured by MAnjula.
Eagerly anticipated, she’d predict what night it would blossom only to fold in on itself by the morning.
A short intense appearance not unlike MAnjula who dramatically changed my life.
It’s all no accident as she radiated the sun herself, through her smile, her presence every inch of her being. Two queens together.
Me and MYCycle 