Rasi Manzil February 2019

 

Peter arrived in India via Thailand on February 2^nd 2019 and spent the first week at Rasi Manzil recovering from his Birthday Party!

Three weeks of party time with the boys had taken its toll!

I tidied the garden that, apart from a yearly garden clear after the rains, had been left to its own devices for the past few years, deciding and then changing my minds as to where things would go. 

A burning area was set up, compost-able stuff was raked against the front wall and the daily sweep of leaves added.

Nothing much was going to happen garden wise until we moved in properly in October so apart from keeping it clean I left it to fend for itself and concentrated on the house.

The Rasi Manzil is an amazing house.

We have a spacious front porch that leads to the front room where Joe's two wooden sofas a plus a spare bed from the middle bedroom provide plenty of sitting and chilling space.

Off the lounge we have a double bedroom with its own bathroom which for now is our spare room.

From the lounge you walk into the dining room in the middle of the house. 

This room has not only a sink to wash your hands but also a door way to the garden.

The dinning room contains the doorway to what has become our bed room. 

This room also has its own bathroom plus Joe's double bed and a single bed … the other single bed that belongs to the house is in the front room.

The bathroom is more of a wet room.

.....loo paper is not needed in India as every toilet comes with a jet wash …

left hand for washing, 

right hand for eating takes on a whole new meaning 

but once you get used to it, it is amazing!

From the dining room you walk out into the back room which I have claimed as my work space.

A doorway from the sewing room leads to the kitchen which is HUGE!!

 It even has a chimney!!

(...but I forgot to take a photo so you can only see the doorway lol)

I treated myself to a new cooker from a lovely man who works out of a tiny shop 8 foot x 10 foot while Mohamed arranged for a gas bottle to be delivered 

.......but in all honesty apart from Peters coffee it didn't get used much as eating out is so incredibly cheap.

A full Thali meal costs us 70p, Masala Dosha is 50p ….. breakfast is usually taken at the train station where idli, coconut chutney, samba with a vada and chai costs 75p for the two of us!!!

Catriona called to see how we were doing and mentioned her friend had just finished a 200 hour yoga teacher training course and would I like to attend the final practical exam.

I jumped at the chance and was delighted to discover the yoga school was always looking for bodies for their students to practice their teaching on.

I signed up straight after the exam and was soon called to attend almost daily classes .....

......all for free ...

...... and with such a diversity of teachers!!!!

Peter began work the roof …..

which had thankfully been cleared of all the furniture stored there

….... grinding and cleaning the uprights ready to fix and paint.

Each day as the sun got too hot to work he would retire to the day bed while I lost myself in the sewing room and its growing piles of fabric.

Garlands now adorned the tops of all of the doorways, longer ones hung and swayed in the breeze.

I hung the dream catcher

and flower hammock and looked at the huge pile of fabric.

I needed a new idea.

I am not sure how the first picture came into being ….

....... it was more of an experiment than a plan as such …..

....... but the end result was great.

The second picture had a more definite plan …..

fabrics were thrown across a backing piece, mixed and matched until I had a rough idea of where I was heading …. 

then I jut added layers …

 layer after layer until i felt it looked right!

........but this a story that must wait for another day …...