Udaipur - Mimosa

We land at Udaipur, and I'm frantically opening Google Maps. Our stay was at an Air b&b, and as that's a residence, it's a whole different experience. 

The airports about an hour away from the city, so first the drive there.....into the city,....by it's innumerable lakes and havelis........ almost sunset time, so getting off for a couple of pictures enroute.  Then we drive into a nice quiet colony of independent houses.....some asking around and finally, we arrive at this fancy sprawled out bungalow. It has a high compound wall, with an imposing gate, so we open with some trepidation... and on ringing the bell, there's a gentleman at the door. 

I'm like "are you Suman?", and he's like "ek minute"

We're looking around the garden, and are then greeted by this petite, distinguished looking lady with an " Hi, I am Suman.....I've been trying to contact you to ask when you were arriving". 

ooops....I'd booked almost two months ago, and hadn't contacted them since......so I'm muttering "sorry....my bad".... and that's how our acquaintance with a most interesting person began.

Mrs. Suman Bhatnagar has served with UNICEF, and retired twelve years back. Post retirement she decided to write, and she's now an author of two published books. 

She recently decided to renovate her house and start an Air B&B, which started just last month. And what's more, she's  running it single handed. Starting something, anything.... at seventy, that's surely a commendable spirit. She was a wonderful guide too....  helping plan our itinerary for that short duration stay, cab numbers, places to eat, anything we needed. And with so much warmth and enthusiasm....adding a wonderful dimension to the whole experience.

Mom and she even got to more long and personal conversation, and that's the big plus of home stays....it builds quick bonds..... and there's the irreplaceable personal flavour of the place. 

She joined us for tea in the morning, and was talking to us about how in just one month she's gotten to meet guests from not just within the country, but also Spain and Greece.....and how she's decided that her third book will be about her experiences with her guests, and that's why I should send her pictures I've taken. So fascinating.

This is her with mom:

She was giving a guided tour of her garden, saying "your breakfast today was methi from here, and lime pickle from this tree". In that little patch she has palak, methi, lemon, chillies, tomatoes, bananas, beans and more. Wow !

On the right is Altaf, who helps run the place...I sadly don't have a better picture of him. Behind them is our room...... while she has bigger rooms on the first floor, we took the ground floor so mom could avoid the stairs.

The front garden

That leaf on the building is from the Mimosa plant, after which the place is named. When we asked what it meant, is when we got the story of how she'd brainstormed a lot to figure out the appropriate name. I loved that little bit of detail :)

Inside her house, mom proudly displaying her book :)

With me too...

Our heading out to Mount Abu

By the end of our visit we're telling her what an inspiration she is !

Suman ma'am....thanks much, it was an absolute pleasure staying with you, and even more knowing you :)