Mysore

Day 11:

 Once back in the camp, we had our late breakfast and had a rest till afternoon.  We caught a taxi to Mysore. On the way we saw a huge python crossing the road. The taxi ride to Mysore was not really comfortable as I felt the driver was falling asleep on the road. I had to shout at him occasionally to keep him concentrated.  Moron!

We had our booking at the Parklane Hotel, just walking distance from the city center. The hotel and its restaurant has a unique interior design. But it was nice. We had our lunch, and had a rest till evening. Mysore is the second biggest city in the state of Karnataka. It was the capital city of the erstwhile Wodeyar dynasty. I liked the city as it was very clean, and looked like a well organised city. What we didn’t know was that it was the coronation day of the young king of Mysore on that day and the palace, officially called Amba Vilas palace, was closed to the public. There were a lot of dignitaries around, which we didn’t really notice. The palace is the official residence and seat of the

Wodeyars —the former royal family of Mysore, who ruled the princely state of Mysore from 1350 to 1950. I was there once with my parents, when I was a kid. But I still remembered the beautiful and gigantic rooms inside the palace. We had plans to visit it only tomorrow. So we just strolled around the outside and also made a visit to the local market (Devaraja market). Gela was keen to visit the market where the locals shop for daily fruit and vegetables as well as the rows and rows of flowers and various spices and had a really vibrant atmosphere. On the way back we bought some Indian sweets.

 

Day 12:

 

The plan for today is to explore the city. Not really exploring as I am not a fan of crowds. But the first point on our list was the Amba Vilas palace. The palace with its huge garden around is situated at the centre of Mysore city facing the Chamundi hills.  The palace with its three storeyed structure and marble domes is one of the most famous palaces in India with more than a million visitors a year. It is not an old palace with the construction completed in the early 1900’s. There was another palace in its place which was burned down and the new one was built as a replacement. It is really beautiful to look at from outside and also from inside and the royal family still lives there in one of the extensions of the palace. It is usually completely illuminated in the evenings.

 

Amba Vilas Palace

We walked down to there in the morning itself. The crowd was already building up. The interior of the Palace is with its spacious halls and woodwork is breath taking. The walls are adorned with paintings, ivory and wooden sculptures, opulent halls with chandeliers, mosaic floors and gilded columns. The room included the chamber in which the king sat with the ministers, durbar hall where he gave audience to the people, marriage halls and museums where the armory and other items in display.

 

Old market

We came out and while walking round we met a rickshaw guy who offered us to show the old market, place where the special perfumes were made and carpentary works.  He was a nice chap. He took us first to the old market where the people still comes to buy the vegetables, meat and other items. Then we were taken to a place where traditional and beautiful wood works are still produced by the carpenters. The furnitures with intricate carvings and designs produced by them are extraordinary. But from their looks and the working conditions I wonder how much they earn for a living. Sadly, not much I think. We then went to a place house where the guy makes wide range of  perfumes and sandalwood agarbathi’s of his own. He was nice and gave us short explanation and demonstration of how the agarbathi’s were made (there was an old women who was making agarbathis by hand), and also let us smell and sample some of the perfumes in his collection. Both Gela and I bought small bottles of perfumes as gift.

The rickshaw guy dropped us back to the Palace gates from where we went back to the hotel for lunch and rest. In the afternoon we went for a movie, Bollywood movie with typical song and dance types. I am generally not a fan of Bollywood movies, which in my opinion 99% is nonsense. But the movie we saw was surprisingly not bad.  For Gela it was her first Bollywood movie experience in India, and I think she enjoyed it.

Traditional craftsmen

In the evening after sunset we went back to the palace gates. I wanted to take some photographs of the palace with illumination. Unfortunately there was no illumination for some reason and not only that, when we were there, the monsoon started with a vengeance. It was heavy downpour, monsoon in its full form. For Gela it was the first monsoon experience, and we were stuck there for almost an hour.  When we were planning the route for the trip I was expecting to stay just infront of the monsoon. But the monsoon caught up with us earlier than I expected. Not so bad, the rains has its charms.

This was our last day in Mysore and at night we caught the bus to Uduppi.  Our actual destination is Goa. Since it is a long journey I thought I will make a break at Uduppi so that I could visit the Sri Krishna temple there and also the Murudeshwara temple about 1.5 hrs by train from there. Murudeshwar is a small pilgrimage in the coast on the way from Uduppi to Goa. It is famous for the worlds largest Shiva statue, about 125 feet tall, situated on the coast of Arabian sea.