Mysore....back

Sorry for not posting for a couple days. Things have been a bit crazy and yesterday we weren't even in Bangalore (or now, officially, Bangaluru). Instead, we drove to Mysore.

Vivek and the driver arrived at the hotel around 6:30 yesterday morning and after a quick breakfast we took off. The road to Mysore is long, bumpy, and full of obstacles. Like leaning buses piled with people...

Along the way we nearly killed several people in our speeding taxi, but thanks to our driver and his expert use of his brakes no people or animals were harmed by our trip (including us!). Because it takes so long to get anywhere in India, my day mostly consisted of staring out the window and gritting my teeth at all the close calls. Here's what my day was like:

Ok, not really. But I swear that was most of it! There was also an hour that we spent at the side of the road, waiting to get out of a traffic jam. This was apparently caused by a taxi hitting a bullock cart. No one really knows what happened to the people involved, but given the driving conditions and habits, it couldn't have been good. To get out of the traffic jam we ended up driving along the shoulder of the road until we ended up behind a military bus (in the picture above) which was making its way over to a side road. This was by far one of the best parts of our road trip. The side road took us through some beautiful rice and sugar cane fields. I tried to take a few pictures, but I'm afraid they're not that great (I had to take them through a tinted car window - I'm really not this bad with a camera).

Along the way to Mysore we stopped at a place called Srirangapatnam. It's a city on an island in the middle of the Cauvery River and was home to Tippu Sultan. This guy apparently had a long rivalry with the Maharajah of Mysore and the Brits (with whom the Maharajah was collaborating). He eventually was killed in battle as the Brits finally stormed and took control of Srirangapatnam and Mysore. We stopped by his summer home while we were in town. The palace itself was in disrepair but must have been amazing at one point. I suppose that they're trying to preserve it now as they wouldn't allow photography in the palace. However, the grounds were quite beautiful (the palace is the building in the background of the first photo).Our first stop in Mysore was at Chamundi Hill, the place where the goddess Chamundi is said to have defeated the demon Mahishasura. Although Vivek, Vijay, and I visited this place last year, we weren't able to go inside, so this was another new thing for me. Also, a band of monkeys must have been moving through the area, or had made a home of the temple grounds, because there were tons of them everywhere! And they weren't friendly. There were several times that we were chased away by hissing angry monkeys. It was probably because there were so many babies around. Here's a picture of a baby with his mother as they perched on the roof of the temple.
Anyway, after that it was the Maharajah's palace. If anything could demonstrate the benefits of siding with the rich invading army, a comparison of this place to Tippu's place would do it.
It's quite remarkable how things can change over short periods of time - last year Vivek, Vijay, and I visited the Maharajah's palace and I was struck by how poorly cared for it was. The interior paint was peeling away, the paint that was still there was dirty and dull, the columns were horribly chipped, and marble and tile were missing in several parts of the building. Just nine months later, things had changed dramatically. The palace looked remarkable inside (again, no photos were allowed) and there was no need to imagine how beautiful it was in the past. Although there were several things that really bugged me about our time at the palace (if I get a chance maybe I'll write about them later), this made me feel like there's a great deal of hope for rapid improvements in India.

After seeing the grandeur of the palace we then took off to buy expensive things. Mysore is known for its silk and sandalwood and unfortunately you have to be very careful about where you go to purchase it. Our driver took us to a state-owned silk factory where we were overwhelmed by the beauty and quality of the silk fabrics. There was one guy who told us all about the silks and was also a great salesman. Here we are looking at the piles of fabric that he's pulled out for us:


After that, we had dinner at a nice restaurant (Hotel Sandesh?) and drove back to Bangalore. Okay, that's it. Mehndi must be done!