A jam packed weekend! We left early on Saturday morning; Mysore is about a 4 hour drive from
Bangalore.
We stopped on the way for traditional South Indian breakfast, before
stopping at Srirangapatna. This place, a few km from Mysore is a tourist
hotspot, for Indians and foreigners alike. It is crammed with temples,
mosques and ruins. It was once a huge fortress town, ruled by Tipu
Sultan, but it fell to the British in 1799. First stop was at The
Gumbaz, some way outside the town. It is the burial site of Tipu
Sultan’s parents, and there are many other tombs there. After this was
the bathing ghat on the river nearby. This was surrounded by a large
(mostly tourist) market and a temple. We went for a spin in a boat out
into the river (we were followed by some cows!) and swiftly moved to our
next port of call, Daria Daulat Bagh, an ancient palace inhabited by
Tipu Sultan. It is entirely painted with ornate murals from top to
bottom, all of which are exquisite. There were also sketches of the area
and of some of the notable figures at the time made by British soldiers
inside. Sadly I couldn’t take any photos, and the entire building was
under a kind of tent to protect it.
Next was Shweta Varahaswamy Temple, an ancient Hindu temple again
surrounded by a bustling market. We spent a few hours in the zoo, which
was a pretty depressing place. The animals were all looking rather
shabby and unhappy, most of the enclosures were tiny. Similarly, the
aquarium we visited later featured a large fish in a tank about four
inches longer than its body. While the others didn’t seem to mind, I
couldn’t really enjoy seeing the animals in this state, especially the
tigers, who were kept in a row of cells smaller than the average
bedroom, and the elephants, who had their legs chained up so they were
on show to visitors during the day.After this we went to visit a friend
of Hrishu, one of my friends, who has set up a school for slum girls in
Mysore. She entertained us to tea, and we chatted away for a few hours,
with the children chanting in the background. The school has only just
been set up, and all the girls are very young, but for most of them it
will be their home until they can get a job and get their own place. The
girls stayed here for the night, and Hrishu and I headed off to find a
hotel in the city, which was a pretty crummy place, but fine for just
one night.
The next morning was spent in campus. The Mysore campus is for
training only, and most employees will have spent their first few months
here before joining a process. The campus is more like Butlins than a
place to work. It has a multiplex cinema, three swimming pools, a
bowling alley, a golf course, a cricket pitch, a climbing wall, courts
for everything (including squash), and acres and acres of space. It
makes the
Bangalore
campus look rather drab in comparison.After a session at the bowling
alley, we headed off again, this time to the Brindavan Gardens at the
base of the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam. These beautiful parks are almost
symmetrical, and full to the brim with fountains and waterways, as well
as beautiful foliage. It is also very clean (there are bins!), which is a
nice change from the filthy parks in
Bangalore.
It did draw my attention to how spectacularly badly we do ‘water
features’ in the UK, especially with regards to paddling. All the
waterways (which are full of electric cables for the submerged glass
lights) are full of children playing and sliding down the waterfalls.
There are even changing rooms provided!
Next stop was the Biligiri Rangana Betta, a huge hill that dominates
the horizon around Mysore. On the top is a large temple, and some
spectacular views out over the city and the plains. Our final stop was
at Mysore Palace, which is lit by thousands of lightbulbs every Sunday
night. The palace grounds are very crowded with tourists, with a notably
high number of Americans (all of whom seem to dress in the same way:
sarongs, long messy hair, beards (men only)). After the show was over we
headed back to
Bangalore,
stopping on the way back at a seedy looking restaurant which served
some surprisingly good food. We finally got back at about 2am,
thoroughly worn out! I’ll be going back to Mysore in two weeks, with the
gappers, hopefully we won’t be doing too many of the same things!