MYSURU MELA
Updated: May 31, 2020
Escape the boredom
Holidays bring in a lot of excitement for all of us, but the reality is that most of us drown in the sea of boredom. To overcome that feeling I decided to travel. Travelling gives us a lot of good experiences that teach us great life lessons, new friends and a lot of unforgettable memories.
“more you travel , more you learn about the world ”
The bumpy bus ride
I planned to go to Bangalore and booked a sleeper bus. As I had booked the tickets at the very last moment, I had to settle with the seats at the rear of the bus, the one above the back wheel. It was a bumpy ride and I was in the air for most of the time. It was a long ride as the bus stopped in many places to take and deliver goods. Most of the travel companies earn more by carrying goods and courier packages than by boarding passengers. Finally, I reached Bangalore in the morning and stayed at my Uncle's house.
State Tourism package
I booked a single day trip from Bangalore to Mysore in KSTDC (i.e.Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation). On the day of the trip, I woke up around 5 am, so I wouldn't have to miss the bus. I booked a cab to Badami House. Outside the building, there were many buses with their engines on. I saw a bus leaving and for a moment I thought I missed my bus. Fortunately, it wasn't my bus, so I went into the building and they asked for the ticket. They wrote the bus number on the ticket after which I got into the bus.
Off to Mysore
I missed the scenic view around while travelling to Mysore, as I woke up quite early, I had my headphones on, and my eyes started drooping. During the travel, they gave us a 500 ml Aquafina water bottle, it was the one and the only thing they gave us in that whole day. They stopped at a hotel Maddur Tiffanies at Maddur. Maddur (also pronounced as Maddūru) is a town which is located 60 km from Mysore. During Tippu Sultan's rule, this place was used to make ammunitions and rockets. I had chocolate ice-cream for my breakfast. They halted there for about 45 minutes. After a few kilometres, a guy named Ahmed got into the bus. He introduced himself through the microphone and told us that he would be our travel guide for the day. Only then did I come to know that we would be going to SriRangapatna first and then to Mysore.
Srirangapatna is an egg-shaped island town amidst the Cauvery river in Mandya district of Karnataka. Situated at a distance of 18 km from Mysore. The Ranganathaswamy temple is the major attraction of the town which draws thousands of tourists.
In Srirangapatna we reached Daria Daulat. For all Indians the entrance fare was Rs.15, for foreigners it was Rs.200. I had to pay extra money for my DSLR and yet photography is allowed only in the gardens and not inside the building. The whole building was made of wood, and it was so artistic. The building was completely loaded with the portrait paintings of Hyder Ali's family and their weapons. We spent a lot of time there and so the guide rushed us to return to the bus. He said that before a month this package was actually a two-day trip, but now due to the convenience of the travellers, the government integrated it into a single day package, but I personally think that this change causes more inconvenience. After Dauria Daulat, we were on our way to Sriranganatha Swamy temple. On the way, the guide told us some facts about the temple, which I had already read in my 10th standard history book. We had a quick visit to the temple as we were behind schedule. I had a Tender coconut to chill me out, on that sunny day. After which we were all set to Mysore.
Silk/Sandal City
Our guide told us about the city. Mysore is not an industrial city. Mysore is very famous for its sandal wood and various types of silk. He told us that we can get more than 20 types of silk here. Our first stop in Mysore was the St. Philomena’s Church. It is one of the largest and also the oldest cathedral of India. It was so huge. Inside the church, there was a notice telling the visitors not to write on the wall. But the wall was filled with proposals, swear words and phone numbers. So they were renovating the whole church. After visiting the church, there was a Karnataka state government shop by the name Cauvery Emporium. Our guide told us that we can shop there for more than half an hour. I thought that as it was a shop ran by the government, everything would be cheap and that I could fill up my bag. But the reality was contradictory to my expectations. Everything there was so expensive. I could just buy a key chain and some soaps that were relatively cheap. A lady from our travel troop eagerly asked for the price of a necklace and took out her purse. The staff there quoted the price of the necklace as 15,000 INR after which the lady who was taken by surprise immediately reacted by saying that the necklace didn't look very nice. After getting into the bus, the lady said: "Instead of going here we could have shopped at the roadside shops, at least we are allowed to touch and photograph them over there". Then we had our lunch at Hotel Mayura Hoysala. They had vegetarian and north Indian buffet. Being an authentic South-Indian, I missed the south Indian meals.
Amazing Palace
At first, I thought that Daria Daulat is the Mysore palace, and I was slightly disappointed by seeing its size, only later did I come to know that it's not the palace and the palace is at the heart of Mysore. I initially thought the palace belongs to Tipu Sultan, then I came to know that it belongs to Rajmata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar. Slippers were not allowed inside the palace, so we had to leave it in the counter at the entrance. Once I entered the palace I was awestruck, I was wondering about the greatness of the ruler who built such an architectural wonder. Photography was strictly prohibited inside the palace and I didn't want to risk my iPhone, so I decided to capture the complexity of architecture and the beauty of the palace with my eyes. There were temples at all corners of the compound of the palace. The place was really amazing. The interiors, paintings, possessions and everything were well maintained by the government. Actually, I did not completely see the palace, I didn't go inside the residential wing as we were instructed to return in 45mins. After walking for a long distance, our next plan was to visit the Zoological garden. To be honest, I'm not so interested in watching animals inside a cage, I like to sneak in and look at them in the forest, at their own kingdom. We got into a battery car. I had the small guilt of being lazy for not walking. The only animal I loved watching in the zoo was the lion. It was so majestic and by the time we went near the cage, the lion roared very loudly. Its roar was so loud that all of us got scared.
After spending an hour in the zoo, we next moved to the Chamundeshwari Temple. The temple was bit free of crowd but not as free as the SriRangaNatha Swamy temple that we visited in the morning. To enter the temple we had to go through a big maze-like path which was really annoying. Many people cut through the line and skipped that long path but as I am a god-fearing guy I didn't want to cheat at the God's place. That temple was over a hill while going downhill, the whole view of Mysore in all its glory was visible.
Gorgeous Garden
After the Chamundeshwari temple, we were on our course to the last itinerary of our trip, that is the Brindhavan Garden. We were pretty early according to our schedule. That beautiful garden is located in the foot of a dam. So we got lovely views there. We had walk a long way from the bus parking to the entrance. On the way, at the first shop I bought a Gobi Manchurian, and it was so delicious. There were many fast food shops in a row having non-vegetarian. The garden had two parts, the north garden and the south garden. I missed the north garden as our guide told us only the south garden is worth seeing. We had to walk over a long bridge to reach the south garden or we could go by boat. That place was so crowded. Finally, evening at 7 pm, they started the illuminated musical fountain display. I enjoyed the whole display with a cup of sweet corn. After 15 mins I rushed to get into the bus. One tourist lost his way in the garden and we had to wait for more than half an hour on the bus during which time I had a great chat with the kids on the bus. My tour was about to end and we were returning back to Bangalore. On the way, we stopped at a hotel for dinner. I was so hungry so I ordered parotta, after a long wait they brought me chapatti, I was so confused, whether the waiter had served me a different order, so I decided to ask him, to which he replied: " It is your parotta sir, do you want another one?". With very great frustration, I replied "No". After a disappointing dinner, the Chennai Express movie was streamed on the bus during which time I slept. When I woke up the movie ended and by the same time we reached the Badami House, Bangalore. Then I booked a cab, with a lot of trouble in communication, I found the cab and managed to reach my Uncle's house. I finally whispered to myself
" It was really a very long day "
Note \--
If you really want to enjoy, don't stick with a plan. Go around by yourself. It is out of this tour experience I realised this, as we had to rush to the bus very soon most of the time. We didn't have time to look around at our own pace and we missed a lot. One more important thing is to wear a comfortable dress, one in which you could run or walk all day. Uncomfortable clothing may spoil the whole trip.
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