Mysore: palaces and temples

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15 Jan: Masinagudi to Mysore

Alarm went off at about 0600 for all in the room. This was probably a bit of a relief as the bed was hard and we were fully rested. We joined a guide, 2 others and Anne from the group on a bird watching tour. We walked around the 17 acre property and saw:

· Drangoes (or drongoes?)

· Shrikes

· A pair of malibar horn bills

· A crested eagle hawk

· 2 owlets

· Tracks of a mongoose

· Evidence of a slothbear breaking down a termite nest

· And elephant poo

We also saw painted cattle for the first time. Back to the retreat for a hearty breakfast. We settled our bills and the various tips and got back into the minibus headed toward Mysore. We followed the same rounds as we dead for the safari the previous bight, narrow with steep drop away edges. We passed through 3 national parks and spotted langurs, wild boar, macaques, spotted deer and unfortunately no elephants. The parks were quite clean and clearly actively managed. A buffer zone of at least 50m was created between the road and the low vegetation around. We saw a family of langurs literally hanging around the tress, watching the passing parade of cars. One group of tourists were cycling through the park! The plains became more fertile as we approached Mysore. One the outskirts we drove up a mountain to see the Chamundeshwari temple right on the top. Dry landscape dotted with gum tress. Pilgrims dressed in black swarmed over the temple site. Catherine and I were each shooting off.

Down towards Mysore on the other side of the mountain we had a good overview of historical Mysore. We stopped to see a huge bull statue – the vehicle of Shiva. Young boys were dressed as characters from the great Hindu books. There was the monkey king, with a painted face and large lips. Local fruit stalls are plentiful, it’s a pity we cat enjoy them.

Towards the bottom of the hill we went past cattle that had been dyed yellow with turmeric, as part of a festival. These subsequently appear all over Mysore. Mysore seemed clean and quite regal, perhaps a university town. We drive past the palace and some upmarket department stores. We got to our hotel at about 1530, so Catherine and I grabbed what we could for lunch. We ended up sharing a thick dip like puree of spinach and lentils, topped with melted cheese.

Elise told us, through facebook, that she was looking for an apartment in Udaipur for the girls to share. Anne (who teaches at a Steiner school), wanted to buy cheap saris for all 15 girls in her class. Catherine, Kathleen, Vicki, Roger and I joined her. It was at a government store, so the price was fixed. But none the less there were hundreds of options to sort through. 15 beautiful saris were purchased for the girls, as well as one for Anne to make a dress for her son’s wedding in Mexico next year. When we finished it was after dark. There was some difficulty in connecting with the other half of the group who had been to the markets. Several loops of Mysore CBD, and frantic phone calls before we connected again.

Well and truly dark by this time, so we were able to visit the palace which was lit up spectacularly as part of the festival. We wandered through and captured what we could using our fantastic Leica. The group then went to a beer garden restaurant with many tourists and a standard indian ensemble playing. I was struck the incredible diversity of western styles on show, with a couple of punks sitting just near us.

I was feeling a bit tentative about food, so I had a mushroom machali. I also tried another form of bread called kalcha, which was completely dry. I discussed with DJ the differences between chapartis, roti, naen and kalcha. This amount of curry and bread worked well. Catherine had a mocktail of mango, as well as her first butter chicken of the trip. The group was completely exhausted by 2130, so we headed home. DJ, our guide, told me about his experiences as a guide and how on occasion, tour companies black ban difficult clients.

16 Jan

I fronted for an ordinary breakfast of bread, jam and pawpaw. We were to visit a temple outside Mysore during the morning: Kesheva temple at Somnathapur. There was a local guide in our minibus by the time we all gathered.

The temple was about 50 minutes out of town through wonderfully lush farm land. We saw rive, vegetables sugar cane. The cattle are decorated with different colours here, with streamers and glitter coming off their horns In the Mysore paper that morning, I saw photographs of cattle and people jumping through fire – all coloured with turmeric. This was all part of the festival. The temple itself had features like AngorWat. It was a monument to Vishnu. The guide was excellent telling us about the interpretations of the images and icons.

· Brahma

· Sawadee

· Vishnu

· Lakshmi

· Shiva

· Parvarti

The guide showed us some of the features that are mnemonic. Three showing faces of Brahma plus a beard, Havati has a book and an instrument, gods can have as many as 36 arms: mortals only 2. Some exquisite carvings of daily life and the great battles of the religious texts. Many of the small statues have been distributed around the world. Beautiful tress in the actively renovated garden. I particularly noticed the rain tree (Albizia).

We then went back to Mysore and directly to the palace. We embarked on a palace tour with a guide, who really put on a pantomime. There was a spectacular hall for royal weddings. Paintings dating to the early 1900’s, where eyes seamed to follow you no matter where you stood. The palace was packed with Indians, around this festival day. Spectacular statues of jaguars guarded the palace. The whole thing was paid for by taxes from peasants and rajas. The tiles came from England, stained glass from Glasgow. After the tour I was able to return to the plaza area we had photographed the night before. Lunch was again at a small public eatery, where 35 RPS (about 75c), bought roti and several masalas. I got back to the hotel on the back of a small motor bike with the palace guide. Held on tight! I blogged in the room until we left for dinner at the house of a Muslim family near the station. A simple 3 room attached house. The table for 13 swapped it. The father was a friendly ‘Tevier’ type of character. Long suffering wife was definitely happy to have both daughters married and 3 grand children. One of the daughters had moved home: the custom is for the daughter to move from her husband’s family home back to her parents 3 months before the birth of a child and stays for 3 months after the birth. House had simple décor and heated floor – perhaps not intentional.

They served a lovely bhiriani of chicken and nuts. Wonderful for delicate stomachs, not too much ghee.Also an eggplant sambal and cucumber raita. Talk was free and our host was very engaging. Desert was golabjaman and custard. Entertainment was a copy of the wedding album. Bride and groom not smiling.High gloss paper.Only 450 guests. One grandchild ‘helped’ Andrea read through the book several times. The other daughter’s wedding had 4,500 guests as the husband was a ‘big’ business man. We then left for the station.
DJ told us that he is always stressed when getting onto night trains. Criminals target tourists who are dealing with all the chaos, and obviously tour groups get caught up in it. We gathered just beside our tour bus and covered each other’s backs. The train we were after was on the first platform and the carriage not too far away. Of course the carriages were dirty and not very inviting. Nonetheless the insides are clear enough. We were sharing our compartment with four of the other travellers. We got Catherine onto the top bunk and she immediately went to sleep. Gradually the other five found their respective bunks. Big backpacks were secured under the bottom bunk and there was not much extra space. The train started on time and lights-out was at about 2230.

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Photos

Saree shopping
The purchase of 15 sarees for a school costume box