Bangalore and Mysore

---

AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE IS NO PICTURE OF THE DOORMAN. THIS HAPPENS WHEN YOU TYPE IN THE WRONG PICTURE NUMBER AND, ONCE THIS IS DONE, my BLOG WILL NOT ALLOW CHANGES. WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A CERAMIC SCULPTURE THAT WAS IN ONE OF THE PALACES IN BANGALORE. l LAUGHED WHEN I SAW IT. IT IS OF A TIGER ATTACKING A RAJ SOLDIER. PROBABLY DIDN'T 'AMUSE' THE LOCAL BRITSH RULERS MUCH.

First, something that Jeff pointed out to me. I always show where I am writing from instead of where I am writing about. So, this means that right now I am in a town called Kollam, which is part of the Backwaters in Kerala. However, what I'll be writing about is my experiences in Banaglore and Mysore...which took place a few weeks back.

I only went to Bangalore to get from Hampi to Kerala. As I have said before, I am trying to avoid the big cities unless there is something special I want to see there. I was there for two days and three nights. Day one I took an all day tour to Mysore. On day two I took a half day trip around Bangalore.

Briefly, my impressions of Bangalore. It is a booming city. The center of the hi-tech explosion in India. My search for a new camera took me to the very heart of the chic part of the city on MG Road (aside: there is an MG road in every town of any size and all cities...Mahatma Ghandi (MG). There were stores with all the upscale western names. Beneton, Docker, all the shoe names, etc. Plus there were oodles of upscale restaurants and bars...oops, lounges (the LP says that in Bangalore the 'in' crowd doesn't bar hop, it 'lounges'). There was even a Ruby Tuesdays. This is what I remember and I was only wandering around for about 30 minutes, trying to find the camera shop the LP recommended. Found it and bought a new camera...about the same price we would spend for it in the US. Since I was only interested in buying a camera I cannot tell you more about the place, except it was hopping with lots of name brand shops.

The day I took the tour of Bangalore (day 2), what I most remember is that it was a city of more parks and trees than an ordinary Indian city and it did look like it was more prosperous and modern. I don't remember seeing anything more that was that reportable. One interesting thing I learned. As you know, lots of our call-in centers for techie problems with our internet, computers, etc., goes to call stations outside of the US and Bangalore is one of the largest places that handles these calls worldwide. I was told that there is a new verb in the west for people who have been layed off because the job has been shipped over to Bangalore. It's 'he's been bangalored'. The Indians are think this is quite funny. I'm not sure how the people in the west who use the term are quite so happy about the whole thing.

One little ironic tale. When I was down in the MG road area my first night, I ran into a KFC. Well, I thought that would be a nice break, a little American fast food. So, in I went. I had fried chicken, fries and a diet pepsi. The next morning we were leaving for the Mysore trip. I was at the tourist pick up place and fortunately we were leaving about an hour late. Fortunate, because, about a half hour before we left, I suddenly (and I do mean suddenly) felt sick, sick, sick. I made a dash for the bathroom, which, thank goodness, I knew where they were. I didn't quite make it to the toilet before I was throwing up like mad. Fortunately, most Indian toilets are individual (Water Closets (WCs) in British English) and, since they have problems with flushing, there is almost always a faucet and buckets that you can use to 'flush' the toilet. And the floors kind of slant so that all water goes down the toilets. This made it possible for me to thoroughly clean up my mess. The ironic part? The only thing that could have given me that food poisoning was KFC! If you can't trust KFC, who can you trust? This is the main reason that I almost always go to restaurants that the LP recommends. They have been vetted by LP and know they will lose this very important recommendation if travelers write in to report problems. But, an American fast food chain that has probably got all sorts of rules to follow to be in accordance with their franchise license, who would have worried!

I was pretty shakey afterwards and spent a few minutes deciding whether to cancel the tour and go back to my hotel...which wasn't all that great. I figured that what was inside was long gone and so decided to go ahead. Glad I did. Mysore turned out to be worth it. I saw the most amazingly beautiful place I have seen in India. Yeah, of course, the Taj is the best, but I have seen pictures of it all my life so it was expected. The maharaja's palace in Mysore came as a huge surprise. I am not going to send pictures of it because the outside, while beautiful, is enough like every other palace in India (or anywhere - except possibly Thailand's gorgeous palace). You can google it if you want; but, it was the inside that was truly maginificient. And, of course, we couldn't take pictures inside. I checked out the local postcards, hoping I could 'cheat' again and send you photos of one of those. Unfortunately, the postcard makers weren't even allowed to take photos inside.

It was designed in coordination with a western architect, but looked very Indian. Try to imagine an atrium center in the main entrance about 3 stories high that is domed colored glass with pictures of flowers, geometrical figures, birds, etc. etched into the the individual pieces of glass that fit all together. Then, there were rooms (and almost every door) made entirely of shining dark wood - maybe rosewood, I'm not sure. The wood was all carved and divided by large rounded strips of the same wood, so that the whole became walls and ceilings of square individual carved works of art. And, in one of the main long halls there were paintings of all the past maharajas of Mysore. Instead of being framed, they had used these same wood techniques to cover the wall and around the pictures there were intricate carvings that made it look like each one was in its own frame. The final special thing that I noted was the floors, which were done in beautiful tiles. Many individual and each still lovely, even with the tourist traffic every day.

It could probably be argued by some that this whole thing was a bit over the top. To me it could have been, but definitely was not. They put so many beautiful features into it and still managed to stay short of gaudiness. If you ever get to Mysore or even this part of India, do not miss this palace. I did google it and you can too (search Mysore palace India). But, I could only find a picture of the outside. There is one of it lit up at night, which is beautiful, though.

We did quite a few other stops on the tour, saw a giant demon, more Dravidian temples, the gardenes my police in the picture were guarding that light up at night with hundreds of differnt water fountains that present a sort of 'light and magic' type show, even a huge ebony stone bull, all interesting but not to someone who is reading this blog. Mysore is a nice city though. Even more so than the Bangalore I saw, there are lots of parks and green and flowers and worth a day or two if you get this way. So far the cities in South India are more appealing than those in the North. Plus, there are almost no beggers. That must be a sign of prosperity arriving.

I do have to share a couple of things. First of all in this part of India they decorate there oxen's horns. I have seen them painted red, painted red/white/blue in swirls up the horns, covered with what looks like tinfoil. Saw one with brass conical shaped ornaments that had some sort of little bauble at the top which were fitted onto the tips of their horns. Even saw one with pompoms. I can't tell you whether this is every day 'apparel' or there was some sort of festival I didn't know about. Speaking of animals, on the ways to Mysore there were some black and white cows in a field. Except that one had had his/her white part painted yellow. I kid you not. Snapped a picture of it, but the contrast isn't so startling in the picure. Otherwise I would have definitely shared it with you all.

Segueing into another animal story. The road between Bangalore is a four lane divided highway (2 each way). Very modern. Yet, more than once, traveling down the highway were oxen teams pulling huge carts right along with the buses, trucks, autos and motorcycles. India may be modernizing but at this stage it is definitely the old mixed in with the modern.

My other 'road' story is about streets in the heart of Banglore. I was in an auto rickshaw on a four-lane one way street in downtown Bangalore during rush hour (coming home from my 'fine' KFC meal) . At one point we were stopped at ared light and I counted. In those four lanes, side by side, were three buses, 4 cars, 5 auto rickshaws, 4 motorcycles and a truck.. That's right, 16 vehicles...and folks, that is Indian traffic. What you can never figure out is how it all works. I have seen motorcycles and auto rickshaws weave in and out of spaces that a skinny kid couldn't wedge himself into. Then, there is the thrilling experience of zooming down side streets on an auto rickshaw. These usualy consist of constant honking and weaving in and out of people (cows, other vehicles, etc) walking along. Most people (and cows) don't more more than an inch if they are honked at. I have come to the conclusion that the reason for honking in the city is to warn people that you are coming so that they don't do something stupid - like move more than an inch. If they should, they will be come a big splatter on the road. On the same topic, another thing I have never mentioned about honking in this country - almost all trucks have painted on the back of them, 'please honk', 'honk' or something similar. Honking is the clue that someone is passing you so that: 1. you don't start to pull out and pass someone in front of you, or 2. you slow down if there are vehicles coming in the opposite direction and the passer needs room to get in in front of you. Passing slower vehicles is absolutely an ongoing process on the roads of India. I try never to be too near the front of buses so that I don't have to watch the narrow escapes we have continuously from head-on collisions. But, as I said before, somehow everyone does what they have to do to make it work. The car being passed slows down, the oncoming traffic slows down or gets over on the shoulder. And, most times, we all arrive alive.

Well, folks. As I said in the beginning, Bangalore was a transfer point to Kerala and a place to buy a new camera. So, I'll catch you up on the beautiful state of Kerala soon. Bye for now.

---

Photos

Young Indian lass
I took this picture of a 14 year old girl who was sitting beside me on the Mysore tour. Isn't she lovely

Policemen in Mysore
This was taken by the huge dam lake by Brindauran Gardens in Mysore.

Hotel Doorman in Bangalore
I have seen some splendid doorman on this trip and just thought I'd share. Oh, and by the way, this is not my hotel. The places I stay definitely do not have doorman. You're lucky if there is a lad around to help you carry your luggage up 4/5 flights of stairs. Which of course, indicates that, where I stay, there are very very rarely even elevators!