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Published: September 12th 2007
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Thursday through Saturday a trip to Mysore meant the first time venturing out of Bangalore for our group. Mysore was the capital of Karnataka up until 1970, when the growing metropolis of Bangalore was appointed the capital. Thus, there was a wealth of history in the form of temples, mosques and palaces to be viewed in Mysore.
The easiest and quickest way for us to travel was by train. The seats in the cars were what I believe one would call “bucket seats.” So basically there was no chance of sleeping and you get to know your neighbor a little too well. Our group all loaded up on goodies when a man walked by with bottled water, various types of Lay’s Masala (a common Indian spice) potato chips, and mango biscuits. Most of the Indian’s spent a considerable amount of time watching us, especially when the train stopped for a break and we were walking around on the platform. This is something we have gotten more used to, but the fact that I am a racial minority hasn’t quite sunk in yet as a result of always being in a large group.
Later that first day we visited the
Salwar kameez
Last week a couple employees at Visthar took all of us students shopping for clothes. Almost all of the women stopped at a shop where we picked out fabric, they took our measurements and our new salwar kameez was ready to be picked up the next day. Mysore palace, a grandiose castle completed in 1912. This is where the king still lives today, yet the position no longer means anything. The family has, however, stayed in politics and he is a Mysore representative. My two favorite features of the palace was the stained glass in the huge “marriage hall” and the combination of architectural traits. First of all, the stained glass mostly had designs of peacocks! There were also some butterflies. A more significant trait of the palace was its combination of Hindu, Islam and Christianity in the architecture. There was a large steeple on the outside (Christian), rounded arches and round several domes on the roof (Islam), and Hindu gods and goddesses laid into the various structures. All of the monarchy we learned about felt it important to unite the three major religions of the time.
That night at the urging of our group’s birthday girl and, I’m sure, to the dismay of our Indian guide Naazar, we found a Pizza Hut. Mallory and I thought we’d try and sneak a bit of India into our meal - so we ordered masala (a common Indian spice) lemonade. That was a mistake. The spices were so
Maharaja's Palace
This is the palace in Mysore. Everyone taking a tour had to check their cameras and shoes to help with the preservation of the palace. So this is the closest picture I could take. strong, and definitely did not belong in a beverage; we couldn’t take more then a couple sips. So that meal ended up being a double wammy: financially supporting the globalization of two American companies - Pizza Hut AND Pepsi. Our Norwegian found us a nightclub and so after pizza we went to our first bar in India where we all ordered Kingfishers and danced to hip hop music with the Afro-Indians.
The next day we visited a large Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu and each of us received bindis (dots placed in the middle of the forehead that represent respect for Hinduism) and we wiped them off on the way to our next destination, which was a Mosque. As soon as each of use would exit any of the tourist sites that we visited we were swarmed with beggars and men trying to sell us post cards, miniatures of Ganesh, bangles, etc. Even looking at the products will show enough encouragement for them to follow you all the way to the bus.
On Saturday we drove to an elephant reserve for a “safari,” which consisted of a group of four of us at a time riding atop an
Mosque Mosoleum
This is a Mosque that was built by King Tipu Sultan in honor of his father Hyder Ali. Both men and some of their family members are at rest here. elephant for approximately 7 minutes - which was enough for me. While waiting around for the elephants, we were all entertained by a group of mischievous monkeys. While chatting with a friend away from the group one particular monkey hopped up on the bench next to me and grabbed my purse that I had set down. The rest of my group yelled at me to grab it back, but whenever I would step nearer, he would open his mouth and hiss at me. Eventually Naazar (our chaperone/organizer from Visthar) came to my rescue and set down food to distract the monkey just before he tried to carry my purse up into a tree.
That night after several more hours of travel arriving back at Visthar felt like coming home. We are each growing more in love with our “oasis” every day.
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