Beach on a fullmoon!!

It must have been over four months since I last relished a full moon. And it was more than two and a half years I have wanted to go to a beach on a full moon evening. Well, these waiting had to stop some day and it did when I saw the full moon riding by my side, all way through the OMR to the Elliot's beach, The beach was well illuminated and had less crowd being a week day.

I sauntered through the sands across to the inviting beach, laying my eyes on the moon. The beach in the moon light was more beautiful than what I could imagine. The reflecting waves and the calm fluffy snow white clouds laden sky bordering the horizon are something beyond my words. I am no Wordsworth. I wonder, will ever somebody be able to describe that beautiful night convincingly with full satisfaction. If not by words, the next thing close to satisfaction will be in capturing it in the canvas. Capturing the entirety!! Something like Ravi Varma's 'the Lady in the Moonlight'. But what if you are neither Wordsworth nor Ravi Varma?? The clouds and the soft twinkling stars and felt the horizon was very near compared to one in a dark night. A white carpet with shimmering moon light had been laid to the moon before me, if only i had the power to walk on water. I am no Jesus either!!

The playful silver waves, breaking into the shore and the anklets in girls legs playing with their forbearers, beguiles you from the griefs and stress and fills with peace and divinity. A dog which was running in its pack, broke from it to play with the waves - face to face with the ocean's spray. Was it Neruda's dog?? Had it not died?? The tiny crabs running for the receding wetness of the waves too were in a very playful mood. The entire living world there seemed to be lively and playful. The tides too were on a high now. I too was getting in to the mood.

I got up reluctantly as it was getting late to get home. I got a grilled corn for a munching company to get back to the bike parked across the vast expanse of sand. When almost there, I turned back to be entreated with that beautiful sight again, The innumerous wavy imprints in the sand under the wan white moonlight and the waves in the sea looked the same. Could not tell where one ended and the other started!!

A Mysore Travelogue

I had a very enjoyable trip to Mysore recently. It is a very beautiful and clean tourist place to visit and spend a memorable holiday. So it did not get me by surprise when i found out later that it was the second cleanest city in India, next only to Chandigarh. My three day stay there were fully packed with plans and i really enjoyed every second of my stay there. Started off with a visit to Chamundeshwari temple, the evening we reached there. Fog was descending on the hill, the night was chilly and without fog-lamps during the climb, made it sort of adventurous in the murkiness outside. Everything in front seemed like pale frost wraith. We paid our tributes to the goddess and on our descend stopped by a view point from where the vast expanse of Mysore city was visible, fully lit. A lot of expectations crept in with that beautiful sight of the city that I was to explore from the next day and I could not draw rein on my excitement. All I can say is, it always exceeded my expectations in all ways.

The following day we visited the world famous Mysore palace, zoo, the Brindavan gardens and its musical fountains - which might have been among the first of its kind in the India but needs to be ameliorated. After the show, i found a lackadaisical crowd owing to the majestic fountains of the Las Vegas they have seen at least in their television sets sitting in the drawing room of this ever shrinking world of ours. One funny yet grave thing I noticed was the crowd started to disperse it began to play Jana Gana Mana. The citizens of the largest democracy are beginning to look upon their national anthem as the indicator for crowd dispersal.

The archaeological and historical city of Srirangapatanam, the Jagmohan Palace Art Gallery, and the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary were scheduled for the last day of our tour. When we were probing the many dungeons in this naturally-fortified-from-all-side city, I really lived through the history pages we studied in the lower classes. The meandering Cauvery gushing at one side of the fort was the one the English army breached to fall the mighty Mysore kingdom. For a moment I felt being in the fort built by Tipu in my home town Palakkad. The same flooded Cauvery disappointed our boating plans around the lovely and beautifully crafted bird sanctuary. The paintings of artist prince Raja Ravi Varma and the 'Glow of Hope' by S.L.Haldankar, housed separately in an aptly lit room, stood apart from the rest. And in the night, when we were strolling, the lighted Mysore Palace by its sheer magnificence allured us towards it. It was on a high note that we bid adieu to such a wonderful city.

During the entire journey, the pleasant, helpful, good natured and volunteering people of the city made our trip easy in the Kannadiga heartland. Through out the trip, the numerous auto-rickshaws and the numerous tourist vehicles plying with KL-registration boards enticed us to believe that we were home - all the time. In the restaurants too we were really surprised with the bearers asking us in Malayalam. Once after placing the orders when we were wondering among ourselves why hot-water is not served for drinking, a smiling native bearer served hot water saying "Sir, choodu vellam". This made me realize why the Mallus are embracing this warm and hospitable palace city as their second home.