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.
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