Blog 043 - Travelogue : Mysore

“… Tiger Tipu.” He had a thick south Indian accent and was pointing his finger to a stone structure. People had their eyes glued to the window. I was half asleep. I had thrown up a couple of times last night and was wondering why I was taking this bumpy ride.

“Tiger Tipu” it took a while for the words to settle in. Flash back was instantaneous – the school history textbooks, patriotism and all the glorious stories. The Mysore trip was 'ON' for me!

Mysore is a beautiful place. And has a story for every tourist’s eye. There are temples for one’s seeking divine intervention, history and stories of patriotism and betrayal for the erudite, Nature for the philanthropists and shopping and all the other stuff that makes a complete holiday package.

But somehow everything seemed so phony. I fidgeted with my cell phone trying to punch numbers to call imaginary people.

Our first place of visit was ‘Tiger Tipu’s’ death place. Srirangapatna – Tipu’s capital, the place where he valiantly fought the British and the place of his martyrdom. We progressed our way through the ruins once destroyed by British and now neglected by the authorities.

Photography has been one of my latest free time activity. Mysore was full of beautiful subjects. I loved to click the various architectures’ - the temples, the church, the palace and feel the different emotions expressed by them.

Our next destination was, ‘Chamundeeswari’ temple beyond the Chamundi hills. The road that leads through the Chamundi hills is scenic and beautiful.

I got a chance to shoot my first real time portrait on the way to Chamundi.

The Mysore palace was next in line. The story of grand riches, betrayal and different styles of architecture.

Overwhelmed would be a small word to describe my state of emotion. The paintings, the carvings the wall, the gold decorations. Maan, I would love to give up everything and be a
travel guide to Mysore palace :)

Our final destination was Brindavan garden and we squeezed amongst the crowd to get a glimpse of the musical fountains.

Being overwhelmed by the architectural beauty, Brindavan gardens was a sort of anti climax. But nonetheless, Nawab & I got some beautiful pictures of water fountains.

It was 31^st December; the bus started its journey back to Bangalore. And when the world was busy saying ‘Happy 2007’ I was half a sleep. Vivek (Nawab) shook me and wished me ‘Happy 2007’ I wished him back. Wondering what being happy means.

2006 ended on a good note for me.

More pictures can be viewed at Mysore Trip photos.

Blog 023 - On Travel, People and Patience

‘One hour at a Railway Station’

I loved writing such essays during school days. Anxiety, Last good byes, Bon Voyage, Fear of a new place, Eye contact with a beautiful stranger, the train pantry cars and the list goes on and on. Perfect recipe for 10 on 10 essays.

Do I still love visiting a railway station? Well, I don’t know. At least, I did not like waiting for my train on Bangalore railway junction. Dirt, crowd and hassles far away from things written in my school essays.

Last week, I spent a lot of time traveling. Bangalore to Pune, Pune to Surat and so on. But this time I had different observations. One’s that can be ignored at once but I feel like writing a blog on it as I have nothing more exciting to do.

On Travel

I like traveling by rail. It is so different from air travel. It is fun to see unknown regions slowly give in to known places, as anxiety turns to joy. Starring out of the window till it becomes pitch dark and nothing can be seen at all. Standing by the door and letting the cold wind hit me. The sensation is awesome the numbness caused by the wind and along with it the fragrance of a new place, emotions raring to fly as swift as the wind, inspirational!

Air travel is boring, 35,000 feet above is too high to feel anything the small blocks of land below look the same. Beautiful air hostess and their phony smiles. It reminds me of beautiful things left behind and now can’t even be seen as everything appears same, small blocks of blue, brown and green.

The only good part is the cloud formations. Pure white, it reminds me of those fairy tales. Jack and the bean stalk, a whole new world waiting outside the atmosphere.

On People

Travel presents an opportunity to witness a panorama of people. Beautiful and ugly, tall and short, rich and poor, people ready to fight and people ready to tell their life story to kill those aimless moments of time. People who abide by law and people who love to abuse it.

Yes people who love to abuse it. There are instructions all over the place, ‘Don’t smoke in train’, ‘Use a dust bin don’t litter around’ Rules are for safety, for good. And yet every time they are broken and ruptured. And then you see people who complain that the country is going to the dogs!

I don’t understand people or maybe there are some hidden rules written somewhere that I have not seen till now.

On Patience

Instant coffee, ready to eat, broadband connections, it is a fast and furious world. Seconds are precious; millions are made in seconds and lost in milli-seconds.

So am I right in expecting people to wait on their seats when an announcement has been to remain seated? Am I right to get angry when someone cuts the queue whereas I have been waiting for my turn? Am I right to expect people to stop when the light is red?

And am I right to stick to my values and my beliefs and risk to lose it all?

End on an optimistic note.

As flight 6E 105 landed, Bangalore looked beautiful glittering in gold and neon lights. The curves of roads visible from a few thousand feet above full golden lights. Reminded me of Bono’s voice singing, ‘oh you look so beautiful tonight’

Plane landed. Beauty disappeared. It took me around an hour to reach till commercial street from airport on same roads that looked like glittering gold from a few thousand feet above and cost me RS 110/-. Auto rickshaw meters untouched and rules yet again abused…