Travel Stories - Mysuru Mela

MYSURU MELA

To escape the boredom

                         Hello all. Everyone would be very energetic and excited about the holidays, but the reality is most of us would drown in the sea of boredom. It is really bad. To escape from that feeling I decided to travel. Travelling is a very good experience as we can learn about many things and we can also develop our character.

“more you travel , more you learn about the world ”

The bumpy bus ride

                         I planned to travel to Bangalore. I booked a sleeper bus to Bangalore. As I had booked the tickets at the  last moment, only the back seat was available , the one above the back wheel. So whenever the bus went in ups and downs , I was in the air for a moment. It was a long ride as the bus stopped in many places to take the loads. Most of the travels earn more by taking goods and courier packages than taking passengers. While travelling in bus, it would be hard to carry many luggages,so try to minimize your luggage. Finally I reached Bangalore in the morning and stayed in my relative's house. 

State Tourism package 

   I booked a single day  trip from Bangalore to Mysore in KSTDC , which means Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation. 

  On the day of the trip I woke up nearly at 5 am , so I wont have to miss the trip. I booked an OLA cab and after a hard navigation found the  Badami House. Outside the building , on the road there were many buses standing  with their engines on. A bus moved from that place and for a moment I thought I missed my bus. Fortunately,it wasnt my bus ,so I went into the building and they asked for the ticket. They wrote the bus number on the ticket after which i got into the bus.

Off to Mysore 

Daria Daulat

I think I missed the scenic view around while travelling to Mysore, as i woke up a bit early in the morning and as I had my headphones on,the sweet music was enough to make my eyes close . During the travel , they gave us a 500 ml AquaFina water bottle , it is the one and only thing  they gave us in that whole day.
They stopped at a hotel by the name Maddur Tiffanies at Maddur . I just had a chocolate ice-cream for my breakfast . They halted there for almost 45 minutes. Then after a few kilometers a guy named Ahmed got into the bus. He introduced himself through the microphone in the bus and told us that he would be our travel guide for the day.Only then did I come to know that we would be going to SriRangapatna first and then to Mysore.

Sriranganatha Swamy temple

In Srirangapatna we reached Daria Daulat . For all Indians the entrance fare was Rs.15 , for foreigners it was Rs.200 . I paid some extra amount for my dslr. Though photography is allowed only in the gardens and not inside the building . Yet I shot the whole place with my small Iphone 5s camera. The whole building was made of wood , and it was so artistic . the building was completely loaded with the portrait paintings of Hyder Ali's family and their weapons . We spent more time there and so the guide told us that we were behind schedule .And he also mentioned that before a month this package was actually a two day trip , but now due to the convenience of the travelers , the government integrated it into a single day package , but I personally think that this change causes more inconvenience. 
After Dauria Daulat , we were on our way to Sriranganatha Swamy temple . On the way the guide told us some facts about the temple ,which i had already read in my 10th standard history book. Then we had a quick visit to the temple as we were behinf schedule .I had a Tender coconut to cool me out from the hot Sun.
After which we were all set to Mysore.............

Silk/Sandal City

Our guide told us about the city.Mysore is not an industrial city. Mysore is very famous for its sandal wood and various types of silk. He told us that we can get more than 20 types of silk here. The very first place we went in Mysore was the  St. Philomena’s Church . It is one of the largest and also the oldest cathedral of India. That church was so huge. Inside the church there was a notice telling the visitors not to write on the wall. But the wall was covered with proposals , bad words and phone numbers more than the paint.So they are renovating the whole church.

After visiting the church , there was a Karnataka state government shop by the name Cauvery Emporium. Our guide told us that we can shop there for more than half an hour. I thought in my mind that as it was a shop run by the government , everything would be cheap and that I could fill up my bag. But what really happened was that I lost considerably more weight in my wallet. Everything there was very expensive. I had  just bought a key chain and some soaps there which costed me a fair bit. A lady from our travel troop eagerly asked for the price of a necklace , and took out her purse. The staff there quoted the price of the neclace as 15,000 INR after which the lady taken by surprise immediately said that the necklace didn't look very nice.After getting into the bus that lady said "Instead of going here we could have shopped at the road side shops , at least we are allowed to touch and photograph them". Then we had our lunch at Hotel Mayura Hoysala  . They had vegetarian and north Indian buffet. Being very South-Indian ,I missed the south Indian meals.

Amazing Palace *** 

Mysore palace

 At first I thought that Daria Daulat is the the palace of Tipu sultan , and my respect  him  gradually decreased by seeing its size ,only later i came to know that its not his palace and that his palace is at the heart of Mysore .Slippers were not allowed inside the palace , so we had to give in the counter at the entrance . Once I entered the palace I was awestruck,I was wondering about the greatness of the ruler who built such an architectural wonder.Photography was strictly prohibited inside the palace and I didn't want to risk my Iphone ,so I decided to capture the complexity in architecture and the beauty of the palace with my eyes.The place was really amazing.The interiors , paintings, possessions and everything were well maintained by the government . Actually I did not completely see the palace , I didn't go inside the residential wing as we were instructed to return in 45mins . After walking for a long distance , our next plan was to visit the Zoological garden. To be honest, I'm not so interested in watching animals inside a cage , I like to sneak in and look at them in the forest.We got into a battery car though I had the guilt of being lazy for not walking. The most favorite animal I saw in the zoo was the lion . It was so majestic  and by the time we went near the cage, the lion roared very loudly.Its roar was so loud that all of us got scared.

Chamundeshwari temple

 After spending on hour in the zoo ,  we next  moved to the  Chamundeshwari Temple .The temple was bit free of crowd but not as free as the SriRangaNatha swamy temple that we visited in the morning. To enter the temple we had to go through a big maze like path which was really annoying.Many people cut through the line and skipped that long path but as I am a god fearing guy I didn't want to cheat at the God's place.That temple was over a hill,while going downhill , the bus driver drove in high speed and from the hill we could see the whole view of Mysore city . 

Gorgeous Garden

Brindhawan garden

After the Chamundeshwari temple we were on our course to the last program of our trip , that is the Brindhavan Garden. and we were pretty earlier than out schedule. That beautiful garden is  located in the foot of a dam. so we got lovely views there. we have walk a long way from the bus parking to the entrance. On the way , at the first shop i bought a Gobi Manchurian it was so nice , when i resumed my walk , there were many fast food shops in a row having non veg . Actually i was a vegetarian by that time so i got tempted a little bit , yet i controlled it. The garden had two parts , simply they are north garden and the south garden. i missed the north garden as our guide told us only the south garden is worth seeing. we have to walk a long bridge to reach the south garden or we can go through the boat . That place was so crowded. then at evening 7pm they will start the illuminated musical fountain display. i enjoyed the whole display with my sweet corn which was really so spicy . After the 15 mins display , i rushed to the bus to get a water bottle due to that spicy sweet  corn. As one tourist lost their way , we were waiting more than half an hour in the bus. By that time i had a great chat with the kids on the bus. Then my travel day was about to end. We were returning to Bangalore. On the way we stopped at a hotel , i forgot its name , but the guide told it is a riverside hotel. When i went there i was searching all the sides for that river. I was so hungry so i ordered parotta , after a long wait they brought me chapatti , i was so confused , whether the waiter have changed my plates to some other one. and i asked him , he replied " it is your parotta sir , do you want another ?" , with a very great frustration i said "no". After that disappointing dinner , in the bus they played the Chennai express movie. i slept , when i woke up the movie ended and simultaneously we reached the Badami house , Bangalore . Then i booked a cab , with a lot of language trouble i found the cab and managed to reach my Uncle's home there. I whispered to myself 

"It was really a very long day for me"     

Note \--

         If you really want to enjoy to the full , don't stick with a planned trip . go around by yourself . as i were like in a race everywhere rushing to the bus. then wear a comfortable dress , it may change your day to the worst one.,
    

THANK YOU 

*** Sorry for a wrong information , the Mysore palace doesn't belong to Tipu Sultan , it actually belongs to Rajmata Pramoda Devi Wadiyar