Our short and sweet Mysore trip to start this year!!

 Hello,

                 Happy New year, dear friends!! Wish you all a vaccinated, corona free year filled with more health, happiness and travels! Last year taught us many lessons. One of them was to be thankful for what we have which we took for granted all along. All those years of before corona or BC, as is now known, we just plan a trip within the country or abroad, look out for best of deals and head out. During the last year, for some months, getting out of the house for that breath of fresh air looked very precious! Let us not curse the last year and write off as a forgettable one. We need to evolve as better human beings from the lessons that the mother nature taught us last year. With these thoughts, I am going to write a few words on our trip to Mysore to begin this year. 

                          I think I have completed 10 years of blogging by writing on any topic I feel about. Out of these, I have written quite a few travelogues as I enjoy travelling and every leisure travel remains close to my heart. It is of any wonder that I am also praying and hoping for better days to travel without any restrictions.  After almost a year, a trip to Mysore which is just 150 kms from Bangalore is 'closer home' and was just refreshing. Mysore needs no introduction. It is one of the cleanest cities in India and I call it  'Vienna of the South.' This is because there will be lot of horse chariots parked around the palace with the hope of attracting the tourists.  We have been there before, but it used to be shorter day trips. This time, I wanted it to be more than a day trip to get little more feel of this city. Though Mysore palace which belongs to Wodeyar dynasty is a major attraction, there are smaller palaces around which are worth visiting. Unfortunately, Jaganmohan palace which was converted to art gallery was closed due to covid restrictions. 

       The main palace looks quite impressive with four gates in four directions and a well maintained gardens. As the members of the royal family still live there, we get to see only a part of the palace. The architectural style is influenced by Hindu, Mughal, Rajput and Gothic styles. A person like me who is full of curiosity to see these palaces would have wanted to see the whole of palace , but had to be content to see just little more than corridors and those ornate durbar halls.  Usually, the palace will be lighted up in the evenings, but that was also temporarily stopped to discourage from crowding around it. We were a tad disappointed but when we took an evening stroll close to palace. The palace was still looking beautiful with those inside lightings. 

                                

    We booked a 4-star hotel and a detailed complimentary breakfast to fill our tummies for the 

whole day is what I look forward in each and every trip. After having a sumptuous breakfast, we headed out to Shri Chamarajendra zoological gardens which is otherwise known as Mysore zoo.  We were not fed with high ranking about the zoo and so we went there with low expectations almost thinking that we were wasting few hours. Of course, there were big crowds of families making us wonder whether it was safe. But the zoo turned out to be a pleasant surprise with almost all varieties of birds and animals. Though it was small compared to the size of the zoos in capital cities of Bangalore , Hyderabad, it was well-maintained. Most of these animals and birds are adopted by somebody and their names were displayed. Like anybody, giraffes attracted me most as we get to see them rarely in India. There were five giraffes and all were looking well fed and healthy. It is my opinion that anyone going to Mysore should not miss this zoo, which is one of the oldest ones in India.  a big restaurant is strategically placed near the exit of the zoo. Here are some photos of the zoo. 

 

Not the real one, but observe behind the names of people who have adopted animals!

   Those giraffes were a feast for our eyes!

It took us about nearly 4 hours to cover the zoo and we decided to extend our stay by one more night by booking a room in ITC's Fortune JP palace hotel. The quality of service in this hotel is pretty good compared to the earlier one and I recommend anyone to book there. We took some rest after coming back from the zoo and headed out to Brindaavan  gardens in the evening. This was 23 kms away from Mysore and a visit there will take whole of the evening or half of your day depending on what time you start. This one also needs no introduction as it was one of the preferred locations for many of the Indian films of yesteryears. I recommend that one should start to go there around 4 o'clock so that one can enjoy the layout of the sprawling garden by walking around before it gets dark. There is KrishnaRaja Sagar dam close to the garden which we couldn't see due to lack of time. The gardens are tastefully lighted up with coloured lights around the fountains. The sound and light show which happens from 7 to 8 in the evening draws huge crowds though it is no longer a novelty. 

 

For me, no trip is complete without walking on the roads of that place to get the feel of the city. Before heading out back, we walked on the roads of Devraj Urs marketplace just to have a glimpse of the shops there. There is one stretch of the road close to palace which has well-laid pavements and tree-lined which is a great tourist attraction. There are autowallahs and horse carts lined there waiting for tourists. These auto drivers try to pull in tourists like us to be taken to one of the numerous Cauvery Emporium shops where lots of items like Mysore silk sarees, dress materials, paintings, varieties of sandalwood statues,  sandalwood beauty products like soaps, powders, creams, perfumes, pooja items all will be kept. We were trapped into buying some items from one of these shops. Mysore is famous for lot of attractive roundabouts at almost all the junctions which are maintained quite well. Local people generally are more simple and helpful. If a place you visit leaves a lasting impression in you, cleanliness plays a huge part and Mysore has proved that quite well. The city is not polluted and there are no high rise buildings.  We were back to our routine lives with loads of pleasant memories!

St Philomina's church, one of the largest in Asia built in neo-gothic style influenced by a Church in Cologne, Germany.

                                                        Devraj Urs Market road

                                          

                                       One of those roundabouts with clock tower in the other end

                                               Clock tower and a chariot in the front!!

   Hope you will all enjoy this virtual tour.

P.S. This is not related to our trip, but the description of Mysore is not complete without referring to its rich carnatic musical heritage which dates back to centuries when I compare this place with Vienna or Austria which is the cultural capital of Europe and the birthplace of Mozart. The kings of Wodeyar dynasty have been patrons of carnatic music and dance, making Mysore a prominent cultural center of the South. One can check this link in Google to read more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicians_of_the_Kingdom_of_Mysore#:~:text=Javali%20in%20Carnatic%20music%20have,of%20the%20Haridasas%20of%20Karnataka.

Prominent among them were Muthaya Bhagawathar, violinist Mysore T Chowdayya, Shri Tiger Varadachary, Mysore Brothers, Veena Venkata Subbaiyyah, Mysore Vasudevachar,  Dr. V. Doraiswamy Iyyengar. 

                       I am sure many of our fellow Indians are unaware of this heritage of Mysore, but may be knowing more about Vienna and Salzburg. It is the question of how well we market ourselves like those Western countries do!

Thanks,

Deepa.