Mysore - Vacation Part I

As Priya and Ashwin had two weeks of vacation from school after their quarterly exams, last week we went on a holiday. We travelled to Mysore, and then the region of Coorg both in the neighboring state of Karnataka (sl north and west of here). We travelled to Mysore on the Shatabdi Express. It's no bullet train, but it was a great ride - with lots of wonderful scenery and tasty food served along the way. In Mysore, a city of about one million which is quite historic as it was home to the Wodeyar Dynasty, they were having a big celebration - Dasara. Here is a little info on Dasara from the tourist brochure for those who are interested:

Dasara in Mysore commemorates the legend of the slaying of the buffalo demon Mahishasura by the goddess Durga. It is believed that during one of the wars between the demons and gods, the demon Mahishasura overpowered the gods. On seeing this, goddess Durga is said to have incarnated herself as the fierce Chamundeshwari, and killed Mahishasura atop the Chamundi HIll near Mysore. Ever since, the Mysore royal family has worshipped Chamundeshwari as the palace deity, and held the annual ten day festival in her honor.

As we arrived during the festival, the city was bedecked with lights every night, and there were lots of concerts, dances and other special events. There were also ten elephants who had been brought to town especially for the parade on the last day of Dasara. (I cant resist one more comment from the brochure "A specially chosen elephant adorned with golden anklets and bells carries the city's patron goddess Chamundeshwari, in a majestic 'howdah'" - not sure what a 'howdah' is,but I thought it sounded good). oops, addendum, just checked wikipedia, howdah is the name of the carriage that sits on top of the elephant.

So, while in Mysore we visited the famed palace (sorry, no interior photos allowed, but it was amazingly beautiful), toured the local market, went out for 'chat' (Indian savory snacks) visited the church of St Philomena (note Mary's traditional Indian garb) and took a trip to the locally famed 'Brindhavan Gardens', the setting of many a Bollywood song and dance scene.

While in Mysore, we stayed at the lovely and funky Green Hotel. It is the restored Palace of a Maharani, which was built in the early 1900's. Ashwin and Priya loved having the run of the common spaces in the Hotel, and the beautiful garden - some photos of the hotel and garden are the last of those you see above.