Universal conspiracy

Jaganmohan Palace, Mysore

I love water. River, sea, lake or even a bathtub. Even though my native town is in malnad (male - hills , nadu - land), visiting a river was an exciting event in my childhood.

And this passion did not diminish during youth. During our stay in Muscat, frequent visits to beaches there, were always exciting. May be I used to be more thrilled than our son.

Now staying in land locked Bangalore, only water bodies to be seen are kocche mori halla (storm water drains), which are in abundance and more often than not, open and stinky.

So a visit to Brindavan Gardens Mysore last week end, should have made me jump up and down - all 60 kgs of me - if at all possible. No, but that did not happen. Luckily for our floor!!

No, if you think finally my mind is mature - at the ripe age of 48, you are so wrong. I am still child at heart. (childish as others put it) - dil to bachcha hai jee.


The reason behind non-excitement was  my tired feet and aching body. Dil to bachcha hai, par body boodha ho gaya hai. Visit to the palace and Jaganmohan art gallery in the morning and serving 20 plus people on the previous day's puja at home, had drained all my energy.

If someone would have told me that I will sit on a stone bench , in a place where colorful fountains are visible all around, I would have strongly denied it. So I hate the quote of Coelho that when you want something very badly, entire universe conspires to make it happen.

Or may be universe does not want me to be happy. :(

But I was happy, seeing Raja Ravi Verma's paintings in the art gallery. As my mother put it, the greatest of cameras can not capture the picture as do his portraits. Mesmerizing!!!  Make sure you visit Jaganmohan art gallery when you are in Mysore.

Visit to the golden temple in Bylukuppe near Kushalnagar next was a comparatively lame affair. Not only because, it was my husband's idea. :) . Call me chauvinist, but I do not find bhakti (devotion??), when I look at these statues - nor the marble statues of northern India. As another chauvinist friend of mine had put it, may be because south ke log kale hote hain na, isi liye unke gods be kale hote hain. So we want our gods to be in black stone. We are used to seeing such gods in our temples.

One old lady made a piligimage to Varanasi. So she would beam and say I am going to Kashi. On the way back, to those who asked where she went, she would reply sudugadige hogidde - I had been to graveyard!!! I was dreaming about my kitchen sink filled with dirty vessels, during return journey.

Brindavan Gardens : Img courtesy: flickr

Mysore Palace

Palace Hall: Image courtesy www.indialine.com

I  realized I am doing injustice to the label Mysore if I do not mention some points about the city. Some 150 kms from Bangalore, it is a different world all together. The palaces take you to another era altogether from where you do not want to return. Brindavan gardens is flooded with fountains and unfortunately also with tourists, may be because it was a weekend. Bangalore's Lalbagh and Cubbon park come no where near to its standard, not withstanding the annual flower show. If you go to zoological gardens, you want to stay there. No I am joking. And it is a bliss  to not be stranded every hundred meters in a traffic jam - but in this front, the city is fast catching up. People are polite and know kannada - unlike namma Bengaluru jana. To summarize, if you are a Bangalorean, the trip can wait. Mysore is not going anywhere, nor are you. But if you are a tourist to Bangalore, do not leave without visiting Mysore.