Trip to Mysore

Finally the day arrived, this was the day that we had planned to go on a long tour. It was not clear until the day before 9.00pm where exactly we are heading to. As usual there opinions are provided than actual planning. But I was adamant to go out anywhere, just to feel the journey which i had not experience for a long time. On 24th Jan 2009, we started at 5.30 to Halebedu and Bellur, but on the way it got changed to Sharvanabelagola, reason - that it would take a 100km to and fro and we would be late to reach the Mysore city in the evening. So, Shravanabelagola is it. Its a wonderful sight. From far what I found was a big mountain and many tiny ants trying to reach the top and some to the bottom. When we came closer, I could see a lot of people who were doing this activity. What surprised me was , I reached around 10 am and most of them there were Foreigners, old people to be exact and they were in a shear determination to reach the top, without using a couch that is lifted by some strong men who carry them on their shoulder and drop them at the top. As we go above, the scenic beauty of nature is just touching. We will never expect to see it when we climb, but life is always about meeting the unexpected. We would have taken around 25 minutes to reach the top. This is basically a Jain Pilgrimage. During the visit i did notice few Jain member performing the ritual. We had climbed 500 steps and its 3000 Feet above see level. The statue is of Gomateswara which is finally seen on the top of the hill. It seems that it was curved by using one single block of Granite, nothing is added to it and is 60 feet high. Its a marvelous work.

From there we moved on to Ranganathitu ( Bird Sanctuary ). I had visited this place 15 years back. There was major change when compared to the past now. Its worth a visit. We went boating and could see the birds from couple of feet away from us.

That day evening turned out to be horrifying. Our family and my uncles family had set to see Brindavan garden, but the Traffic jam was terrible we had to return back from the gate and the traffic police directed us to go to another road. We were blocked in that road by few native people who claimed that its their village and nobody is allowed to use the road. Luckily, we were allowed to go. Wondering, how could humans be like this, one need to help each other when in trouble, and we do not belong to their city, so they need to show sympathy than becoming hostile.

Next day we went to Chamudi hills. I was unfortunate that I could not see the Goddess after a long wait in the queue. I was grumbling when standing in the queue, may be that is the reason i was punished. I really feel guilty. I need to make it up sometime when I go back again to Chamundi. Our final destination was the Mysore Zoo. It was wonderful, but we did not have the stamina to walk around 3 km within the zoo. My son enjoyed seeing the minimal animals that we passed by. I was a fabulous trip overall.

ನಮ್ಮ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ತುಂಬ ಚೆನಾಗಿದೆ. ನಾನು ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ ಹೇಳುವುದಕೆ ಬಹಳ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆ ಪಡುತ್ಹಿನಿ . ಜೈ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ. ಜೈ ಭಾರತ.