Our last planned adventure, at least for Sarah and I, was a planned trip to Mysore. Fred had another week or so on the sub-continent. The plan was to get up early and with the four of us (Praful, Sarah, Fred and I) head out to Mysore in Praful's car. We planned to get up early to try to avoid some of the traffic. I think by the time we go away at 8am, the roads were already clogging up. The road out to Mysore is 125km but in the end it took 5 hours with a breakfast stop. If there wasn't a huge traffic jam, there were speed humps or other obstacles slowing us down. It was tiring for the driver and also us in the car. Luckily his new little Ford had temperature controlled airconditioning and was as comfortable as we would get in any other form of transport.
Mysore is just as mad as all other Indian cities. It was teaming with tourists, who like us, converged on the Mysore Palace a substantial building built at the turn of the century. It wasn't very old but had the grandeur of yesteryear. We made our way into the compound and into the building. We had to bribe the police to bring in our cameras - an unfortunate and unavoidable practice that made them presumably very rich and undermined their credibility along the way. Notably Indians paid 50 rupees while Tourists paid 250 rupees entry. All a bit of a farce. However it was worth it in the end. The Palace was impeccably decorated inside with very british style paintings and wall features. The frescos were of the colonial presence during that period of british occupation in India. Actually nowhere else had we been reminded so of that european occupation as in the palace. After finding our way out again we noticed in the distance elephants lying under a tree at the bottom of the palace gardens. We went down to check it out. The elephant keepers were sitting in the shade playing chess or some other board game. Our presence got their immediate attention. Praful spoke to them in the native tongue and was able to organise that we get a ride. I'd never touched an elephant's hide let alone get on one! Sarah and I climbed aboard first and got a short walk. Noticable is obviously the size of these animals but more so their deliberate movements. It was as though the elephant was thinking "oh no - more tourists". Under the strict control of the keeper, the elephant did what she was told. Surfing up on the thick hide was a cool experience. It was shame our ride was so short and we really didn't get a chance to find the rhythm of elephant riding. It would be cool to safari on one, one day! Fred and Praful also had a turn. It got awkward at the end when we suggested we pay them. Praful whispered to me, that we pay 20 rupees for all of us. These guys wanted 100 each person. So the haggling started. Praful offered 50 for all of us but still no budging. Knowing they were just resting and not working, it was free money! Soon the police came by. I wasn't sure what to do so walked off. Praful had been chatting to them again in the local language. He brokered a deal where we paid 100 rupees for everything. Bargain because later we saw the rides were about 500 rupees each! As we were walking away we noticed that the policeman took 50 rupees from the elephant keeper. So our small contribution to the elephants was half thanks to the law!
We hit the road back to Bangalore as we had booked a restaurant for dinner. Our eagerness to get home after a very hot day in Mysore was futile. The stopping and starting of the traffic made for a very tiring journey. We were all pretty stroppy when we got home. I don't think we even showered before heading straight to dinner! We went to a fancy restaurant in Forum. The restaurant was modelled on the old imperial carriages of the british era. While the ambiance was nice, to be honest we had become accustomed to a more down-to-earth india so eating silver service and eating with cutlery and crockery was novel indeed! Avinash and Vani joined us in the end. We hadn't actually spent too much time with them over the past weeks because they were so understandly tied up with the marriage preparations. Their day, while we were in Mysore, invovled a slow wake up, moving all of Vani's things to Avinash's house and for Vani's parents basically to hand over their daughter to Avinash's family. Their week(s) leading up to this certainly looked to have taken its toll. Both looked very tired, even if happy. They didn't stay long as after they had a supper at home with the family. We appreciated their time.
Sadly it was our last evening in India. The two weeks had gone so quickly. We saw so much and experienced what felt like another world. I really wasn't all that keen to head home. After a few weeks you start to become accustomed to the ways of the land, the people, the food, the attitudes, the expanse and beauty of such a country.
A 1am taxi, a short ride to the airport, 10 hours flying time with a short stop in Dubai and we had arrived in Hamburg. I then shot off to Berlin after a short stop at Sarah's house. Late that evening, after two days straight of pretty much no sleep I was 'home'. The adventure was over, physically, but not mentally.
Mysore is just as mad as all other Indian cities. It was teaming with tourists, who like us, converged on the Mysore Palace a substantial building built at the turn of the century. It wasn't very old but had the grandeur of yesteryear. We made our way into the compound and into the building. We had to bribe the police to bring in our cameras - an unfortunate and unavoidable practice that made them presumably very rich and undermined their credibility along the way. Notably Indians paid 50 rupees while Tourists paid 250 rupees entry. All a bit of a farce. However it was worth it in the end. The Palace was impeccably decorated inside with very british style paintings and wall features. The frescos were of the colonial presence during that period of british occupation in India. Actually nowhere else had we been reminded so of that european occupation as in the palace. After finding our way out again we noticed in the distance elephants lying under a tree at the bottom of the palace gardens. We went down to check it out. The elephant keepers were sitting in the shade playing chess or some other board game. Our presence got their immediate attention. Praful spoke to them in the native tongue and was able to organise that we get a ride. I'd never touched an elephant's hide let alone get on one! Sarah and I climbed aboard first and got a short walk. Noticable is obviously the size of these animals but more so their deliberate movements. It was as though the elephant was thinking "oh no - more tourists". Under the strict control of the keeper, the elephant did what she was told. Surfing up on the thick hide was a cool experience. It was shame our ride was so short and we really didn't get a chance to find the rhythm of elephant riding. It would be cool to safari on one, one day! Fred and Praful also had a turn. It got awkward at the end when we suggested we pay them. Praful whispered to me, that we pay 20 rupees for all of us. These guys wanted 100 each person. So the haggling started. Praful offered 50 for all of us but still no budging. Knowing they were just resting and not working, it was free money! Soon the police came by. I wasn't sure what to do so walked off. Praful had been chatting to them again in the local language. He brokered a deal where we paid 100 rupees for everything. Bargain because later we saw the rides were about 500 rupees each! As we were walking away we noticed that the policeman took 50 rupees from the elephant keeper. So our small contribution to the elephants was half thanks to the law!
We hit the road back to Bangalore as we had booked a restaurant for dinner. Our eagerness to get home after a very hot day in Mysore was futile. The stopping and starting of the traffic made for a very tiring journey. We were all pretty stroppy when we got home. I don't think we even showered before heading straight to dinner! We went to a fancy restaurant in Forum. The restaurant was modelled on the old imperial carriages of the british era. While the ambiance was nice, to be honest we had become accustomed to a more down-to-earth india so eating silver service and eating with cutlery and crockery was novel indeed! Avinash and Vani joined us in the end. We hadn't actually spent too much time with them over the past weeks because they were so understandly tied up with the marriage preparations. Their day, while we were in Mysore, invovled a slow wake up, moving all of Vani's things to Avinash's house and for Vani's parents basically to hand over their daughter to Avinash's family. Their week(s) leading up to this certainly looked to have taken its toll. Both looked very tired, even if happy. They didn't stay long as after they had a supper at home with the family. We appreciated their time.
Sadly it was our last evening in India. The two weeks had gone so quickly. We saw so much and experienced what felt like another world. I really wasn't all that keen to head home. After a few weeks you start to become accustomed to the ways of the land, the people, the food, the attitudes, the expanse and beauty of such a country.
A 1am taxi, a short ride to the airport, 10 hours flying time with a short stop in Dubai and we had arrived in Hamburg. I then shot off to Berlin after a short stop at Sarah's house. Late that evening, after two days straight of pretty much no sleep I was 'home'. The adventure was over, physically, but not mentally.
No comments:
Post a Comment