Mysore – 9th July
It was the second week-end in a row that I was travelling. This time I went together with Rebecca, Carolin, Reinier, Ricardo and Viola to Mysore, a small town with about 500.000 inhabitants, located approximately 180 km away from Bangalore. Early in the morning, at 6a.m. we woke up and at 6.30a.m. we took a rickshaw to the central bus station of Bangalore, called Majestic. As we arrived there we could see busses wherever we looked, incredible. It must have been about 500 busses, I bet. Travelling by bus was easier than assumed. You only have to choose one of these busses, sit in and wait till someone asks you for money. In India exist several bus companies. The busses of the state are in the worst shape. For a trip to Mysore you would only pay about 56 Rupees (1 Euro). We decided to take a more comfortable bus of one of the private bus companies.
The bus driver was crying “Mysore”, “Mysore”, “Mysore” all the time so that we couldn't refuse his offer. For the trip to Mysore we then paid the enormous amount of 110 Rupees. The bus was very well furnished. There was even a TV on board, but it wasn’t working. But we didn’t care about that, coz we wanted to sleep and as for Ricardo and Viola, they managed to sleep, but not the others and me except for some minutes perhaps. After a journey of 3,5 hours we arrived in Mysore. And at the first view, I immediately saw, that Mysore is a really beautiful city. Moreover, it is an architectural vaudeville of fine buildings and monuments. Once we took off the bus we were surrounded by some citizens. At the beginning I didn’t know what they wanted.
Are they only friendly or do they want to sell something, that’s always the question. Indians always introduce themselves and then ask for your name and offer you a friendship and that after 2 minutes, ridiculous, isn’t it. We wanted to go the Devaraja Fruit & Vegetable Market first. So at least 2 guides showed us how to go there and even accompanied us. The Market was really very interesting. Fruits wherever you looked and a lot of other different things. If we had arrived in the early morning we could have seen the trucks delivering all the fruits. It must have been a dozen of trucks. At the market I bought 10 little bananas. I have never seen such little bananas before, they aren’t available in Germany I think. In fact, they were really tasty. One of the guides then showed us a shop, where incentives are made. Well, and now the question is answered. His task was to show us this little shop. And in case we buy something, he would get a provision, for sure. An old woman demonstrated how to make incentives. In one working day, the shop owner explained, the women make about 6.000 incentives, what is really a huge number. After that we went to the Chamundi Hills,
where we paid a visit to the Sri Chamundeswari Temple. It is a nice temple, but nothing more. We went there by bus and paid 6 Rupees. As we arrived at the summit, there was already waiting a huge crowd of Indians for the bus. As soon as they have seen the bus arriving the conquered the bus. I thought, I was dreaming, but it was like a stampede. You couldn`t leave the bus, unimaginable. After a while, I had enough of this stupid game and started to offend them. But they didn’t care. Everything what counted for them is to get a seat and that’s it. But why I am to complain, that’s Indian culture. They are used to crowded buses and so they edged their ways through. The Sri Chamundeswari Temple was nothing special. We went inside, but before could enter, we had to take off our shoes again. Actually, it has already become a habit to me. But this time I found it a little bit disgusting, coz there were cows, muttons as well as some little monkeys around and you could see them urinating in the streets. But, so what, when you are in India, things like that shouldn’t disturb you. In the temple I put a red point on my forehead again. For, it is something special and I like it. It gives you the feeling to be adapted to Indian culture. For the way down to Mysore we decided to descend on foot, also in order to see the 5m-high Nandi, a bull made of stone. In fact it was probably the best decision, especially in face of what we were experiencing when we arrived on the Chamundi Hills.
The Nandi was adorned with flowers and actually, it was very nice. While we were having a break around the bull, some little monkeys came and requested for some food, coz they have seen my little bananas, which I bought at the market. One of the monkeys came very close. Ricardo then took the bananas, held them in the air and the monkey jumped in the air, seized them and then went away for lunch – great!
Once we arrived in Mysore again, this fucking bargaining with the rickshaw drivers started at once. They always try to cheat us. Usually, you don’t pay more than 30 Rupees to Mysore center but they wanted 130 Rupees! Probably, they thought that don’t know the prices, but we did J. So finally, we drove to Mysore center for 50 Rupees, but with 4 persons in one rickshaw, so it was ok. Im Mysore then, before we went to the Maharaja’s Temple we paid a visit to St. Philomena´s Cathedral, which is a Roman Catholic Church. In India you don’t find so many Christians. Most of the Indians are Hindis of course, followed by the Moslems. Then the highland of the day was approaching, seeing the brightly lighted Temple of Mysore.
On our way to the Palace some kids wanted to sell me a piece of fabric. I said them that I am not interested in buying such useless stuff but they didn’t stop offering it to me and calling “10 Rupees”. Then I had a really good idea. I seized in my pocket and then raised a piece of toilet paper in the air and called loudly “20 Rupees”. The kids started to laugh and after a short while, I got rid of them. So keep this trick in mind when you are in India the next time ;-).
What we were seeing when we arrived at the Maharaja’s Temple then is, believe me, impossible to express in words. As far as I can remember, I have never seen something beautiful like that. The Maharaja Palace was completely lighted by more then 5.000 lights fixed at the Palace. I had the feeling to be in fairy tale. The only thing what was missing, were a prince and a princess.
But the next time when I go there, I will arrange a prince and a princess. After about half an hour we went back to the bus station. On the way to the bus station, an Indian asked me for a pen. First, I didn’t understand for what reason he wants to have a pen. But ok, I had still such a cheap commercial pen from the city of Giessen in my bag and so I gave it to him. You can’t imagine how he was beaming. Maybe, now he can boast off with it and pretend that he has already been to Germany, I don’t know. Fortunately we found a bus to Bangalore immediately. We paid again 110 Rupees and arrived at Majestic at 11p.m., so that we even made the World Cup final.
The bus driver was crying “Mysore”, “Mysore”, “Mysore” all the time so that we couldn't refuse his offer. For the trip to Mysore we then paid the enormous amount of 110 Rupees. The bus was very well furnished. There was even a TV on board, but it wasn’t working. But we didn’t care about that, coz we wanted to sleep and as for Ricardo and Viola, they managed to sleep, but not the others and me except for some minutes perhaps. After a journey of 3,5 hours we arrived in Mysore. And at the first view, I immediately saw, that Mysore is a really beautiful city. Moreover, it is an architectural vaudeville of fine buildings and monuments. Once we took off the bus we were surrounded by some citizens. At the beginning I didn’t know what they wanted.
Are they only friendly or do they want to sell something, that’s always the question. Indians always introduce themselves and then ask for your name and offer you a friendship and that after 2 minutes, ridiculous, isn’t it. We wanted to go the Devaraja Fruit & Vegetable Market first. So at least 2 guides showed us how to go there and even accompanied us. The Market was really very interesting. Fruits wherever you looked and a lot of other different things. If we had arrived in the early morning we could have seen the trucks delivering all the fruits. It must have been a dozen of trucks. At the market I bought 10 little bananas. I have never seen such little bananas before, they aren’t available in Germany I think. In fact, they were really tasty. One of the guides then showed us a shop, where incentives are made. Well, and now the question is answered. His task was to show us this little shop. And in case we buy something, he would get a provision, for sure. An old woman demonstrated how to make incentives. In one working day, the shop owner explained, the women make about 6.000 incentives, what is really a huge number. After that we went to the Chamundi Hills,
where we paid a visit to the Sri Chamundeswari Temple. It is a nice temple, but nothing more. We went there by bus and paid 6 Rupees. As we arrived at the summit, there was already waiting a huge crowd of Indians for the bus. As soon as they have seen the bus arriving the conquered the bus. I thought, I was dreaming, but it was like a stampede. You couldn`t leave the bus, unimaginable. After a while, I had enough of this stupid game and started to offend them. But they didn’t care. Everything what counted for them is to get a seat and that’s it. But why I am to complain, that’s Indian culture. They are used to crowded buses and so they edged their ways through. The Sri Chamundeswari Temple was nothing special. We went inside, but before could enter, we had to take off our shoes again. Actually, it has already become a habit to me. But this time I found it a little bit disgusting, coz there were cows, muttons as well as some little monkeys around and you could see them urinating in the streets. But, so what, when you are in India, things like that shouldn’t disturb you. In the temple I put a red point on my forehead again. For, it is something special and I like it. It gives you the feeling to be adapted to Indian culture. For the way down to Mysore we decided to descend on foot, also in order to see the 5m-high Nandi, a bull made of stone. In fact it was probably the best decision, especially in face of what we were experiencing when we arrived on the Chamundi Hills.
The Nandi was adorned with flowers and actually, it was very nice. While we were having a break around the bull, some little monkeys came and requested for some food, coz they have seen my little bananas, which I bought at the market. One of the monkeys came very close. Ricardo then took the bananas, held them in the air and the monkey jumped in the air, seized them and then went away for lunch – great!Once we arrived in Mysore again, this fucking bargaining with the rickshaw drivers started at once. They always try to cheat us. Usually, you don’t pay more than 30 Rupees to Mysore center but they wanted 130 Rupees! Probably, they thought that don’t know the prices, but we did J. So finally, we drove to Mysore center for 50 Rupees, but with 4 persons in one rickshaw, so it was ok. Im Mysore then, before we went to the Maharaja’s Temple we paid a visit to St. Philomena´s Cathedral, which is a Roman Catholic Church. In India you don’t find so many Christians. Most of the Indians are Hindis of course, followed by the Moslems. Then the highland of the day was approaching, seeing the brightly lighted Temple of Mysore.
On our way to the Palace some kids wanted to sell me a piece of fabric. I said them that I am not interested in buying such useless stuff but they didn’t stop offering it to me and calling “10 Rupees”. Then I had a really good idea. I seized in my pocket and then raised a piece of toilet paper in the air and called loudly “20 Rupees”. The kids started to laugh and after a short while, I got rid of them. So keep this trick in mind when you are in India the next time ;-).
What we were seeing when we arrived at the Maharaja’s Temple then is, believe me, impossible to express in words. As far as I can remember, I have never seen something beautiful like that. The Maharaja Palace was completely lighted by more then 5.000 lights fixed at the Palace. I had the feeling to be in fairy tale. The only thing what was missing, were a prince and a princess.
But the next time when I go there, I will arrange a prince and a princess. After about half an hour we went back to the bus station. On the way to the bus station, an Indian asked me for a pen. First, I didn’t understand for what reason he wants to have a pen. But ok, I had still such a cheap commercial pen from the city of Giessen in my bag and so I gave it to him. You can’t imagine how he was beaming. Maybe, now he can boast off with it and pretend that he has already been to Germany, I don’t know. Fortunately we found a bus to Bangalore immediately. We paid again 110 Rupees and arrived at Majestic at 11p.m., so that we even made the World Cup final.
posted by Thorsten at 12:56 AM
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