Mysore

Enchanting Mysore beckoned us with it’s beautiful palaces, temples and gardens.

We had been talking about Mysore since some years and the children were looking forward to see their school textbooks come alive and the much talked about Mysore Zoo. We had meant to halt at Mysore for a day and then proceed to Bangalore. It was more than 15 years since my last visit to Mysore and for Hubby even more.

Mysore has changed. We could see construction going on everywhere and even the stately roads have not been spared. For Hubby who was driving, it was utter confusion as to where to turn so as to reach the hotel which we had booked online. There was instruction on the website but with the heavy traffic and impatient drivers there was no way we could find it. And it is for such tourists that the guides keep a look out for. We were relieved to find this guy on a motorbike who guided us to our hotel. We had decided on Ginger, Tata’s chain of smart hotels as they are called.



“The Ginger hotels are built around a unique concept that provides facilities to meet the key needs of today's traveller, at surprisingly affordable rates”

Yes, the hotel is good, though the rooms are small and it is located at a very convenient place too. Initially there was a confusion since out of the 2 rooms that we had booked, one was not free. It was sorted out after a while.

We did not want to lose much time in the hotel and hence we freshened up and joined the guide who was waiting for us. We took him in our car and proceeded to Brindavan gardens. It was a long drive and we reached quite late. The parking lot was a new sight for me and it was getting filled in time for the musical fountain. With disappointment I realized that the royal garden had lost some of its charm.



Many heroes and heroines have danced in this garden and every State has at least one movie showing the beautiful Brindavan garden. I did see some renovations going on since some of the paths were closed to the visitors. I hope these renovations will restore the beauty of this garden. I remembered the last time that I had been there with my parents and siblings and how we had enjoyed sitting on the turf. It is not the lack of funds since the parking lot was almost full and so was the garden. It is the same neglect that we found the next day when we visited the famous fort of Tipu Sultan. Why are our historical sites maintained in such a shoddy manner? We were told by the guide that people have encroached upon these sites and that the government is not doing much. And it was while waiting for the Musical fountain to start that we heard a commotion and saw an almost nude person making his entry. While the tourists were clamoring for seats and even sitting on the ground, this fellow was royally escorted and allowed to be seated on a chair very near the fountain. There was much snickering from the crowd. The fellow looked young and did not spot the usual long hair and beard of a religious person. Maybe he made a vow to come thus in front of an unsuspecting crowd?

We returned to the hotel and stopped by St. Philomena’s church which was not far from Ginger. We opted to try Ginger’s buffet that night and it was good.

The next day with much enthusiasm we looked forward to see the zoo and only then did our guide tell us that it was closed on Tuesdays. He took us instead to Srirangapattana. I guess we did not do our homework well and did not know that on Tuesday’s some of the sights are closed. Not seeing the zoo was too much of a disappointment for us. We did see, Ranganathaswamy temple,






Tipu’s fort and his summer palace - Daria Daulat.



Since the summer palace housed much paintings, writings and articles depicting Tipu’s life it did get the interest of all of us. We also visited Tipu’s mausoleum.

We had to curtail our trip and forgo Bangalore since FIL and MIL who chose not accompany us but stay at their elder son’s place at Calicut was getting fidgety and wanted to return to Tiruvella. Moreover our trips are always a concern for the seniors and they are happy only when we have reached home safely! Bangalore would have needed more than a day and yet again we postponed the trip even when it was only a few hours’ drive.

On our way back we stopped once more at Café Day at Gundalpet and had a bite.


I am told that in Bangalore these Café’s serve only coffee and pastries while in Gundalpet they had a choice of sandwiches, Biriyani and even Paratta and chicken chilly. They also had a good choice of ground coffee.

Soojipara Omelettes

I think one of the best memory that I have of Soojipara waterfalls near Wayanad are the Omelette’s that we had from a makeshift shack (thattukada) run by a Father and her daughter. After the almost 4 km trek ( to and fro) and the bath that we had in the falls we were hungry enough to eat anything on sight and we had already forgotten the heavy Kerala style lunch that we had at Wayanad a few hours earlier. The men stopped to have a hot cup of black coffee (kattankappee) and that is when the youngsters discovered that even omelettes were available. There was no stopping afterwards. The omelettes kept disappearing as soon as it appeared and all eyes were on the next one as it got cooked on the thava! We literally finished their stock of eggs and even made the girl cook us magi noodles.

She had the onions and green chillies cut the usual way and whisked 2 eggs per omelette. After spreading this on the “thava” she placed 2 slices of bread on them. This was later flipped so that the bread was toasted on one side. She finished it with a liberal shower of pepper powder which enhanced the taste and thus was born the Soojipara Omelettes. I am sure these omelettes are available in other such places but let me call them Soojipara Omelettes since that is where I first had them. They did pack up and leave after we finished and we did finish all that they had stocked! I hope their day’s business was profitable.

The omelette was indeed tasty and I could not replicate the same taste this morning. I guess the ambience was missing! Talking of ambience, the scene from the place is breath taking! One can see miles and miles of mountains and tea gardens too.

This place is yet to be developed by the Tourism Board and hence even the ticket is collected from a crude shack. (They can build nice hedges and quaint ways to sit around and enjoy nature.)






But we were told that a big plot has already been bought nearby by some private players to construct a hotel and if this continues then gone will be the aura of this place.

When we started the trip it was raining but none of us wanted to turn back and that is when we discovered that a family run small shop had a stock of everything needed for such moments.



We ended up buying plastic wraps, slippers, a few towels and the lady even wrapped some salt for us to ward of the leeches. Talking of the leeches. .it is a long time since I had a visit from them. This tiny but smart pest is common in the high ranges and one may never know one is lodging it until the fellow finishes sucking blood, bloats up and falls off, fully fed. This is when it starts itching and you find that you are bleeding. For the first timers a leech can be a horrific experience but not for me who will not let a tiny leech spoil a walk much dreamt of. Besides leeches are made to suck blood for some treatments.

We donned on the plastic wraps, looking good enough to join the tea pluckers and off we went on the long trek.

With the rain beating on us, we still managed the steep walk down to the falls. It was one step at a time since the path was slippery. Because of the rain we did not take our cameras and thus we missed capturing the lovely moments. We did see a black monkey which I think was the Lion Tailed Macaque. (simhavalan korange) It was not very happy to see us but did pose enough for us to see it.

The water fall is beautiful and the government has posted a few guards to caution the adventurous ones. A few guards are also posted at the start of the descent. The place was open only until 5 PM and the guards leave the place after this time. We were also lucky to have the whole place to ourselves except for the guards who were stationed up on the rocks. We did wonder where the couple who were behind us when we started the walk disappear. Guess the walk in the rain was too much for them. The rain did reduce halfway through. We had a wonderful time in the water and in the rain( the plastic wraps were discarded much earlier to enjoy the rain). It was with much reluctance that we climbed out of the water, with the kids pleading for more time.

We saw Wayand on our way to Mysore and later when we made the trip to Soojipara waterfalls. The place is beautiful and still untouched but time was not sufficient to explore Wayanad fully. Watched on TV how the recent rains washed away a part of the ghat road or the Wayand Churam.




On our way back from Mysore we took a different route through Gudalur and saw even more lovely places. Gudalur – Vazhikadavu-Edakkara-Palunda-Chungathara-Nilambur –Vadapunna -Edavanna-Pannipara-Vadaseri-Vakalur-Pathanapuram-Karusseri-Mukkam-Manasseri-Pazhour are the places that we drove through to reach Calicut. The roads are well kept and Hubby had a lovely time driving through them. This ghat road is called the “nadukani churum” (an important road connecting Kerala and Tamilnadu states) and even this road suffered from mud slides during the recent rains.
Nilambur is yet another beautiful place enroute to Calicut. There are many places to see around Nilambut too. The teak museum being one of them. But we were already late and wanted to get back to Calicut before nightfall.




We also passed Bandipur and Mudumalai wild life sanctuaries on our way back from Mysore and had half a mind to visit Ooty too. A part of the road is terrible while the rest is too good. We couldn’t see any elephants this time and was told that there were enough on the roads earlier in the morning.



I recalled another trip that I had many years back with my parents when we were lucky enough to see many elephants. And it was during this trip that my Father stopped the jeep to take a shot of a herd of elephants who were feeding just off the road. Mother, myself and my elder sister’s daughter who was barely 2 years old were scared and were urging Father to continue driving. Suddenly this male tusker charged onto us and for a minute even my Father was dumbstruck. It needed a not- a-very-gentle tap from my screaming mother to get my Father back into action. Luckily the elephant had to stop by the side of the jeep since there was an embankment separating the road. And by then Father had already started moving the jeep too. But we did have the fright of our lives. When there is a baby elephant among the herd, it is usual for the tusker to be over protective. I guess we were silly to have stopped! I do relate this story to my children and they continue to disbelieve me!

This time we almost travelled the length and breadth of Kerala - i.e Trivandrum to Calicut and Hubby has recorded 4,000 Kilometers of driving. He likes to drive while I like to sit next to him and enjoy the roads and the various scenes that unfold on the way.

Days fly too fast..

It has been blissful days without the urge to check on the emails or blogs... The days are flying too fast and we have been on the road mostly. The rains also seems to have gathered strength finally.

The one thing I miss are the online newspapers. Only when you are at the mercy of one or two printed editions do you realize how much one is addicted to the online news.

Spent 2 days in Cochin and had good fun at Veega land. Yes.. Cochin is a shopper's paradise if you can forget the cramped roads.

Went uptill Mysore too and the place has changed a lot. Could not decide if the city is moving uphill or downhill. Hopefully uphill but Brindavan garden has lost all its charm though it is still filled with tourists.

Had a wonderful time at Wayanad and the place is heaven. Hopefully we will leave it thus!

Will be on the road again before we board the plane.