30 October 2010
3rd day in Mysore and a mighty interesting day indeed…today we ventured into Mysore city itself …a good 20 minute ‘oto’ or motorized rickshaw ride from Gokulum…first it was breakfast at Indra’s Café…a typically indian fare with idly and a plain thosai and lots of Indians…sorry no coffee as the stomach is not ready for it…followed by a walk through Devaraja Market…wonderful colours of the kum kum (the powder used for bindi dots)…smell of the spices…the flower garlands hanging…a stark contrast to the handing chicken and other bloody carcasses just across the lane…no buy meat madam?...no way brudder!...then it was up to Chamundi Hill the highest point in Mysore…there stands the Sri Chamundeswari Temple…it was crowded today possibly with everyone paying their respects including the monkeys before Diwali or the festival of lights…being fair-skinned means you must be a tourist…so get ready to be pursued…by the little barefoot girls shoved in front of you by their mothers to beg for money…to the 3 men who tactfully followed us from the bus station till we ducked into Hotel RRR for our first traditional Thali lunch…it started with one offering simple directions to another casually asking where we were from to the final old man pushing us along in a direction we were headed in anyway…all carefully orchestrated till we felt we were being followed by all three men and not in a nice way…and all for what? Some rupees?...i rather be pursued by begging children and their mothers…their ‘pursuit’ of me stems from a pure need for survival…not intimidation and greed…those brudders better stay away from me from now on…you do not wish to see me lose my temper…and besides I can run pretty fast if I need too!!...the samosas were super duper tasty today!
No comments:
Post a Comment