A weekend getaway........ Day 1

I know I am blogging after a long long time, but this getaway is worth blogging. For various reasons of course............... Let me start with the history first( Oh yes, this weekend getaway has a history of more than a year old!!!)

Me and my friend R have been planning to meet with our families for lunch or dinner in a restaurant or at my place from the past 1.5 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it has never happened, thanks to all the weddings and miscellaneous functions R keeps attending or other mundane chores she has to finish during the weekend since she is working. Doesn't mean I am free all the weekends but I am most of the weekdays ;-) And so, two weeks ago, while talking over the phone about the October 2nd holiday and how by taking the day off on Oct 3rd(friday) we could convert it to a long 4 day weekend, an idea struck us both. Why not go out somewhere together?

We started making plans without even letting our husbands get a clue. First we thought of going to Kabini but it was too expensive for a weekend trip, then contemplating about many other places, decided on MYSORE!!!!!!!!!! When we spoke to the husbands, mine said he could not take friday off. So after a lot of brainstorming, we decided we would leave on saturday and come back by sunday night( No way, we were cancelling this time;-) ) We wanted to stay at Infosys guest house in Mysore, but it was not available. And many other hotels we checked were completely booked or so they claimed and we finally got a reservation in Ginger Hotel in Mysore. We decided to drive to Mysore in our respective cars. R's sis D and my bro P and sis Pr were to join us in the trip. Me and R finally going somewhere out with our hubbies and kids is the first reason why this trip is worth blogging ;-)

The second reason is the place itself. MYSORE, the cultural capital of Karnataka, only around 160kms from Bangalore and I had NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN MYSORE though I am a permanent resident of Bangalore from the past 20 years. Sigh :(( Well, my mom claims that when I was a child of just 2 years of age, we had been there, which I dont remember. And then again, when my husband had to report to his training in Mysore just one week after our marriage and I was still on my wedding leave, I had accompanied him and stayed there for five days (Monday to Friday). But I was confined to our hotel room for four days and went out only one night after 7pm to see the palace from outside the gate and walked through the roads around it.

So, we decided we will leave on saturday early morning from Bangalore and on Sunday morning we would leave mysore and on the way back to Bangalore, visit Shivanasamudra falls and Talakkad. On friday night, as it happens before any trip, I got cold feet and hadn't even packed until 11pm :( The day before any travel is very tiring (even if the travel is for a day) and I get very nervous and even think of calling off the trip :(( But somehow, managed to get a hold on myself and we left home by 6:10am on saturday.

We were to meet R's family at Bidadi and both of our cars reached there simultaneously at 7:10am. We were in Srirangapatna by 8:15am and since we were well ahead of the schedule decided to stop over. And then we realised our car had a flat tyre. R's driver helped us change the tyre and we were all set to visit the temple. We saw Tipu's death place from our car and then visited the Ranganathaswamy temple. After offering our prayers, we went to a nearby park and had our breakfast which was COLD idlis with sambar and coconut chutney which I had carried. My daughter Pre and R's daughter M got along well and enjoyed their breakfast thoroughly.

Then we started our journey to Mysore. Superb roads, picturesque farms and fields all way through made the drive wonderful. But then, it started raining. Well, even the rain gods were surprised that me and R finally made it happen I guess. The check in time at the hotel was 12 noon and so we decided to go to the Mysore Zoo first if the rains stopped. Thankfully, the rains stopped and we made it to the zoo, for the benefit of the kids ;-) There was a huge crowd at the zoo and did not take us long to become a part of it. M and Pre enjoyed the zoo but Pre got bored of it soon and wanted to see only the Wolf and no other animal. M enjoyed it for sure, but she too was in search of the Ostrich ;-) My hubby P and R's hubby V, both of them "ANTI-ZOO" -ists were very busy looking out for the exit from the time they entered the zoo. D, Pr and P along with me and R and the kids enjoyed it initially but after a kilometer's walk, we too wanted to see the exit ;-) The zoo is good, maintained well and some rare animals in there, but its too too big!!!! Any of you visiting , please do take the buggy ride since we regretted not doing so.

From the zoo we went directly to the hotel to freshen up and have our lunch. The Ginger hotel was a pleasant surprise. It was not very huge, but well maintained and had an air of sophistication about it. Their punchline said "Help yourself" which meant there were no room boys to carry your luggage or room service, which in turn meant you could save on TIPS. But otherwise the staff were friendly and well behaved. The dining area had the feel of a food court in a mall or an airport and the lunch buffet was good. All the rooms had wall mounted LCD TVs!!!! Wow......... It was another thing that none of us had the time to utilise this facility. M and Pre were so excited about the auto door and kept running to it to see it open and close automatically ;-) Simple joys of childhood!!!!!

Post lunch, we visited the Mysore Palace known for its grandeur and its ornately decorated rooms. The intricacy of the carvings on the doors and the motifs on the walls and ceilings had us spellbound. The paintings were good but the one painting by Ravivarma was a class apart from the rest.........It seemed like the people in the painting would just walk out of the frame, it was so REAL !! Pre spent the entire palace journey sleeping on P's and Pr's shoulder and M wanted to be constantly carried by R. There is also a museum which stocks the things used by the royal family. If you are short of time, you could give this a miss, I would say.

The palace is illuminated on public holidays and sundays and on all ten days of the Dasara Festival. Since it is the Dasara period, the illumination was about to begin. There was a stage set up for some cultural programme. The concert of a mandolin expert(am unable to remember his name) was about to begin and by sheer luck we got a seat within the restricted area and were seated comfortably. Just as the Mandolin concert was about to begin, there was an important announcement which made our hearts skip a beat ;-)



The golden boy Abhinav Bindra and the Bronze medallist Vijender Kumar were to arrive any moment at the Mysore palace and they were to be honoured by the State Government. Yeah yeah, now you know why I cant remember the mandolin expert's name( my sincere apologies to him) Another bronze medallist, Sushil Kumar could not make it since he was unwell and his brothers were coming on his behalf. The illumination which happens at 7pm always was delayed until they arrive and would be done the moment they are on the stage. Of course they deserve such respect!!! When they arrived amidst cheers of all the onlookers whose hearts filled with pride and respect for their heroes, I am sure some girls swooned ;-) Trust me on this, not only do they have it in them to make a nation proud, but their looks are worth dying for and D was ready to get into prison for security breaching. After a 2 minute speech thanking everybody, they left the palace making our trip to Mysore worth every penny. And we left to our hotel for a nice buffet dinner and a peaceful and good night's sleep ;-)