Our trip to Mysooru. The river Kaveri, the palace and the reclaimed Sri Venugoplaswamy temple at KRS

We went on a trip to Paschima Vahini and Mysore. I have written about Paschima Vahini earlier. We had a very nice time as always in Mysore. It is still a laid-back city, the centre of the city unspoilt. But people are worried that it may go the way of namma Bengaluru! Hope not! Narsimha, my cousin Vatsala's husband says that people of Mysore are proud of their heritage and are ever vigilant in trying to maintain it. More power to them!

Our first stop was at Sangam at Srirangapattana which I had seen years ago as a kid. While the river was full and pretty as ever, the banks were as expected a mess. The path to the sangam is lined with shacks. I have no clue why we revere the river and hope to wash off our sins by taking a dip in it and go to heaven, but defile the river and a create a veritable hell out of the surroundings!

                                                                          I finally managed to block the uglier spots. 

 Onwards to Mysore after lunch at our family temple at Paschima Vahini. Luckily for us Vatasala checked and found that the palace would have lighting in the evening as it was deepavali. It was an incredible experience.



 

Saw the palace again! This time both the darbar hall and the family quarters. No pictures unfortunately! Tara had her fill of the palace as we saw the evening light and sound show and learnt a bit of our history in Kannada. It was nice, would have been nicer if people in front did not talk all the time. I requested them to speak softly and it was quiet for about five minutes and they started to speak again.

Frustrated, I moved to another seat, no luck, as the person nearby received a call on his cell phone. Understandably he had to speak louder to hear himself speak. I would have probably asked him to go a little away and speak, it was an open ground. But he was loud and would have heard him in any case. Moreover he wore a lungi. I have already seen that in most of the southie movies the lungiwallahs are quick to take offense and fold up their lungis and aim a karate kick at the offending person. Did not want to risk that.

We were with Adi, my cousin's son and wife Poornima the next day. I am thankful to Poornima for suggesting our next must see place and joinjng us as it was still not well known and in fact is not yet complete. We saw Sri Venugopalaswamy temple, reclaimed from the Krishna Raja Sagar lake and being relocated and reconstructed by the Khodays. I feel happy that the little contribution I made by drinking their Hercules rum is finally used for a good cause! Here are a few pictures of this beautiful temple.

 We entered the temple still under construction through a gap in the wall. I felt like a king as I surveyed the place, no one there to stop me, direct me or block my view!

                                                                    

                                                                                             

More work is still to be done. The main idol is yet to be installed. It is said that the work completed in another six months.

 Good idea to hurry if you want to see it before the crowds throng the place and inevitable shops and hawkers surround the area!