Monday, May 08, 2006

Weekend with the King

Had an amazing last weekend. I went to work on Saturday morning, trying to knot up loose ends of my "first" project. Was a few hours into it when Shatty called me up for the trip to Mysore. The decision was quite easy to make. Quite an "amazing" experience...7 of us ...in a Qualis..Shatty, Ravi, Divya, Joyda, Manku, Misra and myself.

The Bangalore-Mysore highway was brilliant...... pride of the Roads Ministry, four-laned all the way, and quite scenic. To top it all, the highway also had a Coffee Day ...from out of nowhere...where we stopped both ways.

The first stop that evening was Colonel Baileys Fort where Tipu Sultan used to torture enemy spies and soldiers....atleast that was what we liked to imagine...there was a cannon lying in the middle out of nowhere.. talk about running out of ammunition. We then headed for the Brindavan Gardens....a brilliant show of Fountains. will always remember the night. went on to get dinner in a Hotel with a "slightly" overpriced menu.

Then began the interesting part....went hunting for acco at around 12 after a grand dinner. Ravi remembered it having the suffix "International"....;-))...Mr International, we couldnt find. There were hardly any rooms in any of the other hotels....considering there was some festival happening. Finally we did manage to find a place that "fit" the international look.......;-))...... the door of the bathroom creaked and was delicately hanging on to its hinges..... There was a huge piece of rock in it..too.......Joyda held the contention that it was the physical fitness equipment....a Bench Press or something.......and finally the shower did not have the shower-head. so a fine trickle..... ....eh..... happened.....Everyone was wary about using the commode......Mysore was always a city of wars and battles.....and the commode confirmed it. There was sufficient proof of long battles there and the remains of war were for all to see...

Anyways..next day we visited the Mysore Maharajah's palace.. Grandeur at its most elaborate...."Phew" a nightmare for the palace maid......daily exercise for people living in it.......Guess the King needed his exercise...

Anyways, soon after we left for somnathpur ....to check the brilliant architectural marvel of the 12th century.... the Narasimhan temple.....was simply brilliant.....and had a wonderful time ..with joyda and Divya explaining wonderful stories from Hindu mythology.....

Vijayshankar had called us in Mysore on Saturday inviting us for his birthday party on sunday....so we had to get back by 8 PM. We went home ( where I stay) planing to clean ourselves up but came to a hard realisation....with 7 others in the PG where I stay.....water wasn't necessarily a luxury. Took our dirty selves to "Mainland China"... it was quite a huge gathering of around 20 xlers....of three batches '05 '06 and '07......Ended it with brilliant dessert.......

"Bangalore................. is happening Dude...."