Indian Friday: A ‘Free’ Day in Mysore

Time in London, time in Spain. One way or another, I’ve neglected Indian Friday for several weeks. Time to take over where I left off, reproducing verbatim the diary I kept during a month in India – rather a long time ago.

A ‘Free’ Day in Mysore

Tuesday 20th November.

Our free day. Laura and I had decided to go to the sandalwood and silk factories, but then it turned out so had Mark and Peter, and they had already engaged Snake, the driver who had brought them home the night before. Naturally, Snake soon produced his brother Kumar for our use, and we set off, insisting on the ride being metered. Once we arrived at the factory the brothers had of course come up with A Plan. Rs 500, and we were theirs for the day. Not a bad idea, considering all we wanted to do. So …after they’d warned us not to use the official shop – too expensive, they knew better places – in we went. Mark had to sign us in (Being tall, fair and a Good Sort of Chap he was obviously in charge.) with all the contact details we could think of.

A busy roundabout in Mysore at rush hour

Then we were taken in by a Government Guide. He had his spiel and by gum he was going to stick to it. Questions were invariably met with ‘I will speak later’, and if we wandered away from some imaginary blue line we were instantly shepherded back: ‘Please!’

The factory was barely functioning because it’s just pre-season. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take photos of the Dickensian scenes of clerks at desks in impossibly large dusty offices. The only real action was in a roomful of elderly men bundling up sticks of incense for marketing. Our officious guide warned us – and we believed correctly – that we shouldn’t be taken in by rickshaw drivers as anything not sold through Goverment agencies was likely to be highly diluted. So we went to the official shop. Verdict: it’s so bad it’s good.

Off to the Silk Emporium – not the factory as we had wanted: but after our last experience we didn’t care.

Shiva’s bull

Then it was Chamundi Hill and the Sri Chamundeswari Temple. It’s about 12 km. from Mysore, and the theory is to walk with the faithful up the 1000 steps to the top. Kumar and Snake poo-pooed this idea and said we would do only the last 300. It turned out they were right. They dropped us off at Shiva’s bull, where like it or not you had to buy a flower garland to present, and receive a white bindi forehead marking. Laura and I declined the yellow holy oil. On the way up, we were beseiged by children, some of whom were beggars, but others just wanted to practice their English. At the top, there were massive queues for the temple, so we declined, and juggled with the usual bazaar which is an ever-present feature of tourist and holy sites. A funeral in progresss would in any case have limited our ability to sightsee.

Resident monkey

Down we went, and Snake took Mark and Peter for lunch. Laura and I had asked to go to FabIndia. The clothes shop Kumar took us to wasn’t it, but it was excellent and we were sorry not to buy.

Lunch was at the Viceroy, which looked quite posh, much to Laura’s and my disappointment – we prefer spit and sawdust, But it was excellent, and cheap too. We only spent Rs. 250 a head on a variety of fresh and tasty chicken and veg. dishes and beer for the lads.

Then the Maharaja’s Palace. We engaged the services of yet another bossy guide, and I was fined RS. 20 (that’s about 25p) for smuggling my camera in. Peter paid it for me, but then Peter had smuggled his camera in and not been spotted. I did get to keep my camera though.

The guide regaled us with tales of past Maharajas, and the palace itself, and compared the many C-grade pictures with the Mona Lisa: ‘Look! The eyes follow you everywhere!’ Apparently the palace is the most beautiful place in the universe. Well, pretty good, but let’s not exaggerate here. He busily kept us in line, shooed away any tourists who had the temerity to listen in. Later, when allowed to use our cameras, he instructed us exactly where to stand to get the best shots.

View from our rickshaw
The market. It tended to be busier with women in the morning, when there’s food to be bought.

Then the market. We found ourselves taken to a house where incense sticks were being made, and where we found Christine and Cindy too. We didn’t buy, and suddenly Mark and I had had enough, so Snake took us home, and Laura and Peter on for further shopping.

Making incense sticks

Dinner was a surprise for Simon. Cindy had booked a private upstairs room and we had a jolly evening sharing a final meal before we all went our separate ways the following morning.

PS. WP’s AI Assistant, in its wisdom, suggests the following tags for this post: photography; YouTube; diabetes; Detroit; Maldives …

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

40 thoughts on “Indian Friday: A ‘Free’ Day in Mysore”

  4. Ever inventive WP, hey? My head is spinning this morning, having come down with a heavy cold, though how I managed that in 37C in the mountains I don’t know. ‘Chill’ time is definitely needed. One friend is discussing India in October. Another was there in March and is going to China next May. I’m feeling sadly discombobulated. Time to take the washing out. Have a lovely weekend xx

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    1. You too Jo, cold notwithstanding. I had a horrid cold going to Spain, which I gave to my granddaughter. And Malcolm, who had the same cold, still has it. Coughing away like mad xx

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  5. Another excellent post, Margaret! I’m really enjoying your writing, and seeing your photos, giving a real flavour of the places, but shame you couldn’t take photos in that factory -would’ve been brilliant. And WHAT hallucinogens was AI on???

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  7. Loved this post Margaret. What an interesting dairy you kept of the details. How long ago were you there? I went in 1986, it certainly was a culture shock, but I loved it. This post brought back memories

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  8. I’m very pleased to see that Indian Friday is back! Your tales of photography bans and over-officious guides could just as easily relate to a recent experience as to one so long ago – some things don’t change much! AI however is new but it seems of very limited use if this example is anything to go by. I haven’t tried using WP’s AI Assistant but I got such a laugh from its efforts for you that I might just do so 😀

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  9. AI was right on track with those tag suggestions 😅 We visited Mysore a few years ago too. I remember the hectic temple on the hill and the Palace, but I think we were honest and paid for our camera. 😊 Maggie

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  16. Reading your India posts always make me want to book a flight immediately! Sounds like a wonderful day of new experiences. Good to see we humans still have the upper hand over AI, at least in some areas.

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