Mysore

Transvestities

 

 

Palace Light Show

Jan. 15, 2013-Wishful Thinking

Firecrackers from a birthday celebration next door woke us at 2:30AM beating our alarm & the mosque. We had to get up at 4:30AM anyway to leave for the airport As usual Charles smoothed the way through check-in & again at the airport in Bangalore.

Bangalore & Mysore are in the state of Karnataka. The airport is only three years old. Known as the Garden City, the landscaping around the airport bears that out. It is clean & modern with billboards advertising high tech companies. It's the Silicon Valley of India. It's also known as the Pensioner's Paradise.due to its climate. Recent growth has  led to the highest cost of living in India & the real estate market is saturated.

We were lulled into thinking things would get cleaner after the rest rooms at the airport. We were impressed with our shiny new bus & ready to roll. Within the hour we wanted our old bus & driver back. The new one has A/C but it's either on full blast or barely there. It's so noisy our ears are numb from the whir. The seat backs are at an uncomfortable angle & there are no hooks & pockets from which to hang our gear. Charles joined our discontent about the bus. He called the main office & was holding the phone up so they could hear an engine noise he didn't like. The mechanic will be out tomorrow before we leave. Charles is a perfectionist much to our benefit.

Two hours later we were at our rest stop. It had the filthiest bathrooms we'd seen yet & the driver's assistant just watched as some of us struggled getting off the bus & navigating that last big step. This isn't a group of complainers but we've begun to whine. We passed a McDonald's & KFC on the way to Mysore & asked if that could be our rest stop on the way back to Bangalore in a few days. And why, oh why, do they have speed bumps at frequent intervals on a four lane highway?

When we remarked on the cleanliness of Bangalore versus the expected cleanliness of Cochin Charles clued us in on the background. He noticed the trash problem had gotten worse in the last two years. When he checked with a friend he was told it's a political issue. The main cause of the trash is culturally Moslem. If they are singled out for education on the issue it will be seen as discrimination. So trash piles up.

We did an impromptu stop at a cow market. It's a huge affair &  jammed with, well, cows. This was the first day but they usually number around 100,000 cows. They sell for from $100-2,000. At least we're not at the cow festival in Tamil Nadu. There 100,000 people will take a dip in the holy river.

As we crossed a bridge over a littered gully Charles pointed out several transvestites seated on a wall. They were somewhat attractive & enjoyed posing for pictures. I asked Charles why they were at the market & he said they were waiting for customers. They're prostitutes. Quite sad. Non-discrimination laws are starting to be passed. In April there's a trans festival in Tamil Nadu. 

Our lunch stop was at a riverside cafe. It was tacky at best & looking at the sluggish water was uninspiring. There was a playground nearby & Kayo & I took a spin on the foot propelled merry-go-round & climbed the jungle jim. I found out she'd been a gymnast in Japan & is still pretty nimble.

Charles’ Favorite

Mysore is known as the City of Jasmine, sandalwood, & palaces. It's Charles' favorite city. Of course they have their own language, Kanada, which, isn't spoken in the state of Kerala, nor does Charles speak it. Gonna be interesting.

He was anxious to take us to the market here but saw how exhausted we were. We all slept on and off on the bus as did he so the market visit will be tomorrow. Instead he let us rest. David & I fell into such a deep sleep we didn't hear our alarm. We woke in time to tumble into our clothes & rush to the lobby as they were loading the bus for our night experience.

Charles was excited about the surprise he had in store for us. We were on our way to the sound & light show at the Palace. Even at night we could see how, well, palatial, the grounds were & how grand a city this is. Monuments & grand arches were plentiful as tributes to a glorious past. And we couldn't see the trash at night. We brought flashlights as we were told & muddled through the grand entrance & over the grass in the dark to the viewing area. We've been to a couple of such shows where the site is illuminated in time to music & narrative. This was on the same order but in the Kanada language. We understood words like "British, architect, Krishna, & tuk tuk," but beyond that it was "Greek" to us. In good old Indian style they blew a fuse at the climactic moment. I hoped they'd be able to restore the performance since I was sure that if they couldn't Charles would drag us back there tomorrow night. They managed to re-boot & finish in style with the illuminated outline of the entire palace in tiny white lights.

Tomorrow we'll tour an archaeological site, the palace, & have our final banquet for those not going on to Goa.

Toby