To my shame I have been told what the Dasara festival is at least 4 times and have forgotten. It is one of the many Hindu festivals and you can all google it ( as I will again later!)
So, another chapter of my wee adventure began this morning at a local bus station. Krupa (the only person at the charity to befriend me or invite me home but there's another story and It is not about Indian culture I think it is just a Shristi thing) 's husband had booked a hotel for me and took me to the bus station at 7am for one of the many hundred of non stop buses to Mysore specifically for the Dasara. Non stop AC bus with totally reclining seatsfor 3 hours for £3 and a free bottle of mineral water!
Obligatory 10 min orchestral movement of high pitched bus horns. There are guys in brown uniforms with big sticks allegedly guiding traffic but no matter how officious they try to look everyone just ignores them. Past the live ( not for long) chicken market , the omnipresent temples with early morning devotees on their way to work. Shops are still closed so their brightly painted metal roller blinds advertise their as yet unavailiable produce( or cement- so, so many cement adverts).
The bus may have AC but the suspension doesn't give immunity from the effects of pot holes ( actually if 'pot' is supposed to signify the size of the hole then lets call them bath holes and that's luxury, tap at both ends, bath holes) or the the sleeping policemen road humps that as everywhere else induce motion sickness in me. Where are my accupuncture travel bands? Oh yes, safe and sound in a drawer back at my rooms!
The height of the but is perfect for looking at the scenery. it is 145 Km to Mysore and with every one of those Km's the roads get less cluttered and the greenery increases. This is lovely. Loads of rice fields, palm trees, houses in sort of plantation style, various trees with fruit I can't recognise, cars and taxis stuffed full of people on their way to Mysore.
On arrival at Mysore bus station you have to go to a kiosk and tell them where you are going and they will tell the auto rickshaw guy what he is allowed to charge you. Nice one! 40pence for a 5km ride. When I get to the hotel and check in I ask for a map of Mysore and they look genuinely shocked that i would want to walk places. 3 hours later and after a fantastic wander ( and a few wee purchases ) in the most brightly coloured and varied market stalls I have ever seen in my life ( pictures to follow) I get a map that has about 10 street names on it but the times for every bus from here to anywhere on it.
For about only the 3rd time since arriving in India I see white people wandering around. I have been told that there will be tons 'of you people' as Mysore is part of the do India in a month trail ( if Bangalore is on that itinery I advise you score it off and add a couple of days anywhere else- oops is the novelty of bumping along in an auto for at least an hour no matter where you want to go to wearing off Oonagh???). The highlight of the Dasara is a procession of elephants all dressed up with a solid gold throne on top of the lead one being lead by troops of musicians. They line the streets with raised platforms and it is ticketed affair. White folk have to go to a certain place and get tickets and we pay much more than locals. Quite right I am sure but I haven't bought my ticket yet so am going to try and find out what the price difference is. My tan hasn't quite developed ( nor have I the clothes, the mannerisms, the language skills or even the balls) to try and get a reduced price ticket!
There are mini parades every night but I am making the most of the hotel and watching big screen telly , having my first hot water since arriving in India ( so, so good. I have asked for it before and been told , politley, no and brought a really sweet milky coffee!!) and will dine in the hotel restuarant ( still only £3 to £4 for a meal)
When I came back from Goa after only a week last year I had to go through a swift reajustment to real prices ( offered to buy and then did buy about 8 people a beer in the local indian restaurant - nearly died) . So in a few months when I offer to take you and 10 of your close friends out for a meal politley refuse PLEASE!
