As I finally reached the end of a long week, a group of students, including myself, decided to go to one of the local malls and watch a Bollywood movie. After looking through our choices, we decided to see Humpty Sharma Ki Kulkarnia, a romantic comedy entirely in Hindi. With only one student who could speak Hindi we decided to be adventurous and go watch the movie. With only occasional help from our “translator” we were able to follow the movie fairly easily despite the language barrier. After the first hour or so, the movie entered an intermission, reminiscent of classic movies or theatre. We enjoyed the random dancing scenes intermingled into the movie and laughed at the horribly cheesy, overdone sound effects in the action scenes. Overall, the quality of the movie was strong, on par with American movies and we thoroughly enjoyed our experience at the movies.
On Saturday, we departed from campus early and began our journey to Mysore. Sat squished at the back of the bus, I fully experienced every bump along the road, bouncing a couple inches out of my seat each time. After journeying for about 3 hours, we briefly toured a collection of ruins just an hour outside of Mysore. Our director told us that it was the former palace of Tipu Sultan, a former king of Mysore who was renowned as a bold fighter. During the initial British colonization of Britain, Tipu Sultan was the King of Mysore, thus making him a huge threat to the British. Upon inviting the British to his palace, his British guests stabbed in the back and threw his body into a nearby field, leaving his kingdom vulnerable for British to conquer. We looked briefly at the former’s palace ruins, which served as a base for the British until they left India, destroying the palace completely. The summer palace, still intact, was fascinating to explore, with elaborate murals of battle scenes and family portraits painted upon the walls.
After another hour in the bus, we arrived in Mysore and went into our hotel. Quickly depositing our backpacks into the small but plush room shared between three of us, we went for lunch before getting out to explore the city. Our first and most important stop was Mysore Palace. After going through the main gate and walking through the grounds, passing a massive temple contained within the complex, we reached the palace. Decorated in beautiful turquoise stones and inlays, the palace was still maintained in pristine condition. Every room in the palace had silver mirrors or chairs and the main hall contained a huge chandelier. One area that was really interesting was a room that was completely open to the outside plaza that served as a public forum for the king. Along the sides of the room were viewing areas for visiting dignitaries and in a central raised area was a space for the king to sit. The entire room, much like the rest of the palace was a beautiful turquoise that made it seem grand and powerful, especially compared to the more subtle colors of the surrounding city. After leaving the palace, I got the opportunity to ride on a camel around the courtyard of the palace. Struggling to hold on despite the makeshift saddle, I managed to circle around the courtyard once before jumping off. We then returned to the hotel to relax and enjoy our break from school work.
On our second day in Mysore, we spent the morning visiting some handicrafts stores that specialized in silk embroidery. After looking at tapestries and tablecloths, we left with our purchases and went to the Mysore Zoo. Walking around with an umbrella attempting to avoid the intermittent rain, I walked through the zoo to see all the usual animals, including flamingos, tigers, deer, and cheetahs along with elephants and a large snake area. More amusing than the zoo, however, was the reaction of the locals to the group of American students walking around the zoo. As we moved from enclosure to enclosure, locals would continually stop the students for photographs and to talk with them. As we all gathered near the exit, a huge crowd surrounded the group, insisting on getting photos with the American students. With a large herd of people following us back to the bus, we departed to briefly look at St. Philomena’s Church, a large beautiful cathedral in the heart of Mysore, before setting off for Bangalore.
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