Date of travel: 21-12-2008 (Sunday)
What a memorable week it has been!
I had been on a 5-day holiday trip to Mysore, Ooty and Bangalore, accompanied by my Sana Mamu and Mayeen (Chhote Mama aur Mami), their son Baibhav (Aanoo), daughter Sanjeevani (Linu), Binod Mamu (a cousin uncle) and Lina Mayeen (his wife).
(I'm aware that Bangalore is now Bengalooru. The new name sounds more comic than kuntry; I'll continue to use the older name in my posts.)
This is my first-ever attempt at writing travel memoirs. Since I already had a blog of my own, I was noting down points while travelling around so as to organize and publish them later on my blog. In addition to being able to share my experiences with a larger number of people, I'm pretty sure that these written memoirs will help keep those wonderful memories alive forever!
The first day was all of traveling and none of sight-seeing. We first flew to Bangalore from Bhubaneswar and then traveled to Mysore by car. A few recollections of that day:
Flight delay
This is the most irritating thing that can ever happen on a journey. A 1 hour delay in a 20 hour-or-so train-journey is somewhat acceptable, but a 1 hour delay prior to a 2 hours flight-journey truly blows up one's fuse. The reason suggested for the delay was "fog", though I couldn't see any sign of fog in the sunny sky at 12 noon. Our IT Kingfisher 3446 flight, scheduled to depart at 12:10, finally took off at 13:15.
Window Vista
I had flown quite a few times before and each time, I had been lucky enough to get a window seat. This time, I didn't! Without those wonderful aerial window vistas and those "living-in-the-clouds" feeling, I disappointingly realized that sitting in a flight is not very different from sitting in some A/C deluxe bus (except, probably, for the services of the air hostesses).
Wah, Bangalore Airport!
The dazzling new, lavishly spacious, beautifully crafted and wonderfully well-furnished Bangalore International Airport is a viewer's delight! I have been to the airports at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and of course, Bhubaneswar; this airport is arguably the best I have seen so far!
Even the slightest touch of disappointment due to the flight-delay vanished in a moment at the amazing sight of this airport!
Gaadi Mere Saathi
A pre-booked Chevrolet Tavera received us at the airport. I must make a special mention of the driver, Mr. Nayaz Khan (Annu), who became our driver-cum-guide for the rest of our trip. An extremely cool guy who once remarked, "Mere life mein koi tension nahin hai, sahab....aur tension aayega bhi toh main lega nahin" (I do not have any tension in my life, Sir...and even if tension arises, I won't take it), he was chirpy, ever-cheerful and always ready to travel that extra mile for our convenience.
Bangalore-Mysore highway
All of our 7 heavy baggages tied on top of our vehicle, we set off for Mysore directly from the airport. Soft Hindi tracks on 94.3FM Radio One, infinite posters of a Kannada movie, Mast Majaa Madi, on the streetwalls and sight of trucks loaded with granite slabs kept us interested on our way out of Bangalore.
On the Bangalore-Mysore highway was located Wonderla, a thrilling amusement park considered to be one among the very best in the country.
Also on the highway was the town of Ramanagaram, on the rocky terrains of which the biggest Bollywood blockbuster Sholay was shot. The most-imitated villain of Indian cinema, Gabbar Singh, had delivered some of his unforgettable dialogues on the hills of this town.
Mysore miss
We entered Mysore at around 20:00 hours. We decided to attend the famous musical fountain show at Brindaban Gardens that night itself, but missed it by a whisker. We reached the place just a minute before the conclusion of the 15-min show.
We had our dinner at Hotel Vishnu Bhavan, a popular veg hotel in Mysore and retired for the day at the CSTRI Guest House.
Part 2 of this series of memoirs (titled: Mystique Mysore) is coming soon...stay tuned!
The first day involved a bit of hectic traveling but set the stage for an exciting experience in the next few days!
(I'm aware that Bangalore is now Bengalooru. The new name sounds more comic than kuntry; I'll continue to use the older name in my posts.)
This is my first-ever attempt at writing travel memoirs. Since I already had a blog of my own, I was noting down points while travelling around so as to organize and publish them later on my blog. In addition to being able to share my experiences with a larger number of people, I'm pretty sure that these written memoirs will help keep those wonderful memories alive forever!
The first day was all of traveling and none of sight-seeing. We first flew to Bangalore from Bhubaneswar and then traveled to Mysore by car. A few recollections of that day:
Flight delay
This is the most irritating thing that can ever happen on a journey. A 1 hour delay in a 20 hour-or-so train-journey is somewhat acceptable, but a 1 hour delay prior to a 2 hours flight-journey truly blows up one's fuse. The reason suggested for the delay was "fog", though I couldn't see any sign of fog in the sunny sky at 12 noon. Our IT Kingfisher 3446 flight, scheduled to depart at 12:10, finally took off at 13:15.
Window Vista
I had flown quite a few times before and each time, I had been lucky enough to get a window seat. This time, I didn't! Without those wonderful aerial window vistas and those "living-in-the-clouds" feeling, I disappointingly realized that sitting in a flight is not very different from sitting in some A/C deluxe bus (except, probably, for the services of the air hostesses).
Wah, Bangalore Airport!
The dazzling new, lavishly spacious, beautifully crafted and wonderfully well-furnished Bangalore International Airport is a viewer's delight! I have been to the airports at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and of course, Bhubaneswar; this airport is arguably the best I have seen so far!
Even the slightest touch of disappointment due to the flight-delay vanished in a moment at the amazing sight of this airport!
Gaadi Mere Saathi
A pre-booked Chevrolet Tavera received us at the airport. I must make a special mention of the driver, Mr. Nayaz Khan (Annu), who became our driver-cum-guide for the rest of our trip. An extremely cool guy who once remarked, "Mere life mein koi tension nahin hai, sahab....aur tension aayega bhi toh main lega nahin" (I do not have any tension in my life, Sir...and even if tension arises, I won't take it), he was chirpy, ever-cheerful and always ready to travel that extra mile for our convenience.Bangalore-Mysore highway
All of our 7 heavy baggages tied on top of our vehicle, we set off for Mysore directly from the airport. Soft Hindi tracks on 94.3FM Radio One, infinite posters of a Kannada movie, Mast Majaa Madi, on the streetwalls and sight of trucks loaded with granite slabs kept us interested on our way out of Bangalore.
On the Bangalore-Mysore highway was located Wonderla, a thrilling amusement park considered to be one among the very best in the country.
Also on the highway was the town of Ramanagaram, on the rocky terrains of which the biggest Bollywood blockbuster Sholay was shot. The most-imitated villain of Indian cinema, Gabbar Singh, had delivered some of his unforgettable dialogues on the hills of this town.Mysore miss
We entered Mysore at around 20:00 hours. We decided to attend the famous musical fountain show at Brindaban Gardens that night itself, but missed it by a whisker. We reached the place just a minute before the conclusion of the 15-min show.
We had our dinner at Hotel Vishnu Bhavan, a popular veg hotel in Mysore and retired for the day at the CSTRI Guest House.
Part 2 of this series of memoirs (titled: Mystique Mysore) is coming soon...stay tuned!
The first day involved a bit of hectic traveling but set the stage for an exciting experience in the next few days!
13 comments:
Aah trips :) .. Radio in bangalore is always fun esp when he tries to play the old hindi songs and the rajni jokes..
Otherwise.. hmm... I have sadly outgrown the part where window seats held any fascination for me; my long legs demand aisles :)
P.s. the new hyd airport is pseuder than the bang one :)
Oh! They didn't play any Rajini joke on that day...or maybe, they did and I didn't understand!
Windows and aisles...:D Even my legs demand aisles, but on short 1-2 hours trip, I prefer a window seat, just for the sheer exhilaration of the aerial views.
New Hyd airport...I haven't seen that yet. Btw, when did you visit Hyd airport?
How did Fortune Park Hotels Ltd. reach my blog?
gr8! tour.. waiting for ur next posts..
Nice and interesting recapitulation. U made it sound like the bangalore airport should be added to the sight seeing destinations! Or maybe thats why they delay planes. You feel happy in the end and forget the delay anyway :-P ??
@ Sri: With our 1st quiz of this semester coming up as early as the 5th of Jan, I'm struggling to find time for completing this series of memoirs. Part 2 is almost ready, will be up by tonight. I'll try to complete the subsequent parts as soon as possible.
@ Harish: I dont know if you have been to the new Bangalore airport, but it's really something to sight-see. I feel happy in the end because I reach safely..."All's well that ends well"! :)
excellent bro ur words are so funny and interesting. Baibhav MIshra (Aanoo)
Thanks, Aanoo! Hope you enjoyed the article.
More importantly, in this series of memoirs, I have tried to highlight the significance of the various places that we had been to (historical/cultural etc.) You must remember them forever; only then will the purpose of these articles be served!
In 2007, I went to Bangalore with my family. Before Diwali, went to Mysore by car. Our tour was Bangalore to Ooty. That time we spend some hours at Mysore. On the way, we went to summer palace of Tipu Sultan. The palace was very beautiful; especially I like the garden which was famous area of this palace. After that we reached at Mysore palace. Really, the palace was very very very beautiful. The top portion of this palace was made by golden. I was attracted by all paints which were situated in auditorium of this palace. When I saw all designs, paints etc that time I was spell bound.
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Hii...Nice One. I liked it very much and felt beneficial for all..I am panning to visit br hills resort and also bandipur resorts this weekend with my family. because their facilites,sevices offered at low cost,Wildlife Safari really really awesome..
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