During my summer holidays, I visited Mysore, a lovely place with exceptionally amazing monuments, enormous palaces.  Mysore is a major tourist attraction in Karnataka and when my cousin visited from Delhi, we decided to go see this historic city.  I love going on such trips; so with my heart pounding with great excitement and anticipation, we began our trip and it turned out to be one of the most glorious and action-packed ones that I have had so far.

The first place we visited in Mysore was the beautiful Mysore Palace, belonging to the Wodeyar Dynasty. We were astounded by its beauty as it shimmered, sparkled and shone in the light of the midday sun. We heard that the current scion of the Wodeyar Dynasty still lives behind the palace and participates in functions during the Dussehra Festival.

Next, we visited a really old museum/ art gallery near the palace  It had neat sculptures. But the most fabulous things for me in that museum/art gallery were the paintings by the great painter Raja Ravi Varma. He drew and painted his paintings with his own incredible style, that the paintings almost looked like they were alive; and that’s the reason why the paintings were so good. He had his own style. The Lady with the Lamp and Ravana slaying Jatayu, were the best amongst all the Ravi Varma paintings.

Chamundi Hills

That evening, we went to Chamundi Hills, and the views from there were quite breathtaking. However,  watch out for the monkeys and pestering hawkers who roam around the Temple of  Chamundeshwara. My aunt almost got cheated by a flower seller.

The temple was quite nice; though I expected the statue of the demon Mahishasura to be bigger than it was. “The statue of the demon Mahishasura, whom Chamundeshwara killed, seems to have shrunk since I last came here thirty years ago”, my uncle agreed, while looking at the statue with sparkling eyes.

A little lower down the Chamundi Hills was a pretty big statue of Nandi crouching on the rocky surface; it looked gentle, not like the Bull in the Bull Temple in Bangalore. And the lookout views from both these hilltops were quite incredible.

Brindavan Gardens

The next evening, we went to Brindavan Gardens which has lots of wide open spaces and colourful fountains. The musical fountain was also quite good; however, the park was not very well maintained and the artificial water body there is also polluted with plastic bags. I feel the authorities should take more care of this garden. I was a bit disappointed as I had expected something like Lal Bagh in Bangalore.

Now, you may think that is all; but no, there was more, for we stumbled onto a couple of gems on our trip.  About 80kms from Mysore is the Buddhist settlement called Byllakuppe in Kushalnagar. When we reached there, they were having their graduation ceremony, which happens only once a year.

It was magnificent; all the monks were doing their prayers and ceremonies in an orderly manner. It was so peaceful. We saw the temples with the statues of Buddha, their prayer rooms, their classrooms, and even the Golden Temple. It was definitely a very fruitful visit to Kushalnagar.

Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace

Another thing that we saw was Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace in Mysore. It was extremely beautiful and well organised and it beat the Mysore Palace in beauty and historic value.  It had paintings of the battles that Tipu and his father Haider Ali fought; some they won, some they lost, but all hard fought. It also had Tipu’s son’s paintings and was a great memorial to the “Tiger”.

I am going to remember this fantastic trip to magnificent Mysore and I’m going to treasure this experience with all my heart and soul. The trip has been the best in this highly action-packed summer holidays of mine and I hope I have more exciting trips to places like this.   ⊕