Rocking in the Free World

At the end of last month, just before I moved out of Bangalore, I passed by Lalbagh umpteen times. I saw MTR near the Lalbagh West Gate and had this major pang of regret at not having been inside Lalbagh, ever eaten at MTR and done so many other things that are associated with anr are characteristic of the Bangalore experience. I am sure that a tourist, on the other hand, would have this in his/her itinerary.

It is a common feeling that I have experienced in most places I have been to. The local people tend to take the various attractions within their city for granted, and don’t visit it unless there’s someone from outside that they need to show around the place. This has been reinforced continuously during my interactions with various people, and I can say the same for my lack of having explored Bangalore through and through. Also, I’ve only been to the major attractions in Mysore if I had relatives visiting who needed to ensure that they weren’t fleeced by the locals here.

Now, I have a little over a week in Mysore to chill out and do nothing except for a few stray things here and there, and I was thinking of how it would be nice if I were to go around Mysore and check out places that I would’ve not bothered to visit simply because they’re there for me to see whenever I’d want to.

I would like to go and see the Mysore Palace, the Jaganmohan Art Gallery, the Mysore Zoo, Chamundi Hills, the various lakes in the city and other things that draw tourists to our city in hordes. I have stated before, and I must say again that the only time I am not particularly fond of our city is during Dasara, and I’ve made conscious efforts to avoid coming here over the past five years, if I’ve got the chance.

My plan now, as I have mentioned before it to check out the various attractions, after having done some prior research on them to get some new and interesting fundas. Of course, I will not get a tour guide, or use one of those guided tourist buses to have a look at the various places of interest. That would be somewhat of an overkill, since I have transport and know where these places are.

Nonetheless, I would like it if there were other people in Mysore who shared this sentiment and would like to join me on rediscovering what is, my favourite city on the planet.

I intend to chalk out a concrete plan regarding what I plan to do over the course of the day, and I shall mostly update this site with that relevant information. The reason I’m making this information public is so that more people can join and have fun, should they choose to.

Fair warning – Please make arrangements for your own transport / tickets / food / water and such. If you are interested, drop me a line at hari dot shenoy at gmail dot com, and I can do some co-ordination work. This is not a guided tour initiative on my part, and is just a means of facilitating a meeting between like-minded people who want to explore Mysore and needed someone to give them the impetus to do so.

More to follow.