Roaring Through My Twenties

Note: I’m making this a two-part series! Stay tuned for pt.2 to hear about my stay in Coorg. 

After finally feeling settled in Mangalore and having a good start on my research, I was able to take a mini holiday with my two friends from Germany (student volunteers working at the NGO I’m doing some of my research at!). 

This trip was mainly booked for us to visit Mysore for the Dasara holiday. This holiday, from what I understand, is celebrated in Hinduism and it marks the victory of Lord Rama over demon king Ravana; the victory of good over evil.

People all over India will visit Mysore for Dasara. Actually, we were told by a few locals that Mysore’s population is usually “thin” – at 1 million people. But, during Dasara, it increases to 10 million people. (Whether or not this number is exact, I’d like to say: it felt like there were 10 million people there at times). 

The journey to Mysore was 7 hours by bus. I spent the majority of that time either sleeping or eating the snacks I packed. (BTW – the BEST travel snacks will always be: 1) any sort of nut like peanuts, cashews, almonds…to give you energy and 2) Pringles…because any other regular chip bag will be immediately crushed into crumbs in your backpack). 

Once we arrived in Mysore, we were pretty much itching to stretch our legs and get our bodies moving. Though the hotel we were staying at wasn’t directly in the city, we were able to take a nice walk in a nearby park. 

Soon after, a rickshaw driver picked us up from our hotel and took us into the city to see the lights for Dasara (although as a group we all discussed our preference to go around on our own, in Mysore I actually appreciated having a “booked” driver – I think the large crowds from the holiday would have made it more difficult for us to navigate independently). The city, with nearly every building and street light covered in lights, was insanely beautiful. It was an incredible experience. After taking us through the city, our driver brought us to an open field that pretty much had every food vendor imaginable, with people selling Dasara-inspired toys (i.e. toys that lit up), performers, etc. It reminded me a little of what state fairs look like in the US, actually.

The Palace lit up at nighttime

The next day, with an already pre-planned itinerary for us, our rickshaw driver picked us up to show us some more places around Mysore. 

Our first stop was Chamundi Hills, where we were able to see the entire city of Mysore from part of the mountain. It was a very beautiful view. Even further atop the mountain, we were able to visit Sri Chamundeshwari Temple. This temple, being one of the most prominent temples in Mysore, was built and dedicated to Goddess Chamundi. She was a deity of the Mysore Royal Family. 

Here the temple was giving out plates of food. Following our driver, we grabbed a plate and honored his request for us to eat it in the rickshaw. Though, we certainly didn’t realize he meant we would be eating our rice while he was driving down the curvy mountain roads. It was very difficult to finish our plates. 

View from atop Chamundi Hills

Sri Chamundeshwari Temple

What ended up being one of my favorite parts of this day came from Zoe’s big, bulky India Travel Guidebook. After a little trouble trying to convince our driver to sway from his set itinerary for us, we were able to convince him to take us to the Devaraja Market. I think I could have spent hours here (and all my cash). This market sells pretty much everything – fruits, vegetables, oils, silks, jewelry, and more. It was tons of fun to turn the corners and see what people were selling. Mangalore isn’t necessarily known for its street shopping, so this was a very exciting experience for me.  

Once finished at the market, we visited a nature preserve. It was a nice, calm hour before the excitement (and crowdedness of the holiday) really set in!

At the Devaraja Market

And so, our final stop of the day was to the Palace. Like most historical sites, there were a few versions of the Palace that existed before the current one we see today. The one currently standing in Mysore was built by British-Indian architect Henry Irwin and it was finished in 1912. The purpose of the Palace was, essentially, to be a residence for the royal family of the former Mysore kingdom.

The site at the Palace is known to host the celebrations of Dasara. For entry tickets, we waited about an hour and a half. This experience could have been worse, but it also definitely could have been better (that’s another story for a different day!). 

Inside the Palace was beautiful architecture, paintings, and artifacts. Sadly, because of the amount of people inside all at once, it made it difficult to be able to stop and fully take a look at what was on display. Though, again, it was a holiday – so I really couldn’t expect otherwise.

After admiring (and surviving) the Palace, we headed back to our hotel to rest before dinner and prepare ourselves to do a little bit of traveling the following day.

Some architecture inside of the Palace

Disclaimer: This blog is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.  The views expressed on this site are entirely those of its author and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.