Tom and I met up with a friend of one of the ladies we work with. His name is Raj, and he agreed to show us around a little bit. We caught a bus to the town of Srirangapatna, which is about 15 km from Mysore. The bus was not really the experience I thought, or dreaded, it would be, and it was rather uneventful. The town is known for its large temple, ruins of the late Tipu Sultan, and holy rivers.
The temple was first, and this tested our guts a little bit. Temples are a very big deal here and there was a long line to get in. We decided to stick it out and wait in line. This was around 10am and the temperature was already in mid 90s. Of course this was compounded by the 400 hundred other people standing close enough to feel the breathing in every direction. I was separated from the other two because I am not as good at shoving and pushing women and small children. I was getting shoved and yelled at by old women, not to mention getting stared at by everyone from about 2 inches away. Imagine hot, sweaty, stagnant air.....for an hour. It was cool to see the statue of Vishnu, but I just wanted to get out at that point.
Next we headed to the death place and prison of the Tipu Sultan. I am not entirely sure who that was, but I think he was a king around the 18th century. The next thing we did was head to one of the rivers, which was one of the coolest experiences I have had so far.
Swarms of people (see a theme developing here?) come to the river to escape the heat, play, do laundry, bathe, or cleanse themselves in the holy water before entering the temple. It was nice and cool in the water so we spent a good hour or two killing time. We all waded out to a rock and watched the crowd from afar.
The final stop here was at the tomb of the Tipu Sultan. The tomb was gorgeous and its architecture is undeniably Muslim.
Walking up to the tomb was a beautiful stroll, though the heat was getting to be unbearable. Scores of people were camped out in the shade of the trees eating food they prepared at home. At this point I realize that I haven't drank any water since we left this morning, nor have I gone to the bathroom. I decide I need to rehydrate, right before my dehydration headache kicks in. Eh.
I recovered on the bus ride back into town, and some food, water, and tea helped the process. Back to the bus stop for our trip to KRS, the dam and gardens. The scene at the bus stop is almost indescribable. We waited for our bus for almost 45 minutes, while the bus crowd grew exponentially every 10 minutes. Apparently this is a huge site for domestic tourists, especially on Sundays.
One bus pulls up and in an instant, half the crowd is mobbing the bus trying to get on. Pushing, shoving, and screaming like I have never seen before. Some get on by passing their babies through the window and following them in. People are standing and the children sit on the lap of the parents. Next bus comes, with the same incident repeating itself. Finally, third bus comes and we brave the crowd. After some good elbowing and pushing action, we make our way onto the bus only to find that Tom's camera had been lifted from his pocket. He was showing us pictures while we were waiting, and they must have seen exactly where he put it in his pocket.
Finally, my full bus experience in India. It was all I hoped for and more. Actually, I am getting used to the lack of personal space and don't mind it so much now. Getting off the bus at KRS, we are at the base of a massive dam. It is cool, but a little unnerving at the same time. Good thing Indians make good dam engineers. The Brindavan gardens were very pretty even though the site was a mecca for mosquitoes. We waited for nightfall and watched a pretty neat water/light show.
The camera wouldn't pick this up too well due to the lighting, but the video came out pretty good. We left early to avoid the mad rush out, but turns out we confronted a mad rush into the venue. All in all, it was a good day and we had some great experiences in Indian culture.
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