My trip to Mysore began at 6:30 a.m. Saturday when Alex, one of the taxi drivers for the Taj Gateway Hotel, where I'm staying, took me to the location where the tour bus leaves. The location, as stated on my ticket was the "BADAMI HOUSE, Opp. City Corporaton, N.R. Square, Bangalore -560 002". On the way Alex asked if I'd like him to be there to pick me up when I got back. Since I've had trouble getting taxis very early in the morning and I know there are no auto rikshaws on the road to flag down when it gets very late, I thought this was a very good idea. Alex went in to the ticket counter with me and spoke to the agents there and I have no idea what was said for the most part. Sometimes they speak Kanadda and sometimes English. If they speak fast I can't tell the difference. Anyway, Alex said he'd be there at 10:30 to pick me up. My ticket said I'd be back at 11:00, but I figured it might be better for him to be there early in case we got back sooner than the ticket said. I figured he'd wait. The tour was conducted by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (K.S.T.D.C.), a business of Karnataka State, where both Bangalore and Mysore are located. There are other Mysore tours for about the same price.

I was there a little early and was shown to a seat in the front of the bus on the left side. It had a good view out the front of the bus as well as the side. I sat on the aisle, but all the seats were sold and a fellow asked if I could move over so I did. He was with a man, woman, and child who were sitting just across the aisle, in the second seats back behind the driver on that side.

About 7:20 we left. It was a long trip and I made notes in a little booklet as I saw interesting things along the way. There are ads all over. Some of the local brand names I saw repeatedly were for Scissors Cigarettes and Flake Cigarettes. Sometimes it was Gold Flake Cigarettes, but often I just saw "Flake". There was also Servo oil for your car and HP gas. There were adds for more familiar brand names too. Castrol was all over, as was Samsui electronics.

One thing that was very noticeable was all the litter along the highway. I'm sure I saw the remains of tens of thousands of plastic bags along the highway as well as all sorts of other trash. Fifty feet back from the road there wasn't as much junk, though there were plastic bag remains out in fields in lots of places.

One of the interesting things along the way, and in Bangalore too, is the little tombstone-like stones everywhere that have the letters "OFC" cut into one side. I don't know what they are. I asked Sethu about them but he didn't know what they are. They also use similarly shaped stones where we would use guard rails along the load. You will see a line of these big white tombstones spaced 6 to 8 feet apart maybe. I'd hate to be driving a car and hit one.

We were about an hour and 20 minutes out of Bangalore when I noticed a monkey sitting on the corner of the roof of a small building, under some trees. There were also a lot of pretty flowers here and there as we went along. There were bougainvillea and other flowers just as bright and about the same size, but I don't know what they were.

We passed some funny looking hills or small mountains. They were quite a number of miles away, but I tried to take some pictures from the bus window. One was very narrow and reminded me of some big, narrow hills I'd seen in China. One other mountain must have had a big notch in it at some time, or so it appeared and some gigantic rocks from one side or the other appeared to have fallen into the notch and left a hole below, through which I could see the sky.

About 10 minutes beyond the monkey we stopped for a bathroom break at a souvenir store. The ticket I bought, at about $5.00 (Rs. 250) probably didn't cover the gas for the bus. The merchants along the way, no doubt, made contributions for stopping at their stores. There were lots of nice things. There were some beautiful wood inlaid pictures. There was one in particular about 8 ft. long that I'd have loved to have, but I'm sure Lufthansa wouldn't allow that big a carry on. As I was waiting outside the store to get back on the bus I took a picture down the street. A couple of shopless vendors came up and wanted me to take their pictures. I was happy to do so.

As we continued I saw some pigs, cows and oxen. In fact we passed quite a number of pairs of oxen pulling carts. There were lots of small businesses, as I'd seen in China, that were in buildings that looked like one car garages with a roll down metal front door. I made a note that I didn't notice a lot
of houses, just businesses, then about 9:10, not much later, we were passing lots of houses. We passed a log yard. Maybe it was a lumber yard, but I didn't see any lumber, just lots of logs. The highway to Mysore is lined on both sides with lots of trees that were obviously planted there a long time ago. Many had trunks three feet or more in diameter and they have three stripes painted around them; white ones top and bottom and a red one in the middle. The stripes are maybe 4 to 6 inches wide each and about four and a half feet above the ground. For quite a ways the trees on one side of the road had been, or were being, cut down and then cut into small sections with two man saws. Later on the trip the man next to me, his name was Radesh (accent on the "desh") and I were talking and he said that the road was to be widened and they would plant new trees. Radesh is from Cochin, on the southern part of the west coast of India.

I don't know what sort of trees the ones that lined the highway are, but there were lots of coconut palms and eucalyptus growing all over. The palms weren't everywhere we went, but the eucalyptus were.

A lot of the houses we passed were rather small, and some people live above their shops some places. But at 9:19 I made a note that we were passing some very nice houses. It must be a prosperous area. At various times I tried to look in through open doors to see how the houses were furnished. It was hard to tell that they were furnished. Most of the ones I could see into a little looked very bare. I imagine the nicer houses weren't, but I didn't encounter any of those with their doors open. In fact I really didn't encounter many houses with their doors open at all.

It seemed that the entire highway, to this point was settled. There were many small villages and always some buildings, houses or little businesses, within sight at all times. It was hard to tell how most of these people made a living because although the area was obviously rural, there was very little sign of farming, if any.

At 9:21 we crossed a big river bed with a small river within it. There were people, possibly all women, down on the rocks by the slowly flowing water. Earlier, probably the first picture I took as we left Bangalore was a fast flowing stream that had mounds of foam on it caused, I'm sure, by some form of pollution. It stream looked awful, but I looked at the water in this river to see if it looked clear and it did, though from the bus it was hard to tell for sure.

Suddenly all the land was planted in one crop or another. There was sugar cane and I don't know what all. There was a nice looking little village we passed and I took a picture. [Possibly to the right above.]

At 9:26 we stopped at the "Mayura K.S.T.D.C. Hiway Restaurant" for breakfast. I guess the town must be Mayura. I walked to the restaurant and saw nothing on the menu that I recognized other than soft drinks and ice cream. I wasn't too interested in either of those, so I returned to the bus and ate some dried apricots from Food World that I'd brought along for just such an occasion.

I took a couple pictures before getting back on the bus. One I thought was very typical of how things are in India. It includes part of the garden in front of the restaurant and a light on a short pole that is meant to light the path and surrounding area at night. It's a very stylish fixture but the top had been knocked at about a 40 degree angle from upright. It seems that everywhere you look things need repair, or they need to be finished, or in some cases they have been abandoned it seems and should just be torn down. I think if I had to characterize what I've seen of India in a sentence, it would be that it's a place where a million good handymen could work for a long, long time. Of course any such generalization has many exceptions and is, by nature of it's brevity, unfair. But that's generally how it looks to me.

[left: between the restaurant grounds (left) and the highway infront of the restaurant (right), looking back toward Bangalore.]

While I was waiting on the bus the driver came on and said something to me that sounded like "Red bus, red bus." I indicated that I didn't understand. He said, "Tindy", seemed satisfied though I said I didn't understand, and left.

After the breakfast the guide collected money for the admission fees to the places we were to visit. The cost was Rs. 45 for Indians and Rs. 135 for foreigners (about $1 and $3 respectively.).

At 10:18 we entered the small city of Mandya, which was bigger than any of the towns since Bangalore. I saw a girl's, government, pre-university school, and down the road a ways another school that said something about cadets. there were many tiny businesses, the size of a snow cone shop in the U.S., but without walls from half way up to the roof. They sold fruits, watermelons being very popular, and various things. Several of them had big gadgets in them with several large gears on them. I tried to find out from Radesh what they were, but I was always too late with the first several and we were passed them by the time he looked. Finally he saw what I was talking about and told me that they are hand cranked presses for sugar cane. When the customer pays him, the vendor puts a length of sugar cane in the press and turns the gear with a handle on it. Sugar water is squeezed out, and runs into a cup for the customer to drink.

Past Mandya I saw rice paddies. Radesh told me that this was the area where there had been protests about diverting some of Karnataka's water to the neighboring province of Tamil Nadu. I'd read that there had been riots the last time that was done and the government was considering doing it again to save the Tamil Nadu crops. The monsoons didn't provide enough rain this last season, so there's a water shortage. I guess the matter was settled peacefully this time, but the farmers around Mandya are the ones who didn't want to give up the water they need for their crops.

By 10:28 the land had become much drier, and there was little farming. We had long ago passed the last of the cut trees along the highway. All the trees for quite some time had been all in one piece each.

By 10:32 there were no more buildings, just open land for the most part with lots of eucalyptus and other plants.

At 10:35 there were more rice paddies, these terraced, and we were only four minutes away from another big river. We came to a town before the river where a cemented in stream ran along the left, i.e. south, side of the road. There were women washing clothes in it and one woman washing her lower leg. We passed a man with a bicycle that had two enormous loads of coconuts tied to the back on each side of the wheel.

Five minutes beyond the river there was a large open air market, the first I'd seen in India, and I took a couple pictures. [which didn't come out due to intermittent camera problems.] In another minute we were at the first sight on our sight seeing tour.

Back in the latter half of the1700s, when the British were colonizing and trying to take control of India, they were soundly defeated several times by the forces of a man named Haidar Ali Kahn. He was a self made man who ruled Mysore and had learned the battle techniques of the Europeans and bought artillery from the French. He and later his son, Tipu Sultan, were the principle military power in southern India for the last several decades of the 1700s. This first stop of interest was the summer palace of Tipu Sultan. I took some pictures from the outside, none were allowed inside. Maneesh, a friend here at i2, had leant me a book on the history of India and I'd read the section about Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan and how, I think it was the father, had commissioned a wall length painting of his first major victory over the British. I'm not sure that is what I saw at the summer palace, but it sure looked like it. It was big and covered one whole side of the building. [right: approaching Tipu Sultan's palace.]

The grounds, including a yellow flowered tree.	Tipu's palace	Returning to the bus from Tipu's palace.
A school class returning to the parking lot.	Ladies and girls with pretty sarees outside the grounds.	Just visible, an old fort wall.

Inside the palace the thing that I'd most liked to have, other than some coins from Tipu's reign, were a couch and four short chairs covered with the deepest, richest royal purple fabric I've ever seen. Tipu was killed in 1798 or 9, so the fabric must not be the original, but it was worth seeing anyway. There were sketches of Tipu's sever sons and a model of his fort, Sriranganapatnam, which we visited next. Tipu died defending the fort from British attack. The fort was very large and probably enclosed a hundred small buildings and several larger buildings, including a large 1200 year old temple that predated the fort. We stopped to go to the temple, but I didn't go in. There were a couple reasons, or three. One was that you have to take off your shoes to go in, and I had my waterproof boots on. They are not quick to take off. Second, I'd already lost the rest of my group while changing film in my camera before I got to the place where shoes are left. Third, and most significant, I always feel uncomfortable in any sort of religious place where I don't know what the customs are or what I should do or not do. I waited outside, took some pictures, told another American who was asking which way north was, which way it was, and headed back to the bus. It was about noon. [ Close up pictures of the temple did not come out. - right: a ceremonial vehicle outside the temple. ]

When we got underway again Radesh and I talked for a while. He told me that he thought the rivers we had crossed were branches of the Kaveri River. He also said that the area is often referred to as "God's own land." We passed fields of rice and sugar cane. There was a flock of egrets, they looked like cow egrets to me, and I couldn't help but think that if only my friend Pete were along he'd either know or could look them up in his Sibley's book, though I don't know if Sibley covers India.

One thing that caught my attention as we drove along was the stone fence posts. They made me think of Devils Post Pile, in California I think, because they were so long and thin, maybe 4 inches to the side and, guessing at the amount underground, I'd say maybe six feet long or more. There were also fields with cement fence posts. They had 7 holes in them through which barbed wire was strung. The stone ones had no holes and the barbed wire was just wrapped around each of them.

At 12:10 we arrived in Mysore. We stopped to see a big Catholic church that was built in 1938. I took a picture of the front of the church because where one might have expected stained glass there was only paint. I went inside after talking to a lot of, apparently Catholic, school children who were interested in me. I was always quite the curiosity with such groups and they were always very friendly and liked to shake my hand and ask my name and what country I'm from. In the back of the church there was stained glass and it was very pretty.

Our next stop was at a Karnataka State silk store. I'd been told, as I believe I'd mentioned earlier, that the government stores have the best quality but the prices are not negotiable. I bought some silk there, though their selection left something to be desired. I've found in looking at silks that there are a good many light and somewhat strange colors. Good dark basic colors are hard to find. It was claimed that the Mysore government stores sell silk 20% cheaper than the same government stores in Bangalore. Whether it's true or not I don't know.

The land around Mysore was fairly dry. We drove up a small mountain, near the top of which a sign said we were 3489 feet above sea level. That in itself is funny since everything else in India is metric, but this sign was in feet. At the top there were a couple of temples, a lot of vendors of various things, a few beggars, some shops, and a building labeled "Godly Museum". There was also a big statue, wooden possibly, in the middle of the traffic circle. All but the temples themselves looked very touristy.

We walked to the first temple and a little boy wanted to sell me post cards. They cost Rs. 10 (20 cents) I guess and so I bought some. That was a big mistake, for I was then seen as an easy target for obtaining money. I took off my shoes to go into this temple and two boys told me that I should see the 2000 year old Shiva temple first because it closed first, at 1:00 p.m. I followed them a ways, they were nice looking boys maybe 8 to 10 years old and didn't look like beggars. But the Shiva temple was soon obviously not where the rest of my group had disappeared to, so I told the boys that was too far and I turned back to the first temple where I'd left my shoes. A young man, actually several came up to me and shoved things in my hands. There was ocher, I guess, wrapped in newspaper, a little plastic statue of something too small to make out, and a string so small, sweet smelling flowers. I said I didn't want them but they said, "No, for the temple." I didn't know what was expected, and there was not request for money, so I reluctantly accepted the things and went in. One of the young men lead me in and where the crown was going straight between two light weight barricades, the guard there let the young man through and me too. This was not looking good to me, but we went up to where the priests were and, if I remember correctly they took the flowers and plastic figure and came back with some more ocher which the young man marked my forehead with. Now I was really marked as a sucker. I was then expected to make a contribution to the priests, and I gave Rs. 10, which looked like the norm. I was given a yellow flower, a lotus flower, and the remains of the powder my forehead had been marked with. We went outside and I was ready to leave, but the young man said I could take a picture of the temple tower from the courtyard inside. That was not the sort of thing one often had the opportunity to do, so I did. Then he lead me up to the roof where I got several more great pictures. Then he wanted Rs. 100. I gave him Rs. 10, which was all I had outside my wallet. He followed me to where I retrieved my shoes and the shoe guy, as is customary, wanted a donation. He, I know, was not out to cheat me, so I took the last Rs. 100 note from my wallet and asked for change, which he gave me promptly. I gave him Rs. 30 and gave the young con man another Rs. 20, for I had gotten some great pictures, then I started away. At that point the guys who'd given me the plastic statue and flowers wanted them back or money for them. I told them I no longer had them and that if they'd wanted money or wanted them back they should have told me that to begin with. I continued, never having stopped or even slowed for them, to the bus. I guess the irritation showed in my voice and they didn't follow me.

I took another picture of some children and put a new roll of film in my camera. then I took a picture of the figure in the traffic circle and returned to the bus. As we descended the mountain a very large statue of a bull, made from a single rock, was pointed out to us. The bus stopped opposite it and I took what was a rather poor picture of it from the bus. We didn't have time to get off the bus and get a closer look. It turns out that I have a very nice picture of the bull on one of the cards I bought at the temple, so the experience wasn't a total loss. We proceeded down the hill and I saw what looked like a weasel scurry across the shoulder of the road and off into the bushes.

Cute kids going to see the temple.

Museum with interesting name near temple.

The one rock bull.

Everything runs on a late schedule here, except the bus departure that morning. We stopped for lunch at 2:20. There wasn't much on the menu that looked likely to be something I'd like to eat. Most of it was stuff I didn't know. I did find fruit juices and got a couple of 1/4 liter bottles of mango juice. The bottles said "Slice" across an orange disk. At the bottom they gave the volume at 250 ml. and said "Lahar Slice". I asked the waiter if I could buy one but he said they were not for sale. I should have asked for a full bottle to take with me. I'll have to try that next time. After the mango juice I sat in a chair in the patio in front of the restaurant making notes, then returned to the bus and ate a couple granola bars I'd brought for such occasions and a few more dried apricots.

Our next stop was the Mysore Palace, the main event, so to speak. There are walled grounds with some spectacular gates and inside is the palace. Just inside the gate where we entered is the place where you leave your camera, for camera's are not allowed in the palace and we were told by our guide that they will search our bags and fine us if they catch us trying to sneak a camera in. I did have to open my pack but it was looked at, not searched. Then we had to leave our shoes at anot her place just outside the palace. I suppose a million feet causes less wear than a million shoes. From there we proceeded inside. I may be giving the impression that we remained as a group on these excursions. We did not. We were given the time when the bus would leave and that was it.

The palace was built in the 1800s and it was spectacular. What money can buy! We went in along the side of a narrow room. A passage, lined with columns on either side lead off to the left and at the far wall, maybe 15 feet away, between the columns and the side walls, were big elephant heads. They were carvings I think. We came to a great ballroom that would have been four stories tall but for the fact that the ceiling of the bottom floor was two stories tall itself. The ballroom was actually square with the three or four story high ceiling over it. But the majority of the floor space was surrounded by a circle of painted pillars that supported a glass dome above. Nearly all the original glass seemed to still be there and some of it may have been stained glass but what caught my eye was the long panes painted with a peacock feather design. It was very different and very pretty.

It was a self guided tour with only one way to proceed through the palace. The walk wound around the bottom floor and then up a flight of stairs. I was moving faster than the crowd for the most part since I could walk behind most people and see over their heads. That wasn't always possible, but often it was. I came to a class or two from a girls school, it appeared. Once again they looked at me, I smiled at them, they smiled back and asked my name and where I was from. I asked some of their names and it was very pleasant. I'd guess they were 10 to 12 years old. There were other groups of students in the palace on the tour, but this group was the only one I talked to while inside.

A view of the palace from the entry.

The large room that opens onto the large cement area.

School boys pose with the palace behind.

There were many impressive things to see, but other than the ballroom the most impressive room was on the second floor where there was a room we entered through a door at one end of a long wall. The doorway was made of a dark wood with inlaid ivory. It was very intricate. Along the adjoining wall there were three doorways. The one in the middle had two doors that were made of silver. The ones on either side were like the one through which we had entered and absolutely beautiful. We walked along the wall whose door we had come through and it looked like a nice room in which to have a very large party. There was inlaid stone work in panels in the floor that were covered by plexiglass, but I think most of the floor was hardwood. I hadn't realized it at first, but there was no outer wall to this room. At the outer edge there were terraced levels that appeared to be seating for the less important folks. These were divided by a central rounded are, where there was no floor, with a rail around it. The roof and side walls extended out quite some ways from the terraced seating and in the side walls there was seating for the more important people. The whole room opened out on a large cemented area from which I later took pictures looking in. The ceiling was shaped like sections of cylinders, with their axes pointed to the outside. They were painted with nice pictures and white stars on a light blue background. It was very impressive.

Eventually the line lead out of the palace to a museum that our "guide" on the bus had told us cost extra and wasn't worth seeing. There wasn't a whole lot of time left, maybe 20 minutes, and so I started back against the flow of the foot traffic. An employee directed me the other way and I said I was just trying to find my shoes, so he directed me another way and I found my shoes. Shoe storage was supposed to cost 50 paise, half a rupee, according to the sign. The smallest bill I had was Rs. 10, which I gave the man and I never got any change. It took me a moment to realize that I could get my camera at this point and photograph everything outside, which other tourists were doing. So I got my camera, and my change this time, and started taking pictures.

I wanted to get the two big tiger statues in the big courtyard outside the pretty 3 walled room of the palace [These pictures did not come out]. I took a couple pictures when 4 or 5 school boys, probably 12 or 13 years old, asked if I'd take their picture. When I agreed and arranged to have them face the sun another several boys, all dressed as the first bunch and obviously from the same school, rushed over to get into the picture. We talked for a short while and I asked them if they knew of the internet. They did. I told them they could see the picture of themselves in March and gave six or seven of them my URL on pages I tore out of my notebook. I took several more pictures and then rushed back to the bus.

View straight out (south?) from half open room from beyond the cemented area.

From same location, first group of boys. cenent area.

From same location, looking left (east?)

There are people selling things everywhere, and a little boy wanted to sell me a wooden box through the bus window. Except for coffee vendors, the vendors never come on the buses. Out of habit I told the boy I wasn't interested. But the boxes were pretty and inexpensive so I changed my mind after he'd pestered me a while and dropped the price a bit. One coffee vendor came on the bus a couple of times, the last time just as the bus was about to leave. Radesh's friend bought a cup just as the bus started to pull away from the curb. The vendor poured the coffee from his thermos hurriedly, but without spilling, and Radesh's friend started fumbling for the right change. By this time the bus was moving slowly and the door was closed. Radesh pulled out his wallet, got the correct amount, handed it to the vendor, and the vendor rushed for the door. He opened the door as the bus was still moving and at this point the driver slowed. The vendor jumped from the door before the bus had completely stopped, landed safely, and the driver closed the door and accelerated.

Our guide announced that he had been informed by his office that there would be a change in the schedule and he was required to take us to the Mysore Zoo next. He said the zoo was build in 1892 and it wasn't worth seeing, but he had no choice. Unfortunately it was rather difficult to understand much of what he said about anything. Partly this was because I was in the very front row of the bus and he would walk down two or three aisles to address us, so I was behind him. More than this though, his accent and rather rapid speech were a problem. We parked on a road opposite some shops, dead center in front of one in particular, and were turned loose for 45 minutes. I didn't particularly want to see the zoo. I usually just feel bad for the animals inside and most zoos don't have anything I haven't seen before. There were a couple of silk shops however. I started toward one, but that wasn't one that had paid K.S.T.D.C. for the stop, and the guide suggested that I try the other one we were in front of. I understood and did as he wished. Actually I was glad I did, because they had silk in a couple of colors that I thought Linda's daughter Hollie wanted, and which I hadn't seen before. When I asked about fare trade they had no idea what I was talking about, but the colors were what I wanted and hadn't seen anywhere else, so with thoughts of apology to Phil, I bought some anyway.

Inside the approved store.

Unapproved store to the right. cenent area.

A yellowish cow.

At 5:25 the bus left the zoo for the last sight on the tour, Brindavan Gardens. One lady nearly missed the bus, but the driver stopped and she got on. At this point I was mentally tired and had quite a headache, but felt fine otherwise. [Right: giraffes in the zoo.] The guide said it was quite a walk from where the bus would part to the gardens. I felt like walking, so this was fine with me. He said that our tickets had been paid for but if we wanted to take pictures inside it would cost Rs. 20 for a camera permit. If we were found to be taking pictures without one there would be a Rs. 50 fine. It took almost an hour to get there and the sun was setting as we arrived so taking pictures didn't seem too desirable.

Along the drive to the gardens I saw some interesting things. As we left the zoo I took a picture of one of many cows I'd seen that had had their white portions colored yellow. Radesh said this was probably for some festivities of some kind. I saw a sign on a shop that said "Computerized Wheel Alignment & Balancing". I saw a man standing behind a small house in a large rice powder design, square and maybe 10 feet to the side. It was only a design around the outside and the inside, where the man was standing was just dirt. Indians here make designs with rice powder, much as American Indians make sand paintings. This is often done in front of ones house, on the sidewalk if there is one. People will step around or over them. This is done in the morning typically I believe. I walked around one in Bangalore and one of my friends here explained this all to me. The design I saw from the bus was huge by comparison to the one on the sidewalk in Bangalore.

One thing that is common on the highways, in populated and sometimes sparsely populated areas, is speed bumps. My goodness, we went over a lot of speed bumps on this trip. There were a few the driver could take at a moderate speed, but most he nearly stopped for.

We passed groups of boys playing cricket in empty lots a couple of times. We passed a five story building that had roll up garage doors in a column on one side of the building, with windows elsewhere to either side. The top floor had a balcony outside the roll up door, and the first floor had the ground , of course. But if one opened the doors on the second through fourth floors and stepped through he would fall to the ground. It's hard to imagine the purpose of that construction.

View from the bus.

View from the bus. Typically, upper floors are unfinished, waiting for tennant.

Approaching the dam above Brindavan Gardens.

We finally got to Brindavan Gardens about 6:10 p.m. There was quite a crown of people wanting to go in and I was glad that we didn't have to wait in the long lines for tickets. Once inside I asked one of the guards at the gate where the camera passes could be purchased. It was the same place as the entry tickets, so that was no help. I said I just wouldn't take any pictures, and as I said it was getting dark, so that was no big sacrifice. He said that was OK. I'd just finished off a roll of film and so I figured if anyone asked me about the camera I could show that the roll of film was unused. As it was nobody asked, it was really too dark, and there wasn't much to photograph anyway. The gardens are right below a very large dam, which had very little water behind it just now. The gardens have lots of fountains and a lake that one walks a very long ways down to. the walk is along either side of a long chain of cemented pools that have fountains in them. But there was no water in them that day for almost the whole long walk. It wasn't until I was almost down to the lake that there was water and the fountains were working. At the lake I had about 10 minutes before my time was half over and I had to turn around and head back to the bus. The walkway turned to the right and at the corner of the lake one could go straight to some food vendors' stands or turn left and walk along the side of the lake to another area at the far end of the lake. That area looked pretty and there were some bright lights there. Most people were going that way, but it looked like more than a 10 minute walk and so I looked to see what the vendors were selling and found a rest room before heading back. There were three men at the doorway, which had no door. The smallest and most feeble of them ushered me in with the wave of his arm. For this service he expected money on my way out. I had Rs. 5 or 10 (10 to 20 cents) and he was happy with this.

I made good time returning to the bus, and the bus was quite late in leaving, so I sat on it for quite some time. Along the way to it there were a few beggars. One was the second man I'd seen who was missing both arms below the elbows. I felt sorry for him, but I had already given away all the money I had other than rather large bills. There is just no end to the beggars and vendors. With beggars you have to be particularly careful for once you are seen to give away money you can be mobbed. I was warned of this before coming to India and found out first hand on one occasion that it's really true. I wasn't exactly mobbed but having given something to one beggar I was soon surrounded by half a dozen and at that point had nothing left to give them.

Once on the bus, I opened the windows for some air. There were two small boys who had followed me from the dam wanting to sell me picture postcards of the gardens. I'd already bought some on the way in and I told them I didn't want any. They followed me nevertheless, asking me to buy their postcards, or asking for money, or asking for my pen. They would say "school pen" and call me uncle. This was not the first time this had happened. Even a few of the school boys wanted to know if they could have my pen. The boys hung around outside the bus for fifteen minutes I bet, calling to me. After they left another boy came along carrying two little monkeys and wanted some money to feed them. Neither he nor the monkeys appeared to be starving and I didn't give him anything. After a while he went away.

At last the bus left. At this point I was tired and had quite a headache and I fell asleep before long. Radesh had slept during part of the trip too. Now it was my turn and I slept till we got to the same restaurant we'd stopped at for breakfast. This was about 8:40 p.m. I believe. I was the last one off the bus at almost every stop because the storage compartments over the seats were very low, making it hard for me to get up, and by the time I got to the aisle there was a steady stream of people that didn't allow polite entry. As I sat there I saw that there was little half inch cock roaches running around on partition in front of me.

I went into the restaurant and thought I saw pizza on the menu posted on the wall. But it was just wishful thinking. The item was pista flavor ice cream, which is a flavor I don't know, and I didn't feel like eating ice cream anyway. I ate my remaining granola bars back on the bus. As I did I noiced more roaches on the side of the bus next to me, where I'd been leaning while asleep. I didn't feel or see any on me, but I got off the bus again. I walked around outside, just to stretch my legs, and when it was time to get back on the bus I saw that there was one of those little roaches on my pant leg at about the knee. I tried to knock him off, but there was a lady coming to get off the bus and I moved over to let her by. When she'd passed I looked at my pants again and I'm missed the roach. So I knocked him off and took my seat, keeping a few inches between me and the wall of the bus.

After leaving the Mayura K.S.T.D.C. Restaurant I was on the watch for roaches. Of course it was too dark to see anything. I guess you could say I was "on the feel". Any slight tickle on my leg and I'd rub it, until I realized that I'd feel a roach more than just a tickle. Then the tickling stopped, but I was still careful not to touch the side of the bus where the roaches had been earlier.

Being awake, and with little else to do, I watched the traffic out the front of the bus. The first thing that caught my attention was how bright the headlights were coming at us. This was, I soon realized, because they all had their high beams on. Then I noticed a few cars put their low beams on and then switch back. One guy honked as he passed. I realized that our driver didn't dim his lights for anyone and the oncoming traffic was responding to that.

Our driver was determined to pass everyone he could catch up with. It didn't matter much if there was oncoming traffic. At one point, on a two lane road, we passed a truck that was passing a slower vehicle. We were three abreast on this two lane road with oncoming traffic. It came out OK though. We were soon past the slowest vehicle and moved over a little. The oncoming traffic was coming slowly, or more slowly than they might have, because they saw us coming, and by the time we passed them we were mostly on our side of the road.

Things didn't always work out that well though. There were a couple times when I saw oncoming traffic leave the pavement with their left wheels because there just wasn't enough room for them. The dirt shoulder was no more bumpy than the pavement, so it wasn't a big deal. There were a few times when our left wheels left the pavement too because of the oncoming traffic. The worst situation was when an oncoming car had to leave the road entirely because we were passing someone when we shouldn't have been. It's quite amazing to watch, but this is just how highway traffic operates. Everyone seems to be prepared to slow if the road is blocked by oncoming vehicles and to leave the road if necessary.

It was sort of interesting the stops the bus made on the way back. There were some people we'd picked up in Mysore who got out before we got to Bangalore. Our guide got out on the outskirts of Bangalore. We stopped at a corner somewhere in Bangalore and another couple got out. We stopped at the train station and a 8 or 10 people got out. Then we went to our starting point. We were half an hour later than the time on the ticket, arriving at 11:30.

Alex, the taxi driver who'd brought me, was there to take me home. I had not been told that there would also be a lot of other taxi and auto rikshaw drivers waiting there looking for work. So I paid for Alex to wait an hour for me, for he got there at 10:30, and the quadruple rate the hotel charges for taxis, and taxis are double the cost of an auto rikshaw, and there was a tip too. Altogether though it was nice to have a reliable driver and know that he would be there when I arrived. I'm not comfortable not having my car and having to rely on public transportation that shuts down at night, so Alex was the next best thing and I gave him a generous tip.

When I got back to the hotel it was almost midnight. The person who has been cleaning the room lately has been pushing the button in the door handle inside, which means my key doesn't work and I can't get in. Sure enough, this happened again Saturday night and I had to go down to the front desk to be let in.

I went thorough both my bags, my jacket, and all my clothes while standing in the tiled bathroom of my room, looking for roaches that might have hidden away somewhere. There were none. I was hot and sticky from the long trip and took a shower. By the time I got to bed my watch said 1:00. It was a very long day but very interesting and generally a very, very good experience.

I'll put the pictures on the web when I get home.

Garr

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