Our wanderings and perceptions

 On the Dassara day after the Jumbo Savari in the Mysore Palace we took passes form our friend to the Torch parade event by the Police force at Bannimantap. With the help of Google maps we navigated through the city that's in a celebratory mood to reach Bannimantap. But few meters away from it the road was blocked as the parade was coming out of the Palace and people who could not enter the Palace were witnessing it from here. As suggested by the youngsters there we parked our car in the car garage there for a fee of Rs. 100. But when we started to walk, there was absolute no space to move ahead in the dense crowd of people. An autorickshaw driver understood our situation and took us through a narrow lane behind a slum to the main road. We thanked him and proceeded walking for a kilometer and showed our passes at an entrance to the Police woman, She asked to walk for another 1.5 km as this entrance is for VIPs only.  We had to walk to through the lanes around Bannimantap ...

The second day in Mysore was the culmination day of Dasara. We went to our friends home for breakfast and from there left to the Palace for witnessing the Jumbo savari, where the Goddess Chamundi goes on procession on elephant followed by more elephants and various cultural activities in the form of dances and parades. To get a good seat we were asked to go in early. We managed to get a seat which was some 750m away from the Jumbo savari. The elephants were ready and came in by 12:30 PM. By 3 PM the event started with the Mysore Maharaja family kicking it off with the pooja.  After the elephants started moving, the parade started. We saw different kind of dances, the parade was similar to the independence day or republic day parade that happens in Delhi. The highlights of the state of Karnataka were showcased in the parade. Its a well known fact that Kannada people are fond of Puneet Rajkumar. Today we could that when his photograph was carried over in the parade and the crowd erup...

 Mysore Dasara is a Royal Festival continued to even today. The 10-day festival starts after no moon day and closes on the Vijayadashami day. On the 9th day of the festivity we visited Mysuru and got to witness the festivity of the old and majesty city called Mysuru. On Tuesday early morning we left from Chennai to reach Mysuru by 2 PM. We had our breakfast at Hotel Alankar in the highway itself near Ratnagiri. The restaurant had a wonderful ambience and food to vouch for. Side dishes are given in small quantities but served more if required, avoids wastage in a way. Poori, pongal vada, idiyappam and chutney vada tasted yummy and price was nominal too. Hot vada in cold chutney is not for lovers of sambar vada. Driving further we took another break just before the electronics city at the Bidadi’s Thatte Idli just on the highway. We preferred benne dose rather than idli - it was super crispy, and ended with a tea.  Our stay at Sai Inn in Gokulam at Mysuru costed us Rs.3000 ...

 Vikram - This movie was so so different and has made Tamil cinema proud. Having watched so many Malayalam movies in OTT since the covid time, was longing for an out of the box Tamil movie and Vikram fits the bill easily. After having got many spoilers about the movies got to watch it in the theatre almost after a month. Kamalhassan makes his presence in the interval block only but he is omni present in the first half in the form of a ghost. His acting skills just elevates the movie to a completely different level. One look and slight eye shift convey so much. The scene where he sees his son's mortal remains and ask Narain about the weapon used to kill him just by mere face reaction is a killer. Man.. every nerve in his face acts. Similarly the scene with his son where he tries to find out if Kalidas knows that he is the biological father, was great! This one reminds us of the interaction between Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal. The scene when Sivaji gets elated after Kamal asks his manag...

 Chandragiri Fort, Museum and Mahal Yet another Sunday, not wanting to while away we decided to make a drive all the way to Chandragiri near Tirupati. It took us little less than 4 hours including a breakfast stop to reach there. We started around 6 AM, had breakfast at Sholavaram and headed straight to Chandragiri. It is in the Tirupati district. This was the fort and mahal of the Vijayanagar empire. Currently under the Archaeological Survey of India, we allowed only to some part of the fort and mahal while other areas remain locked. They take an entrance fee of Rs. 30 per head. First is the fort, now converted to a museum housing the latest excavation artifacts. The fort inside looks like a British time structure. The Gopuram is of the  Vijayanagar period. Few kilometers before the fort we get a path that is narrowed by huge walls on both sides, making us feel like entering into a maze. We can see some temples on the way, just bearing marks of existence. Archaeological Surve...