This weekend, John, Ryan and I took an overnight train to visit Mysore in the state of Karnataka. It was my first overnight train trip since a European vacation in the summer of '95 (or was it '96?) and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. We got bunks in the AC 2nd class, which was fairly comfortable since I got a top bunk. A man named Uday was also booked in our section. He happened to be from Mysore and gave us some tips on what to see in the two days we had available, and sketched out a rough map of the sights for us. An hour or so after we left the Central Chennai railway station a porter brought sheets and blankets to our bunks and everyone got ready for bed. I cozied into my top bunk and tried to read a history of India and then dozed off.


Anyone read Tamil?




Mysore is about 500 km west of Chennai; I think they slow the train route down so that you arrive in the morning, rather than the middle of the night. I woke up about an hour before we arrived, in part because I’m just slightly too tall for the bunk. As people walked up and down the aisle to reach the bathroom, they would brush my toes ever so slightly. A creepy, creepy feeling. I tried to curl up enough for my toes to be out of reach, which didn't work so well. So I got up and walked down the car to the open door to watch the countryside go by.

We reached the train station and walked down to the main road to find some breakfast and directions. We sat down at a local place and had masala dosa and a nice coffee for breakfast. John had laid out a bit of an itinerary for us to see temples in Srinangapatnam. I’m not up on the history of the temples, the Mysore battles led by Tipu Sultan and his defeat by the British, but John did great write up on his blog [here].





Kids playing in a dungeon that formerly housed British soldiers


The autowallah's shy daughter

Mysore is at least 10 degrees cooler than Chennai, so we decided to go enjoy the breeze on a rooftop restaurant with a tall, cold kingfisher. Ordering a beer at a restaurant in Chennai is a bit trickier. I think the city's conservative character makes liquor licenses somewhat difficult to come by, and women don't commonly drink either. [More to come on adjusting to gender roles in later posts.]

The next morning we got up early to climb the 1000 steps to a shrine on Chaumundi hill, visited the bizarre Godly museum, saw more shrines and temples, went to the Maharajah’s palace and checked out some market stalls. Sunday night we took the overnight train back to Chennai. Three bunks each made for a slightly less comfy ride home than the ride there, but we made it back in one piece. I think my next weekend trip will be to Pondicherry – the small French outpost a few hours away from Chennai. Cheese! Wine! Yay!

A few photos from the Mysore trip are below, and more are on my flickr photostream.


The Maharajah's palace at night

Chaumundi Hill




Cows selling sodas and water


Selling dry paints in the market