First Look

New to the southern domain of India, I was a little apprehensive of how it might turn out to be. Verily, when the Mysore Express pulled into Mysore 7 hours behind schedule, after two long days of hard journeying, it did nothing to ease my apprehension.

Not that the journey itself had been bad. I did manage to find some fellow travellers to Bangalore on d train. Neha Salah, HR at a private firm and Darth, tech guy at Cognizant. Travellers less, students more. But good companions. The two days were spent in fun, exchanging berths, food and a lot of music.

On the morning of 26th, as the train pulled into @Vishakhapatnam, I felt a certain shift in the climate than what I was accustomed to. Far on the horizon were the blue Nilgiri Hills. Backbone of the south. When not cracking the silliest of jokes n laughing our asses off, the day was spent hanging from the train's doors, gazing out at the blue hills in the distance n the waving coconut/khajur trees lining every single road. Bangalore, we reached at 5am in the morning where I bid adieu to my new companions.

All my doubts were laid to rest as our train pulled into Mysuru junction @10am. I was awestruck. A more serene and peaceful city I hadn't seen. It was like the entire city had been taken out and put out of time compared to the contemporary world. A timeless old fashioned classic.

I reached my destination from the station in one the hundreds of autos that ply here. I didn't look back once. I was looking forward to staying here. Getting to know this place inside out. Little did I know what this place had in store for me in the weeks to come! ;)Read more