MYSURU DASARA 2022

 It hadn't been even 2 months since I first visited Mysuru and yet I am presenting another travel blog of the Royal city. The city has casted a different spell on me. It's beauty attracts me like a bee to a flower. Being a Bengali, it was extremely difficult for me to spend Durga Puja far from West Bengal. So, I decided to take a one day trip to Mysore to witness it's infamous Dasara celebration. Let's get started- 

We were two people and we booked train tickets to Mysore. 

Tuticorin Express or TN MYS EXP (16235) 

KSR Bengaluru (SBC) - 6:55 AM --- Mysuru Jn (MYS) - 10:00 AM

Ticket fare - Rs. 145/head

The train was filled with passengers. It seemed that the whole of Karnataka is visiting the city of the festival. I was somewhat right. The peaceful city was filled with hustle and huge crowd. Local buses were filled with people. This time it was easier to travel in Mysore because I was familiar with the routes. 

Just like the last time, we took a bus pass and en routed towards Chamundi Hills. The place where the story of "Mahishasuramardini" originates. It is the place where after a long fight between Maa Durga and Demon Mahisasura, she killed the demon and set victory. That is the story of Maa Chamundeshwari. 

As expected, there was a long queue when we reached the temple. There were cars parked to a distance of 2 kms. The area looked so lively by the hustle of devotees waiting hours to get a darshan of Maa on the auspicious days of Navratri. You could see people of all age groups standing in the queue. We bought tickets for darshan and stood in the line. It took almost an hour and half to get the darshan of Maa Chamundeshwari. The temple was beautifully decorated with flowers. Even though there were hundreds of monkeys to destroy the decoration. Inside the temple, we hardly got a glimpse of the Goddess. We proceeded towards the exit after presenting the offerings. This was the auspicious start to our day in Mysuru. Seeking blessings from the Goddess during Navratri surely spread blissfulness in us

Our next destination was Bengalee Association Durga Puja near Railway Ground. Being a bengali, the urge to witness a Durga idol with idols of Ganesh, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Karthik is very strong.

The place turned out to be better than we expected. It was a small puja with a handful people of the association but they were extremely welcoming and warm. It felt as if we were a part of that small family-like association. After spending a tiring day of travelling-without food, they offered us bhog. Bhaat, dal, potol er torkari, chatni, papod and mishti. That food truly tasted like heaven. After a good meal and some rest, we moved on to our next destination. 

We had some time to kill before it turned dark and we proceeded to watch the road lights. We decided to go to Mysuru Railway Museum. The tickets costed Rs. 50/person. The time spent inside the museum was worth it. People who are close to me know my love for museums and this place was amusing to me. It had train bogeys dated 100 years back. The museum had information about the development of railways and so much more. I wandered around like an amused child. The museum was well maintained and had some real antiques. It also had a gift shop and a cafe. But the best part was the toy train. The two-minute ride was fulfilling. I've always wanted to ride on a toy train and that dream was fulfilled. After two hours, it was almost 6'o clock. Time to move out and head towards our next destination. 

We took an auto and headed towards the flower show. The streets were crowded as if the whole town was on the road. We made it to the flower show but the crowd at the ticket counter and the entrance was insane. We pushed our way through the crowd and entered the area. Thousands of people were gathered there, There were rides, food and huge flower arts. We were hungry, so we decided to eat the famous Gobi Manchurian and it was worth being famous. We also had some badam milk and pista milk. Now it was the turn to choose which rides to go to. It was difficult to choose, so we decided to ride on all of them. Giant Wheel, Tora Tora, Break dance and what not. We rode on some rides even twice. It was surely the best part of the whole trip. We were not satisfied with riding on them once but we were getting short on money and were on the verge of throwing up.

After moving out of the Flower show, it was time for Mysore Palace.

It was impossible to get an auto to Mysore Palace because all the road were 

jammed with crowd. We decided to walk to the palace. The roads were lit with 

thousands of light. It seemed like some kind of a fairy land. At that moment, I wanted the time to stop. As if I wanted to consume all this beauty. I felt full, the beauty that I was witnessing can never be described in words. 

As we reached Mysore Palace, it felt like my eyes would fall off the socket. I had never seen something so beautiful ever before and I can bet that nothing could look so beautiful. From the main gate to the entire palace was lit with lights and the palace seemed to be the most beautiful bride in the world. No matter how desperate I was to capture that beauty in my camera, I couldn't. It was a beauty that can't be captured but only be felt in the moment. I wish every second to go back to that exact moment. Feel the same heartbeat again when my jaw dropped at the beautiful sight of the palace. 

I would definitely recommend to everyone to witness the beauty of Mysore during the Dasara festival. If you haven't seen it, you've seen nothing. 

Clock was ticking as we had to return on the same day. The time flew away in a blink and we had one more location to discover. The Dasara Exhibition at The Palace Ground. As we entered the exhibition, we were at awe. The exhibition and fair was five times the flower exhibition. We felt like crying because we were out of time and there was so much more to discover. We went around the exhibition looking at many new rides that we wished we discovered earlier. We went around the whole exhibition but could explore much. We compromised with just 2 rides. Time was up and we had to head out for the bus stand. But we promised ourselves to come back again to this dreamland again, next year because you can never explore all the element of beauty, fun and mysticism of Mysuru Dsara in one day.

We headed out to the KSRTC bus stand where we were supposed to board our bus back to Bangalore. 

Bus - KeralaRTC Swift Deluxe Air Bus 

(Kannur to Bangalore via Mysore)

Departure time - 23:30 (mys)

Arrival time - 3:30 (blr)

bus fare - Rs. 281/person 

I hope my blog was detailed and would help you if you visit Mysore during Dasara. Hoping to interact with you soon with my next blog. Thank you.