World of Books and Travel

Wish you all a Happy Dasara. If you would like to read an article on Dasara, please click here. This year, Mysore Dasara is celebrating its 400th year. In the year, 1610, Raja Wadiyar ascended the historic golden throne of Vijayanagar Kingdom and started the ten-day festival at Srirangapatna. Vijayadasami, the 10th day of Dasara, is celebrated on the 17th October 2010.

On the early morning of a Saturday we reached Badami House at Bangalore to board the KSTDC tourist bus to Mysore. There were few other buses also ready to proceed to different tourist destinations. Sharp at 7.15 a.m. our Volvo bus, began its journey through the "not-so-crowded" roads (because of the time) towards its destination Mysore, located 140 kms away. Among the tourists, there were many domestic and international tourists as 'first-timers' to experience the well known "City of Palaces" and many repeated visitors like me. The weather was extremely pleasant and hence our journey was enjoyable. By 9.30 a.m. we stopped for our breakfast at "Hanchina Mane Restaurant" at Somanahalli. Our next stop was at historic town Srirangapatna . It was the capital of Mysore rulers Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, popularly known as Mysore Tiger. (Chamundeswari Temple) (Music Fountain) See the people trying to capture it in their mobile camera. (Hotel Mayur...