Monday, February 07, 2005

 

And I thought Louisiana roads were rough

This weekend I finally left the city and braved the open South Indian countryside with a trip to see the Maharaja's Palace in the neighboring province of Mysore (pronounced just as it looks - "my sore"). Which is a strangely fitting name, given the sensation of me arse after riding 4 hours each way on a two-lane country road in Indian traffic. And by country, I do mean *country*, and I'm from Louisiana, where our roads are the worst in the States - such was the price we paid to be legally drunk at age 18 (sigh). But potholes alone could not make a drive this exciting. You need Indian traffic. Indian traffic adds a whole new dimension. There are no clear rules, just a mad free-for-all with lots of honking, swerving, and jerky braking. You get points for checking motorcyclists and spooking cattle. And all the drivers make Evil Kenevil look like Driving Miss Daisy - our ace pilot would take us into the opposite lane and basically play chicken with the oncoming traffic until we were no more than 40 feet from a head-on collision, then proceed to jerk back into our “lane” by squeezing into a gap between two cars with about 10" to spare from either bumper. Then at one point, when Deathrace 2000 slowed to a grind at one of the small towns on the route, a bus actually bumped into us as it was gracefully trying to squeeze by through the two-foot “opening” b/t our car and the next. This was my opportunity to expand my knowledge of Indian profanity as our driver got out to inspect for damage. It was great.

But it was all worth it to see Mysore. Mysore is known as the “royal city” b/c this is where the Maharaja (king) of Karnataka built his palace. And from my observations, the bastard lived quite comfortably. The palace was filled with intricately worked doors and archways, pillars, stained glass work, and art collected from all over the world. And of course there was a separate palace for the king and queen, personal elephant saddles for all occasions… What’s scary is so much of what you don’t see. For instance, when you see all of the thrones and covered rickshaws that they used to cart the Maharaja around in, you are, quite understandably, amazed – but then you find out that these things used to *also* be adorned with hundreds of jewels and diamonds that were all looted when the British Empire took over. Finally, there was my favorite room – the armory! I’d try to describe it all, but that’s what my posted pictures are for. However my pictures are only of the outside, as you are not permitted to take a camera inside. So I am taking the lazy route by including this link -> http://www.mysorepalace.org - check this site out, especially the details of the palace rooms - it gives a pretty good idea of the obscene opulence of this place.

We also visited the Chamundeshwari Temple (say that one time real fast), Saint Philomena’s Church, the Jagan Mohan art gallery, and a nearby bird sanctuary in Bandipur. We didn’t go inside the temple b/c the line of devotees was about as long as a coaster line at Six Flags, and the temple was going to close before we could get in. Our driver said I could bribe the priest to cut in line, but I had to reject that plan on principle. First, I don’t know why but I can’t bribe a priest and second, that would be inconceivably rude to everyone in line. I was also hungry and it was time for dinner (can’t let anyone go thinking I have a conscience). I do not have the names for all the saints/demons carved on the temple yet, as I am still learning all the mythology, but I’ll post the pics now and get back to you later.

One very interesting thing I have noted about Christian churches here is the way the Hindu and Christian traditions meld together. The people here decorate statues and effigies of the Christian saints the same way they would a Hindu figure. Check out the photos and you’ll see what I mean…

I couldn’t take a camera into the art gallery either, but I can tell you that they have collections of artwork from all over Asia, as well as some very old pieces from India. I was very interested in a series of huge (8’ x 4’) paintings of Hindu mythology scenes that were *not* painted in the traditional Hindu style of the outlandish, but instead looked like paintings of realistic people in realistic settings, just as you might paint someone’s portrait. They made the myths seem that much more believable. But possibly the coolest thing there was this 500-year old grandfather clock that was some 4’ x 4’ x 6’ and featured a parade procession of soldiers circling every hour, a drummer that beat every second, an various other figures that did things every 15-sec, every 30 minutes, etc. I don’t have the time to really describe it now, but you couldn’t stand in front of this thing and not be amazed.

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