[UP] The Mysore Story, Day 1

Because the previous blog, Mysore Bound, was real long, I've decided to split it up here.

I'm BACK! and I'm feeling on top of the world!I have not updated my blog for over 2 weeks, hope I make up for it now. A good, long ride is like a drug, and without any hangover too! Lets see.... whats next? ahh yes, the Ride Story.

Day 1- Got up early, round 0430(Thats new), and finished the usual stuff(Brushing, Bath, etc). Ma insisted to do a bit of aarti to the bike, to ward off mishaps, and I let her. We were off (Packing was done the previous evening)on the dot, at 0500 Hrs. We passed thru the city, via Porur, and found the National Highway pretty soon. After that, it was smooth sailing all the while. The Bike performed excellently, without a single cause for concern, except that it did not pull after reaching 105KMPH. We passed some lovely, scenic places, Green paddy fields, yellow fields, Sugarcane fields, Distant mountains, Lovely, smooth roads et al. We stopped in chitoor, about halfway to our destination, for breakfast. We Had Dosai at Hotel Nandhini, a place that served only Andhra type food. Soon, we were breathing fire, and gulping down water. My father has a curious kinda reaction to spicy food, he starts hiccoughing., and here, he promptly started. The hotrel was decent enough to provide us a visitors book, and we appreciated it(Coz I dont remember even the Taj giving us one, while we were there).

We hit the road again, and around 70km on, we made an unscheduled stop at the Mulbarg Hanuman temple . We spent an insightful 30-40 mins there. All too soon, we left the diety in our rear view mirror, and thumped on.

Our first signs of being close to Bangalore was the chill in the air and the gradual climb. At a distance we saw a suspension bridge, and therby entered Bangalore. We made our way across the crowded city, and reached the Mysore road. As we rolled into my uncle's house, the expression of my Aunt's face said it all.We spent the evening in the abode of my Cousin's place.

My little cousin, Smruthi, now in the 7th std, was scheduled to get a prize for being the topper in her class.All of us went up to the beautifully decorated stage, and cheered madly when she shyly made her way to the podium.Our hands were numb with clapping.Two other incidents stand out in my mind for that evening. One was the beautiful speech given by the Swamiji of the school, it left me tingling all over, which was a big deal, as I slept all the way thru Deve Gowda's speech.... wonder how that clown became the PM of our noble country. Another incident was when the school choir was singing "Kannadada Deepa(Kannada Lamp)" Pretty nice song. But what made it special was the huge oil lap they had kept near the stage catching fire and sending a 10 foot flare straight up. The poor kids in the choir just sorta clammed up...... lots of screaming mothers happened.... but it ended pretty well. To their credit, the school handled it very well. While coming back, me and Amshuman,(Smruthi's Elder brother) , went and had divine Gobi Manchurian. All hail the Mughals!