Delight and discovery in India's finest city
Mysore has to be India's finest city. No other place can match
its inexhaustible stock of palaces, its broad spotless avenues
and its palpable link with its past. Unlike cities like Delhi
and Jaipur, Mysore's past is not restricted to monuments and ruins.
Its past is alive and well, lovingly maintained and enjoyed to
the full.
 As a city rife with tourists, tourist guides and tourist information,
it is easy to know exactly what to do and when. For example, Sunday
evenings are a must at the city palace. At seven each Sunday evening,
the palace bursts into a blaze of gold in a spectacular light
display.
Visits to the nearby Chamundi Hills, to see the black-stone
Nandi peaceably chewing the cud must be planned for the evening.
Then there is the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel, which must be visited
at night if you wish to suffer the food and service, but still
savour the experience of eating in a real palace.
It is worth visiting the elephants at the zoo, worth shopping for
sandalwood, worth eating Andhra food at RR in the town centre.
In short, worth it.
Accommodation is plentiful, ranging from palaces to hovels. But
the best accommodation by far, is the Hotel Metropole. Luxuriously
old-world, with a charm and feel that are truly rare to find,
this place is every bit worth it. Air-conditioned doubles cost
about Rs 1,200, though cheaper non-AC rooms are also available.
The building was built as the maharaja's guesthouse. Which means
that wide airy balconies, bathtubs, dressing rooms, four poster
beds, silver tea service and other such good things in life are
included.
Our next destination was the Kabini River Lodge at Nagarhole.
About 80 km south-west of Mysore, on the leeward side of the
Western Ghats lie the forests of this elephant sanctuary. The
Kabini Lodge has beautifully designed bungalows, set around a
reservoir at the edge of the forest. It is one of those places where
everything is taken care of, at a price. Rs 1,500 a head per
night includes a room, all meals and morning and evening jeep
safaris into the forest.
The sanctuary itself is rich in wildlife. Elephants of all sizes,
herds of elephants, lone adolescent male elephants fending for
themselves, baby elephants being pampered, tuskers protecting
their females, elephants galore. For the most part, the elephants
we encountered were engaged in the single minded pursuit of food,
which was quite appealing. Either they were grazing on grassy
meadows, or they were uprooting trees and ripping off branches
as a variation. They were having a good time, and we had a good
time watching them.
There are wild boars, bison and deer as well, several of them.
Fortunately, no one primes you for seeing a tiger, so you don't spend
the entire safari with your eyes straining for the sight of one
- which is just as well, because they are hardly spotted. But
the attraction here is undoubtedly the elephants and birds. Evidently,
there are thousands of bird species at Nagarhole, and it is a
bird-watcher's paradise. To get a closer look, there are coracle
rides arranged in the river every morning, passing flocks of
birds and, if you are destined, hungry crocodiles.
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