Nandini’s dad happens to be Karnataka’a High Court Judge and customarily gets passes for all major events the Karnataka Government organizes. So this Dasara (An extravagant festival celebration organized by the Government in Mysore District, Karnataka, India. For more information read here) her dad got gold passes for the event and since they had other plans, Nandini gave it to Sharan and me to go watch the event.

After enough discussion, we decided to reach Mysore on Sharan’s Honda Unicorn since it was only 140 kilometers away from Bangalore. We left on Wed, 8 Oct 2008, at around 6pm and stopped at Barista which is located on the highway. Since the last time I saw the highway has changed a lot. The highway now houses Cafe Coffee Days, Barista, McDonalds, tens of Dhabas and plenty other places for one to stop and relax for a while.

We finally reached Mysore at 9.30 PM that night and since we had our hotel rooms confirmed in advance, thanks to Sharan, all we had to do was get in and freshen up and leave to have dinner. The security guard in the restaurant told us about RRR, one of Mysore’s famous place to have Biryani. We did find the food amazing after our dinner.

The next morning, we left to the Mysore Palace where the procession was scheduled to begin at 12.30PM. We reached the place at 11.30 and found a mile long queue. We wondered if we would even get a place to sit. Suddenly we felt the Gold Passes we were holding wasn’t all that precious. There were many others with similar looking passes. Laugh out Loud. After security checks, when we went in, one cannot ignore the spectacular Mysore Palace in the background. Even though I’ve been there a couple of times earlier,  each time you experience a whole new feeling. We sat in the seats allocated to us and watched the entire procession. It was a colourful and a splendid performance for people all over the state.

That evening we went to the closing ceremony for Mysore Dasara 2008. It was organized in a place called Banni Mantap. I loved the parade and the fireworks in the end, not to mention the motorcycle stunt performances. Since cameras weren’t allowed inside, we couldn’t take pictures. 

We left the next morning early at 6 AM stopping once to have breakfast in a highway restaurant. I was worried I would fall sick in all the bike rides we were doing in cold mornings, scotching hot afternoons and dry evenings. But luck was on my side. I am fit enough to be writing this post two days later.

Few pictures of the Procession (Click to Enlarge)

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Sen