Mysore: no eyesore!

Which quite surprised me - it's actually rather a nice city. And the palace - the former seat of the Wodeyar maharajas - is splendid indeed. One of India's grandest royal buildings.

Bangalore market scenes

Here are a few scenes from the main Krishnarajendra (City) Market in Bangalore.















Markets are always colourful and photogenic places. I love them!

Last orders at the Bangalore Club?

 The Bangalore Club is a fabulous historical relic of the British Raj era. It's still thriving, with a membership waiting list of 24 years, I think they told me. You can even inspect the records from Winston Churchill's time stationed here as a young military officer. He famously chatted up the barmaids and left without paying off his bar tab.

It's a rather magnificent place - immaculately maintained, full of dining and drinking facilities, beautiful grounds, sports facilities and special shops for members, including a bottle shop and wine bar they were rather proud of.

So we jumped at the chance of a visit and a lunch at the place, when it was offered. Our host, it turned out was even a committee member of the august establishment.

The visit was made particularly interesting by the drama which was playing out in the local papers at the time, and which I'd been reading about. A few weeks earlier, one of the club members, a government official, was refused permission to park his car on the grounds, and his membership suspended when he kicked up a fuss about it. He retaliated by pulling the relevant strings to have the licensing authorities swoop, and they found all kinds of alleged licensing violations. So after 147 years of unbroken traditions, the bars were suddenly closed. There was no alcohol being served with meals, and the prized bottle shop was taped shut. More on this at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/bangalore-club-loses-liquor-licence-for-now/

Our host was very apologetic about all this, and he spent most of the time on the phone or in little huddles with staff and other committee members, discussing the situation. It had become rather complicated, we understood, with senior government ministers and several bureaucracies now involved! We had a good time anyway, and a thoroughly delicious non-alcoholic lunch.

The last time I checked, things were looking up again. A compromise had been worked out. The problem member had been reinstated, and the Men's Bar at least, was to be reopened. See http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/others/Its-cheers-at-the-Blore-Club/articleshow/45634381.cms?

All aboard!

This sighting, in Mysore in Karnataka, India the other week, represents my personal world record. Some years ago I sighted a family of five on a motorbike, in Malaysia or Indonesia I think it was. But I've never managed to snap a picture of more than four. Then along comes this group of six. And here's the proof!

Colourful women of Karnataka

And Kerala doesn't actually have a monopoly in this department. It's a similar story all over India, though there are undoubtedly variations in styles and colour. Here are a few pics from the neighbouring state of Karnataka.