Friday 10 February 2012

Mysore, A City Of Tree Lovers

Living conditions have deteriorated badly in most cities in India. Air and noise pollution levels have risen tremendously, as has the volume of traffic. Simultaneously these cities have also become extremely pedestrian unfriendly. In this respect some of the cities that come to mind are Chennai, where I live, and Bangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, and Hyderabad, all cities that I am very familiar with. And, I understand from my friends who are as familiar with other cities in India as I am with these, that it is the same sad story with most cities in India.

Mysore is however one city that seems to have retained its charm. I have been visiting it, though not frequently, over the last fifty plus years. Of course it too has grown and changed during this time, but unlike other cities it has not yet become an unbearably noisy and  crowded concrete jungle. Though traffic has increased, many parts of the city are still very walkable, and the pollution level is definitely very much lower than that of other cities. And, although many old buildings have been replaced by bland new ones, this city still retains many fine old garden houses that give Mysore its special character. My wife Nithi and I therefore were very happy  to spend a lot of time wandering around on foot. 
The people of Mysore seem to hold parks and plant life in special regard. There were several parks close to the hotel where we were staying. One of these parks had a very interesting gateway. On the last day of our stay I decided to go and photograph it so that I could sketch it later. I then noticed several groups of people gathered together within the park, performing rituals near various plants and trees. I continued walking past this particular park and everywhere that I went, in all the parks in  that area, there were people of all ages coming in to pay their respects to the trees and plants. I had not seen this happen before in any of the other cities. Maybe this is something unique to the people of Mysore and that perhaps explains why Mysore alone, among all Indian cities, is bucking the trend and preserving some of its charm.

13 comments:

  1. Nice to see new work again! And lovely it is.
    Mysore must be a nice city, in my experience Indian cities are very heavy with traffic.

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  2. What a fantastic sketch you made from your photograph, you have put in so much detail. It is nice to hear about life in another country, and interesting to know your feelings about the way life has changed. We often feel like that here, as when we go back to revisit some towns, they all seem to have changed from what we remember them to have been. We often say we are travelling back to the land of 'Rush and Go', or is it just us slowing down!

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  3. I was in Bangalore and walking there was a hazardous occupation. There are no proper footpaths and the paths that are by the road are potholed, dirty and unpaved. We went to Mysore and visited the Place as well. One of our more memorable places there. Your sketches are beautiful.

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  4. Beautiful drawing. I really like the way you draw people. It's wonderful to be able to document places before they change.

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  5. Rene, Ann, Marmsk, & Nora...thank you all for visiting and commenting. I appreciate it very much.

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  6. you make Mysore sound somewhere interesting to visit, and the sketch of that beautiful gate is lovely....

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    1. In India Mysore is certainly one of the nicer cities to live in. It is also a nice place to visit, particularly if you are visiting from a much noisier, and warmer place as I was.
      In addition to the local sights it is also close to several places of interest to tourists like the Brindavan Gardens, Srirangapattinam (Tipu Sultan's palace), the temples at Belur, Halebed, and Somnathpur, and Shravanabelagola.

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  7. ...so enjoy reading your blog, and have to tell you my husband remembers Bangalore, his brothers used to go to school there, they lived in Khargpur which is a short train journey away. One day we may visit, but it won't be for a few years yet...

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    1. Thank you...I am glad that you like what I write about. Incidentally I came very close to studying at the IIT at Kharagpur, but eventually studied in Chennai and settled down here.

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  8. Hi,
    Thank you for this beautiful evocation of Mysore. It is very sad to see that Indians have become so disconnected with nature. This disconnection has also led Indians to eat foods that are so spicy, so much damaging to stomachs and health. In France, where I live, the society have become very multicultural and sometimes when I observe Vietnamese, Japanese, or Iranian people I wish that Indians would live in the same healty way that these people live, in connection with nature and eat healthy light food.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Thank you Sindbad. What you say is very true, at least of urban India.

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