Tomorrow (15th August) is Indian independence day so all those working in S/W companies in India have a loooong weekend of 3 days. So my sis’ bro-in-law came over to meet us and my sis who is coming down tom(monday, 15th August)
His was pre-planned but what was not pre-planned was a trip to Mysore, a town close to Bangalore. He had never visited Mysore and for first-timers there, there are quite a few good places to visit, most notably being the Mysore Palace and the Brindavan Gardens, one of the largest garden’s in India(and possibly the world)

Well, the plan had to be modified though since my dear parents made a plan with my uncle to visit a waterfall, which was about 60 kms in a triangle from Mysore. Even after some protests from us that we wanted to visit Mysore instead of the waterfall, it was of no use and we had to go to the waterfall. (For those of you who know Karnataka, the waterfall in question is Shivasamudram)

Well off we went to the waterfalls. On the way there, we decided that we could possibly go to Mysore directly from there. It was decided finally that we would leave for mysore from there and stay overnight there, returning in the afternoon of the 15th to meet my sister.

So off we went to Mysore. But the start was not good. The way from Shivasamudram to Mysore was pathetic. We had to go extremely slowly since the road was not built properly and was broken almost everywhere. So what should have taken us about an hr took us 2 1/2 hrs. So by the time we got to Mysore, the garden’s (on the opposite side of the town from our approach) was about to be closed for entry. So we decided to catch the Mysore Palace, which is lit up with thousands of lights every sunday for an hour which again would be switched off in like 15 mins.

About 5 mins after we reached the palace, the lights were turned off. After that we decided to check into a hotel and then visit another spot, a church there. Now the painful part started. Due to the long weekend, Mysore was choc full of tourists, both indian and foreign. As a result, all hotels were booked. We tried about 20+ hotels for a room without success. And our not knowing the town, it’s areas, it’s routes and hotel locations did not help either. Everywhere we went, there was no vacancy at all. And by the time we gave up, it was 11pm. So we were without a room for the night, and had not had our dinner yet. Since Mysore is small, most restaurants close by 10pm or so. We however went into a larger hotel where the restaurant was open and sat down for eating while discussing what to do next.

My parents had strictly forbidden us to drive at night so going back was mostly out of the question since we would have to face their scoldings. So we decided to spend the night in the car and think of something in the morning. But as the car grew more uncomfortable, returning home seemed more appealing. Finally having had enough, we decided to return with the valid excuse that we got not a single room (we is 3 ppl, My cousin bro, sis’ bro-in-law and me). We left the town at about 12-12:30 expecting to reach at about 3. The road this time was excellent and driving was very pleasant. We finally reached home at about 3:45 in the morning. But neither my bro nor me had a key so we had to ring the bell.

My dad, the “worrier” that he is, peeked out of the door with a very astonished and worried expression not expecting the bell at that time in the morning. So we got in and did not face any anger since we were not to blame. And that is how, our little trip turned around on us and bit us in the behinds :-(