Mysore

Trip: Bangalore > Ramnagaram > Srirangapatna >  Mysore >  Bandipur >  Mudumalai >  Ooty >  Coonoor >  Bangalore

The royal city of Mysore awaited us in its splendour. We had covered Ramnagaram and Srirangapatna the same day. We knew that special lighting is arranged for the Mysore Palace on Sundays and we were right on time. Staying at Prateek's cousin's place we started for the Palace at 7. By the time we reached the place was buzzing up with an amalgamated crowd of locals and foreigners.

Mysore Palace is lighted on Sundays

Ramnagaram

Trip: Bangalore > Ramnagaram > Srirangapatna >  Mysore >  Bandipur >  Mudumalai >  Ooty >  Coonoor >  Bangalore

We were on our way to Mysore when we realized that the famous Ramnagaram is just 30 miles from Bangalore. For the uninitiated Ramnagaram holds the Sholay point where the immortal dialogues like "Ye haath humka dei de Thakur" and "Naach Basanti Naach" was spoken by Gabbar Singh.

Yelagiri

1st Jan trips are becoming a ritual. We were boozing hard late night on 31st and slept for not more than 2 hours before starting for Yelagiri early morning on 1st. Yelagiri is a small hill station on the way to Chennai from Bangalore - some three hours drive. 

There was a YMCA establishment in the outskirts which we visited. Rooms were economical at 500-800 a day. 

A small lake and a botanical garden are the major attractions of Yelagiri.  We walked around in the pleasant warmth of January sun. As we were hungry since morning we settled at a restaurant near the lake and ordered a massive lunch.

We learned from the locals that there is a waterfall nearby - Jalagamparai Waterfall was five miles by trek or 50 miles by drive. We chose to drive. It proved to be worthy. We had a bath in fresh cold water and then settled near a temple for chit-chat. An hour or so passed by quickly before we decided to return. It was another memorable 1st Jan with friends.