Wednesday 27 April 2011

An Overnight at Srirangapatna Part 2

The start of the morning turned out to be wet and cool due to the rains and very soon turned hot and humid. The day was reserved for exploring Off –beat places in Srirangapatna. After breakfast at Pegasus we checked out and went to meet Vinay , he is from Royal Mysore Walk and was taking us around.

We started with Paschima Vahini Ghat.

Though I had passed this place many times on the way to Coorg, this was the first time I had visited it. This is supposed to be the place where one of the tributaries of River Kaveri flows in a different direction as opposed to the main river. This is considered extremely auspicious and ashes of many great personalities like M.K Gandhi have been immersed here.

The next stop was the flag post close to the Mysore gate, this is the highest point in Srirangapatna and one gets a 360 view of the town from here.

This is also next to Tipu’s rocket manufacturing and testing unit which is now used as the sewage control unit for the town.

Vinay managed to connect different occurrences in history with what was happening in Srirangapatna and hence the narration became even more interesting. He also had old maps and pictures that made imagining the events easy.

From here we headed to the Chola temple situated behind the Lal Mahal.

It is said that since people climb the Gopura (Tower at the entrance of temples) of the temple and peeked into the palace, it was taken down.

The priest at the temple have been there for 10 generations and the records of Vijaynagar Empire contains instructions on the amount of groceries that needs to be provided to the priest here. One can find this detail written on a tablet in the temple. Photography is not allowed inside the temple and it closes at 10:30 am

A small drive from here was our next stop, old railway station office.

First look at it one is transformed to Malgudi Days. The pillars in this place are from the Mysore Palace. When the wooden palace was burned down the salvaged pillars and doors were donated. Since it was considered inauspicious to keep remains of a burnt palace, there were few takers and hence they landed up here. With the laying of double track between Bangalore and Mysore this building will soon disappear. I hope this time as well they are willing to donate the pillars; I would love to take 2

Close to the station is the weapon storage unit (Gun room) used by Tipu Sultan.

This is also something that will be gone when the tracks for Bangalore Mysore is laid.

After exploring this part of town we headed to the Obelisk.

This is situated close to dungeon and gives you a beautiful view of the river from the tip of the fort. The Obelisk is built in memory of the British Officers and units who died during the siege of Srirangapatna on 4th May 1799. There is also a theory that the breach of the fort happened here as opposed to near the water tank. Close to this place there is a wearhouse which used to be a hospital built by the British.

From here we headed to the water tank, the last stop for our 2 hours guided trip. This is close to the place where Tipu’s Body was found and one of the stories about the breach indicates that it happened here. The trip ended with Vinay talking about the dying Sultan and the end of an era.

Early breakfast meant that we were hungry by the time our tour ended. We headed to a roadside restaurant towards Mysore called Poojari’s Fishland. This is definitely a place I would recommend to fish lovers. The food was yummmm and really fresh. After stuffing ourselves, it was time to head back to Bangalore and it turned out to be about 5 hours journey.

Pictures

https://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/Srirangapatna#

An Overnight at Srirangapatna - Part 1

It all started with plans for girls day out, friends planning to catch up sans husbands. But then the plan sounded so good that the hubbies joined in as well.

Long Weekend meant that we had very few places to choose from. After some failed attempts to find accommodation in the popular holiday destinations we decided to do an overnight at Srirangapatna.

We read about a place called Pegasus Art Bistro and decided to give it a try. (Of course beggars can’t be choosers).

Though we left at about 8:30 am, due to holiday traffic we took 5.5 hours to cover the distance of 120 Kms. Tired and hungry we finally reached Pegasus.

The rooms at Pegasus were nice looking and the creeprs growing on the roof and around gave it a pretty look.

The rooms had abstract painting done by the owner’s late husband and made it cozy.

While we settled our lunch was being cooked. Luckily the host is a good cook and we got some tasty European Food. The long journey and heavy lunch has made us sleep. While some wanted to rest, Akshata , Kavisha and me decided to visit Ranganatitu. By the time we got there it was almost closing time.

Unfortunately for us since it was the last ride for the day, the guide/boatman looked disinterested and didn’t point out birds.

Seeing us with bird book, binoculars and camera people on the boat, kept point birds and asking for names. Luckily for us they were the popular birds and we could easily identify them.

The only time he mentioned the bird was when we saw a Night Heron and started looking at the field guide to identify it. That’s when we realized that he knew the birds that were around. The ride was over in less than 10 mins and for a longer ride we were asked to book the 1000 Rs Boat Ride. We decided to do that some other day. After walking around the shore for a while we headed back to the home-stay

Just as we settled in at the home-stay the sky opened and we had a downpour that lasted through the night. The night’s stay was uncomfortable due to the leaks the rains caused. Everything around had a wet feeling. Though we were tired the night turned out to be a sleepless one.

The owner recognized this and charged us less for the stay. She mentioned that the leak was due the fact that the tiles had just been laid and they had not yet faced a rain to identify leaks

Pictures:

https://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/Srirangapatna#

Information:

The resort is situated on Mysore By Pass (Yelwal Road). The road is pretty bad especially the stretch close to KRS dam turn on.

The Bird Sanctuary opens at 7:00 am and one can hire a boat for 1000 Rs and get a 30 mins ride. If you are a birder I think that this would be a better option than the regular rides

List of Birds Seen

  1. House Crow
  2. Jungle Crow
  3. Black Kite
  4. Brahminy Kite
  5. Black Ibis
  6. Black Headed Ibis
  7. Painted Stork
  8. Open Billed Stock
  9. Night Heron
  10. Pond Heron
  11. Rock Pigeon
  12. Spotted Dove
  13. Pied Wagtail
  14. Jungle Babbler
  15. White Cheeked Barbet
  16. Rose Ringed Parakeet
  17. Common Tailor Bird
  18. Pale Billed Flower Pecker
  19. Crimson Rumped Sunbird
  20. Common Iora
  21. Darter
  22. Little commorents
  23. Eurasian Spoon Bill
  24. Common Flame Backed
  25. White Browed Fantail
  26. Spotted Owel
  27. Red Vented Bulbul
  28. Red Whiskered Bulbul
  29. Indian Robin
  30. Pied Bushchat
  31. River Tern
  32. White Breasted Kingfisher
  33. Stock Billed Kingfisher
  34. Pied Kingfisher
  35. Common Myna
  36. Jungle Myna
  37. Hopper
  38. Baya Weaver Bird
  39. Little Minivet
  40. Magpie Robin
  41. Swallow (too far off to ID)