It was getting quite late by the time we set out to the Brindavan Gardens. The road that we took to reach the Gardens was filled with vehicles and it was quite obvious that a very sizeable portion of the traffic was headed where we were going.
Since the traffic was getting heavier, our driver decided that he had to do all he could to ensure that his passengers saw the dancing fountains at the appointed time. The entire stretch of road from Mysore city to Brindavan Gardens was just an assorted collection of potholes. But this didn’t deter the noble intentions of our driver to take us to the show on time. He started to overtake vehicles from the left. Sometimes he even started driving on the right hand side of the road just to pass some 3 or 4 cars in front of us. I was having a ring-side view of the action since I was seated in the front, next to the driver.
He didn’t care for potholes; of course, if he started to, then we would have reached the Gardens only the next morning. By the time we neared the Gardens, it was clear that the parking lot was full. Cars had come out to the road and there were even big buses waiting on the main road. Our driver decided to drop us near the entrance and then go somewhere for parking. Luckily, he got a slot in the lot near the entrance and we proceeded towards the Gardens. By now, it was past twilight and officially night.
Once inside the Gardens, I was able to relate to most of the fountains. It was an area full of Patel Points and I joined in the fun. At some point during our walk in the Gardens, my mother made the comment “Idhu atthanaiyyum enga oorukku vara vaendiya thanni…paavigala….” (“All this water has to flow to my town you sinners”). Considering the general Karnataka-TN political water wars it was quite a bold statement to be made at Brindavan Gardens. Thankfully, the place is filled only with tourists and I am assuming that barely 10% of it would have been Kannadigas and even those would be the ones who don’t know Tamizh.
So without any incidents, we were able to proceed with our walk around the Gardens. Since it was getting late, we couldn’t stay back to enjoy the Garden some more. After we came out, we had to wait for nearly 15-20 minutes for Raji. She had also come there with her friends, but was on the other side of the Gardens. It took her and Mahendran that long on the phone to sort out their co-ordinates (with some help from me too). We then took off towards Mysore to have dinner and then officially wrap up the day.
After another exciting drive, we dropped Uthra and co. at their residence. We went back to the same restaurant where we had lunch. But now, we had to wait for a while before we got a table. My parents and even Mahendran to a certain extent had a quick nap in this gap. Raji joined us late since her friend took a wrong turn on the return and it took them a while to retrace their path in the darkness.
So after an arduous day (at least for my parents), we finally returned to our hotel. We planned to start a little late in the morning next day, with the main (and probably sole) agenda being the visit to Somnathpur. This was because I wanted to leave Mysore in the afternoon, so that we could avoid driving in the mountain route to Madikeri at night. The additional factor was also that my room was booked only for one day and I thought I could get a free hour or two before I check-out of the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel guys had other ideas.
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