Tag: Mysore

Onwards and towards Mysore!

October 5, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Day 2 – Part 2 :

After our late breakfast and baths, we started for Mysore on the nicest of the roads, the NICE road!

We had already informed our trip driver, who was probably in late 50s that we are vegetarians and he sounded disappointed. (No fancy meals for him on our tour!) Mr. UC, the driver was as slow in his driving, as was he in his talking, probably because he was talking in our language, Telugu and not in his mother tongue Kannada. 

We had booked an innova for our 11 day vacation,  but we couldn’t utilise the last row, as it was flattened out to carry our luggage,  which was huge, thanks to our 11 day itinerary!  (added to it was the suitcase of our driver)

KBee wanted to sit in the last seat and stare at all the vehicles following us on the highway,  but since the suitcases were stored there, he went ahead and sat on the suitcases and had the time of his life.

My little munchkins hate travelling in the car, I have no idea why. I used to enjoy our car trips when I was a child, we made every journey seem like a picnic experience. Touchwood!

Anyway,  they were already complaining half an hour into the trip that they are bored.  I told them to buckle up or shut up! (I am sick of them asking for screen time always) That made them start playing some game about finding alphabets on the road, nameplates, signs etc.

By the time we reached Chennapatnam, both had played more than 3 games and ended up sleeping! Peace, period!

As per our original suggestion,  UC took us to the Kamat hotel at Chennapatnam, a pure veg eatery.

We sat at a table and KBee was not one bit happy about the eatery. He saw cows in the shed and smelled cow dung in the air and he hated it instantly. He asked why we had brought him to a smelly place!

Food supplies hanging from the ceiling – Old World Style

We ordered green pea pulav, Mangalore buns for kids and two North Karnataka thali  for me and Mr.Bee. I had a hearty meal and was completely satisfied with the food. I had extra servings of majjige (buttermilk) and we exited the restaurant. (The kids had neither the pulao nor the buns, but ended up eating the soft jowar rotis from our thaali.)

North Karnataka Thaali – the healthy option

There was a shop in the campus and I bought myself a small terracotta Ganesha and a jute sling bag. My sweet muffins, the kids, reprimanded me that they are sick of my shopping! Shocking!

Who can resist buying such Cutie Pie? My 3cm tall Ganesha.

After our hearty meal, we started onwards, towards Srirangapatnam.

The temple is old and probably made of sandstone. It has been standing strong, all this while. I felt at peace and didn’t  mind standing and staring in every direction. It was a regular beauty! If you are interested,  you can even ride a horse near the temple.

After our temple visit was done, UC, suggested we go to the Nimishambika Temple as well, which is nearby.

We did go there, but since it was 3 p.m. , the temple was closed and would only be open for darshan at 6 p.m. according to one very old lady, who gave me this information in shuddh Kannada! I nodded my head and said ‘thank you’ and she went her way.

UC asked Mr.Bee for the next course of action and Mr.Bee told him our next destination is Payana, the car museum.

We saw many number of cars and some of them reminded me of black and white Telugu movies where the rich heroine would drive one such fancy car and the poor hero would get a lift to college or vice versa!

Inspite of seeing many beauties, the one I loved seeing was the good old Ambassador car and a scooter, similar to my dad’s first 2 wheeler, our Lambi, short for, Lambretta!

Our Lambi was silver and blue in colour and not white. This pic is from open source!

From the museum, we started for our hotel at Mysore. We reached Mysore at 6 p.m. and checked into the Parklane hotel, which had an old world charm to it. As I waited in the reception, for the hotel boy to pick our luggage, I wondered about the colonial past and the days of the Princely rule of Mysore! Deep thoughts indeed!

We retired for the night and asked UC to rest.

Mr.Bee ordered pizza for our dinner.

We ate and slept, having spent the day productively at my love, Mysore!

P.S :

1. The priests at Srirangapatnam are multi-lingual and once they saw that we were Telugu speakers, they guided us in Telugu.

2. I was happy more with the Ambassador car than with the Rolls Royce and BMW at Payana.

Incidentally,  the first car I ever rode was an Ambassador. When I was couple of days old my maternal grandpa had brought me home from the hospital in an Ambassador car. That must be one of the reasons for my love.

3. Pizza was surprisingly good. The hotel had advised us to order food through swiggy and we had no problem with that.

Start of a September vacation!

September 22, 2026 / / 1 Comment

Hai to all my readers,

I had been in and out of hospital in June and had to take some time for myself. So, naturally,  the blog took back seat. Now that I am up and about, I am getting my blog game-face on and back here.

Now for the actual post…..

What with lots happening in our lives, Mr.Bee, who has the most cortisol in our family, since he is the central pillar post, decided we need a long overdue vacation in September. (Both the kids have schools and all, but we decided to take a chance at going on vacation!)

Since Mr.Bee has always been a fan of Coorg like almost all software engineers, we charted our plans, made itinerary, jotted down the list and finalized our tour plan.

Day 1 :

We had Mr.Bee’s cousins visiting us and our house was buzzing with activity.  We made some last minute additions to our luggage,  went to my parents house to bid them farewell before our 11 day vacation.

Initially, the bus we were travelling was supposed to start at 9:30 p.m. at Kukatpally, Hyderabad. But, they called us at 7:30 p.m. to inform us to reach the stop at 8:30 p.m., as the departure has been pre-poned! (The sudden change in time meant we had little time for dinner!)

We got ready, made it on time and occupied our seats. Mr. Bee and KBee, I and GBee divided into teams of two. Thanks to the bus driver  constantly reminding us of the existence of the break pedal, I felt nauseous! Mr.Bee bought me some mango candy and Kurkure at the first stop after boarding, to help me beat nausea, but it didn’t help me at all.

The only idea I came up with is to sleep and that subsided my nausea. (Since it was MIL’s birthday, we had biryani for dinner and that caused me nausea. Word of advice, eat atleast an hour before travelling and eat light!)

Before sleeping, KBee , GBee and I had played ATLAS game, which was like Antyakshari, except here we tell any nouns starting with last letter of a word. So if we start the game with ‘S’ as in (A-T-L-A-‘S’), a word like Singapore,  the other player needs to think of a word with E (last letter of the word, Singapore), like an Elephant and so on.

Later, GBee and I chatted and played “country flag” game, where we guessed the flags of different countries.

We called it a night at 10 p.m. and slept.

Day 2 :

The next morning, at around 6 a.m. we reached the outskirts of Bangalore and GBee and I enjoyed looking out of the windows at the windmills, hills and the tiny towns, which were in the midst of nature. (The townsfolk don’t even know that some people like me are envious of them!)

By the time we reached our stop, at the Silk Board, it was already past 10:30 a.m.!

We reached R’s house, who is a close friend and colleague of Mr.Bee. He wondered why we had booked a bus service, which had been recently involved in a major fire accident! The bus driver was going slow for a reason,  their service was under scrutiny, thanks to the fire accident  and Mr.Bee had booked us in the same service, without any idea!

I should say I was actually worried about fire accidents in buses, but I refrained from sharing my concerns with Mr.Bee. Interestingly, I didn’t recall that the fire accident had been in the same bus service we were travelling in. If I had known, I wouldn’t have slept the whole night, like a scaredy cat!

Anyway,  we had a hearty breakfast of idli sambar, had our baths, because it was nearly 11 a.m. and eating breakfast after bath seemed stupid.

We bade goodbye to R’s family, got into the taxi we had hired for the whole trip and started for Mysore.

P.S :

1. I admire the outskirts of Bangalore, with a tiny town, hills in the background and wind mills doing their job! It looked so beautiful that, it reinforced my desire to visit Mount Fuji, Japan. Once I visit Mt.Fuji, I can check it off my bucket list. (I checked off Australian Kangaroo in 2016, which had been in my list since my 10th grade.)

2. Although I admire the scenic beauty, I wonder how it would be to live in a scenic town.

3. I pity the Generation Alpha. Even when the scenery outside our bus window was exquisite,  GBee wanted nothing to do with it. He kept demanding for the Samsung Tab, to play his Minecraft! (He got good many scoldings, so early in the morning)

To Ooty, at last!

June 24, 2023 / / 2 Comments

Day 2:

Originally we had planned on starting our drive from Bengaluru to Ooty at 6 in the morning but ended up starting little after 9:30 a.m. Inspite of that, there was little traffic. Thank Ram, Sita, Lakshman and their gang! (Just saw trailer of Adipurush and no wonder I keep remembering the said Gods!)

Mr.Bee rode us through the Nice Road, from Bengaluru to Mysore.  It was a good road and a drive on it felt like flying on the clouds! (I am scared of high speeds and Mr.Bee is a fan of speed racing.)

We made a brief stop near Mysore City Bus Nildana. I wanted to reminiscence the good old days of my life at Infosys, Mysore campus. My friends and I would come out of the campus every weekend to Devaraja Wodeyar Market and enjoy hours of retail therapy, called shopping by mere mortals! We would buy fresh fruits to last the week and I also remember buying a number of books by Agatha Cristie, along with clothes and accessories.

I showed one of our regular haunts to Mr.Bee, the Cauvery Emporium. He loved all the Rosewood furniture on display there. GBee refused to leave the Rose wood sofa set on display, whereas KBee was mighty impressed with the Rosewood inlay frames of Lord Ganesha on display!

Karthikeya(KBee) admiring the Ganesha Inlay!

The above pic is sourced from search engine, but KBee kept pulling at my kurti, to make me move towards this one frame of the elephant headed Lord Ganesha, all the while uttering the words, ‘It’s an elephant, it’s an elephant, mommy!’ (KBee couldn’t differentiate between my favourite God and an elephant. He is only 2 years old, so, Saat Khoon Maaf!)

I really really wanted to have my lunch at Das Prakash, since it was already late, we rushed to the Kamat  Madhuvan, Ittige Gudu, which was nearby. The Kamat Hotel at Lakdikapul, Hyderabad is a personal favourite, so we gave this Mysore Kamat restaurant a chance! (Next time Das Prakash!)

Although we had to wait a little while to get seated, I loved the food that was served there. We had the North Karnataka Thali. The menu had Jowar roti, methi leaves and cucumber salad, sprouts curry to name a few. It is a win win for health conscious people. We bought a paan at the end, to round up our meal. (I worried myself silly, that Mr.Bee may feel sleepy behind the wheel, what with such a hearty meal!)

The brief lunch halt turned out to be more than a two hour break, but never mind, who is rushing us? No one!

The Mysore to Ooty road is a pleasant drive.  We hardly met any traffic and the beauty was scenic. Just before entering the forest area, Mr.Bee and I bought Kala Jamun and Choco Bar ice creams respectively. (The kids were fast asleep in the car-bed and we enjoyed our ice creams!) We drove to Ooty via Bandipur Forest as well as Mudumalai Forest, saw deers, stags, elephants, monkeys in huge numbers. We also saw a couple of peacocks too. That’s when we woke up the kiddos, who were excited to watch the animals up close. In the middle of the forest, among-st the flora and fauna, I felt at peace! (in-spite of two hyper kids shouting at the top of their lungs!)

Since, all the deer are ignoring the camera, enjoy the scenery!

The Baby Elephant with its two legged friend.

The drive in the forest was the best. We took the longest possible route to Ooty, hoping to spot more and more animals and to entertain the kiddos. The ghat roads are a fun drive and after every 3 turns, there would be a tiny stall, selling boiled sweet corns, wild baby carrots, pickled Indian gooseberries (Amla in Hindi, usirikaya in Telugu) , jack fruits (panasa in Telugu) in varied sizes. The mountainous region looked over-populated, if the traffic is any indication!

By the time we reached our hotel in Ooty, La Montana it was already 8 p.m. and the temperature was 14 C. Since the dinner would be served only till 9, we rushed to our room for a breather and rushed to the in-house restaurant to have our buffet dinner.

La Montana – Heaven on Earth

The buffet was memorable because, there was a musician playing live music on his tiny piano. He was playing a recent hit song from the Tamil movie starring Dhanush and Samyukta Menon, Sir, to be exact. I even recorded it in a video, but it is not presentable, thanks to my kids running here and there, in front of my cell, trying to distract me!

Anyway, we reached the room, tried to watch a little t.v., but soon dozed off into a deep slumber, thanks to the cold climate, cozy bed and comforters.

Ooty, we will check you out tomorrow! That’s my last thought before sleeping away.

P.S:

  1. My precious little gems, my chocolate filled muffins, GBee and KBee talk mostly in English, even if I talk in Telugu to them. Looks like the pink Peppa Pig is a bigger influence than the stay-at-home-mom! They even have Peppa Pig night wear, those little tv addicts!
  2. La Montana – The heaven on Earth, because, the view is to die for! From the balcony, we could see the beautiful estates, the rose gardens, people going about their business, the nearby mountains, the huge trees and far away valleys, look at the Sun Rise, feel the mild breeze and what not! If you don’t have your cuppa tea here, in the balcony, every morning during your stay, I don’t know why you even planned your stay there!
  3. I forgot the shop, but in the Devaraja Market, Mysore, we get the best asafoetida or hing. My uncle showed the store to me, but I have forgotten it with the passing of more than a decade of time! (Any Mysore locals reading this post can direct message me. Any help is appreciated.)
  4. While we were passing the Mudumalai forest, I remembered Oscar winning documetary The Elephant Whisperers which was shot here and wondered if I would meet the now famous duo! We didn’t, obviously!
  5. I wonder who named the jack fruit, it feels like cursing the poor fruit!
  6. This is not a sposored post. I am just naming the eateries and places, which I really enjoyed.

Wait for the next post. Till then, adios!

For the Love of Pizza!

May 24, 2023 / / 0 Comments

*** Post written just after the lockdown ***

Firstly, let us give a classy Chef’s kiss to the Italians who brought Pizza into the world! Thank you! (I would also love to thank the inventor of pani puri, but that is a post for another day!)

My earliest memories of Pizza are from my schooling days, when all of us, a bunch of more than 7 kids (give or take, at each instance) would haunt our favourite Global Bakery, order a small pizza, eat a slice each and smile like Cheshire Cat!

Birthdays, meant parties at our adda, the Global Bakery! (It is still busy and thriving. The Country Oven, just opposite to Global Bakery never had similar luck. It failed to take off from the start and eventually, closed the shop, forever.) That started my love for Pizza.

Once we ended our hectic +2, pizza became a routine, which later increased manifold, as soon as I started earning on my own! (Go Midland Bakery!)

I also love the fact that, the girl gang in my workplace, would visit Pizza Hut and eat pizza to our heart’s content. Ah! Who can forget all the beautiful memories I have with my friend SV and RR who would eat pizza with me, once in a while, during our training at Infosys, Mysore. In-fact, my friend SV managed to hurt the pizza hut guy at the Food Court-2, by calling him an uncle! (He looked like a 30 year old and we were a couple of 20 year olds, he was hardly an uncle, but it was just the case of a slip of the tongue, aadat se majboor!) He took offense to that and refused to serve pizza to us (others would serve us), till we stayed at the campus for all the 5 months of training. Those were the days!

Even though I have been in love with Pizza since my teens, this post is not about me!

Na-uh!

Later on, once Mr.Bee and I moved to Charlotte, Pizza was our go-to lunch and dinner during our lazy days. We would order in, laze on the couch with remote in our hands, binge watching Netflix. I introduced some dramas to Mr.Bee like Switched At Birth, Gilmore Girls, Cheers, Fraser,Fixer Upper by Chip and Joanna, Love It or List It and he introduced me to Avatar: The Last Airbender, Heroes and also Fast and Furious films,(which I loathe by the way)

I remember eating Pizza filled with mushrooms, from Mellow Mushrooms. (I am not a fan of mushrooms), the particularly soft Papa John’s Pizza with a pickle on the side, the usual favourite Pizza Hut and Dominoes. But the taste I have always admired and begun to miss is the Garden Fresh Pizza from Fuel. The friendly atmosphere at the pizzeria was a plus. I love my pizza with a topping of Basil, accompanied by the yummy Garlic Knots and chilli flakes with more than a sprinkle of oregano.

Mr.Bee had ordered Fuel Pizza on the very first lunch we had, after landing in Charlotte, so ya, Fuel has a special place in our hearts. (The Korean eatery Emzy was his first choice, which was apparently closed on that day, since it is in the Business district of Charlotte, where everything remains closed on weekends!)

Office parties for Mr.Bee always meant eating pizza, which is the best option for vegetarians in the USA. You can always add toppings according to your taste.

Even if Mr.Bee loves pizza and had eaten more pizzas than me, he is not what this post is about, either!

It all started with the Corona Lockdown, which made it hard for pizza lovers like us to eat out, the solution was to make pizza at home. Luckily, we don’t have a heavy duty oven good for baking! (Lucky, because, we would have piled on many kilos in weight, if not for the absence of the said baking oven!)

So, making pizza is how we spent the weekend.

Before and After!

Credit goes to Mr.Bee for making pizza, he was the Chef in this case and I was his Sous Chef, cutting the veggies for him and guess who liked it the most, GBee!

Yup, this post is about our new fan of Pizza, GBee. He loves pizza, but hates all the toppings, he removes all the veggies and gives them to me, very respectfully! So he is just eating a thick crust with tomato sauce and black olives on it and nothing else, not even cheese!) Can we really say he loves pizza? I am not sure now!

Mr.Bee was happy, he has a fan in his pizza cooking phase. Since then, we made pizza one more time. He also tried his hand at sandwiches too. (Mr.Bee discovered his love for cooking during the lockdown. Now that there is no lockdown, we don’t see him cook, as regularly)

GBee was so happy about pizza being made at home, he ran out to the main gate, shouted at the top of his lungs about pizza, surprising the guests of our top floor neighbours!

Announcing the pizza being made!

Confused strangers!

We have managed to fool GBee into thinking sandwiches are also pizza! Guess who loves sandwiches now?

P.S:

  1. I have recently come across the diary I had been writing during the lockdown, so I am posting them here now, before they turn too irrelevant and old! I also have posts during toddler years of GBee. I just need time to get everything on the computer!
  2. Now, almost 2 years after this incident, GBee is still not interested in eating veggies on the pizza, except black olives and he has completely stopped eating sandwiches!

Till the next post, adios my friends!

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