Trip to Mysore : November 1st

It was a last minute decision to go to Mysore on a one day trip as November 1st was a holiday for all on account of Kannada Rajyothsava.

We woke up early morning at 3:30 am and got ready for the trip.We started at around 6:30 from Bangalore the weather was awesome for travel as it was drizzling, just the way i liked it :).It was cold and FM played some awesome songs on the occasion of Kannada Rajyothsava.

We reached Chamundi temple around 10 a.m.We had halted in between for sometime for breakfast on a roadside dhaba and had hot thatte idlis and vadas.We parked our car some yards away from the temple as told by the traffic policemen there and walked towards the temple.The road that led us to the temple was full of small stalls which sold variety of wooden articles, bangles, toys etc.There were many flower stalls which sold pooja baskets as well.This was quite obvious as it was temple premises but the rates were almost double compared to that in Bangalore for the same pooja basket.

we had to purchase the tickets for the darshan which was 20/- for the normal darshan and 100/- for the special darshan.Special darshan was supposed to be a smaller queue which let directly into the temple and joined to the other queue somewhere closer to the main temple.We took 20/- tickets and had to wait for sometime in the queue till our chance to get in and have the darshan of Goddess chamundeshwari devi.

on our way out, we could see idols of Lord Anjaneya and Lord Ganapathi.There were priests standing nearby serving aarthi and theertha for the devotees.

Once we were out we got to visit the stalls and do our shopping.We noticed that the rates were very high.The cucumbers, for example, which are sold like 3 for 10/- in Bangalore costed us 10/- each.

Then we left for Nanjungud which was 26 Kms from chamundi hills.The roads had boards indicating the directions which made the journey easier.As we entered the place we could see a huge idol of Shiva.As it was a monday and a holiday, Nanjungud was pretty crowded.we didnt go for the normal darshan here as we thought it would take a lot of time and instead we bought the 100/- special darshan tickets.

One good thing was we didn't have to purchase tickets for kids.We were let inside but even the special darshan queue was quite huge and we had to struggle to get the darshan. After the darshan we got two laddoos for each ticket at the prasada counter.

Nanjungud is a temple for Shiva but Inside the temple there are may other small temples.The whole temple is built with stone which gives it a nice apeal.It also has a river flowing close by which makes it more beautiful.

We finished darshan and came out around 2:30 am but outside the temple premises there were not as many stalls as in chamundi hills.We got into the car and started our journey back to bangalore.We planned to visit the Nimishambha temple on our way back.We stopped for lunch and it continued to drizzle.

we had reached Nimishambha at around 4:30,We went near the river that flows near the temple and washed our feet.we could see some people feeding puffed rice for the small fishes in the river.They were quite a few fishes.There were round boats on the shore ready to take the customers on a ride if they wished to.we didnt bother to take it anyway.But by the river side we could see many stalls of chats,vegatables,greens,fruit juice etc...

we quickly made our way to the temple as we didn't want to get late.we bought the 20/- tickets for special darshan and entered.We could see the Goddess Nimishambha dressed in a beautiful golden sari.There were a bunch of ladies singing in praise of the goddess in the queue.I must say they sang really well.

Once we were out of the queue after having the darshan we went around the temple.We could find that Lord Ganapathi and Lord SuryaDeva(Sun God) were other gods that were worshiped there.

Inside the temple, at the entrance, towards the right side there was a stall which sold saris that were used to dress the Goddess Nimishambha herself. we could find some people purchasing them.I must say i was tempted as well, but i didnt.I am sure someday i will buy one for my collection.

We went back to the river side stall to buy some fresh veggies and have some chats.Then we were back on our way to Bangalore.It continued to drizzle making our journey back also nice and memorable.