Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
Around the world in 2000,
via Asia and Madagascar.
Mysore (India)
Bec2004-09-18 18:03:27
Displayed times (last time: )
during all that time but that's not the case. India is the world's largest democracy. There is a free press and free elections are held from time to time. The governments responsible for the exploitation of the majority by the privileged few have been freely elected by that very majority.
Villages like this one have no electricity, no running water, no sewers and no latrines. More than one third of all Indians have no latrines! Did the peasants living here vote to keep latrines and hygienic facilities out of their village? Do they like to see their infants die of typhus and diarrhea? How can people be made to act so irrationally against their own vital interests? How could this collective madness be explained?
Mysore
The bus got to Mysore before I found a definitive answer to my troubling interrogations so I decided to concentrate on the practical problems on hand. I found a decent hotel (Ganesh Palace), not too far from the bus station for a reasonable price (5.80$US for a room with private bathroom) and took a motor rickshaw to the eastern gate of the Maharaja's Palace.
The visitor's entrance was on the other side. I had to pay the guard a few rupees to get in this way and I had to buy a ticket as well but it was nice to get the first view of the palace from the grand avenue in front as the architect had no doubt planned it.
The construction of this huge palace began in 1897 to to replace the old wooden one that had just burnt down and was finally completed in 1912. The Wadiyar dynasty , reputed to have originated in 1399, lost their kingdom to Muslim invaders in 1761 but were reinstated by the British after their defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799.
The side view of the palace from the tourists entrance is also impressive. It was forbidden to take photos inside and we were too closely watched for me to try. That's unfortunate for it was interesting to observe
...
See photographs from:
India Gallery
