Modern India - The Mysore Magician

I have an amazing tale to tell from my visit to Mysore, India.  Allow me to set the stage…..
When I was studying at the University of Mysore back in the 70’s, I grew familiar with many of the street performers in the city.  This particular magician and busker was a favorite of all the foreign students, and we would often watch him do his act, chat about his family--he had 4 sons and 2 daughters he was very proud of--and give him a generous tip.  I posted this picture, and others, in my Vintage Mysore post, and in preparation for this trip I had the photographs printed out to take with me.  This turned out to be a brilliant move.

I returned to Mysore this summer on a day trip from Bangalore, travelling with my daughter Alice.  After a stop to admire Shivanasamudra Falls, our intrepid and excellent driver Ramakrishna took us to the Hotel Sandesh for an early lunch.  Afterwards we conferred with him on the agenda for the rest of our day.  We wanted to visit a few of the standard tourist attractions, but my main agenda was to revisit the University and some of the neighborhoods that were the scenes of past adventures.  At this point I pulled out my photos, to reinforce the point that I had lived here previously and show him some of the half-remembered locales.. Ramakrishna looked through them with a mix of incredulity and amusement, then pulled out of the hotel parking lot with a thoughtful mien.

He suddenly stopped, backed up, and called out to the hotel doorman; they had a conversation (in the Kannada dialect) for a few moments.  The doorman ducked around a corner of the hotel, and a minute later this man came over to our car:
He looked somehow familiar…..and we discovered he is the son of the magician I knew in the 70’s. He is also a street magician and busker, and one of his hangouts is the parking lot of the Hotel Sandesh. 

Ramakrishna’s grandparents were from Mysore, and he had visited as a child.  My picture sparked his remembrance of the father, from other trips shuttling tourists he knew of the son,  he made the connection, and located him at that hotel at that very moment.  The level of coincidence and serendipity that allowed all this to happen is just staggering to me.

The magician lived to a good age, but had long since passed away.  His family didn’t have any pictures of him, until I gave this one to his son:

He did his act for us, pulling out the tricks of his trade from his bag.  Astonishingly,  many of them I recognized as the exact same tricks his father had done.  It was like déjà vu.

I have some short videos that will give you an idea of his repertoire and his pleasing personality. First up, the standard ball and cup routine:

Next, a card trick. I’m still not sure what the point of this one was, but he sure was a whizz at shuffling and misdirection:

This one involves fire and a large quantity of rusty nails, and is not for the easily squeamish:

And last but not least, a performance on the fiddle.  Watch his fingers, and listen to the great tonal characteristics he pulls from his very basic instrument:

We tipped him very well!

In general I emphatically am not a magical thinker, but in my personal history Mysore has assumed  a mythical role.  A bit of searching found this definition of contagious magic:
“magic that attempts to affect a person through something once connected with him or her, as a shirt once worn by the person or a footprint left in the sand; a branch of sympathetic magic based on the belief that things once in contact are in some way permanently so, however separated physically they may subsequently become.”

Parts of that seem applicable here; I’m not sure how to apply my usual logical processing to the situation.  I’m glad that there are mysteries in the world, and that I’ve been privileged to experience a few of them.

If you are new here, you can view all of my India travel posts by clicking on the appropriate tab at the top of the page.  Thanks for sharing the journey with me!

Modern India - Shivanasamudra Falls

On our road trip to Mysore, the driver recommended a side jaunt to Shivanasamudra Falls.  Almost an hour’s drive on bumpy roads through small agricultural villages brought us to the site.  The initial view was encouraging, and we proceeded down a set of steps to two viewing platforms.

The Kaveri river splits around a large island into a series of falls, then joins up again at the base. 

It’s magnificent.

The falls run year round, and the river powers a nearby hydroelectric plant.  It was the first one built in Asia, in 1902, and the power initially went to the Kolar Gold Fields.

I’ve seen my share of waterfalls, but nothing to compare with this.  The way the falls broke up over the rocks was mesmerizing.

A quick video:

 

Another quick video:

 

Plus, there were monkeys.

 

Back at the parking area, we paused for some tender coconut water.  Anyone who has visited the tropics will know this drill--for a small price, the vendor will lop the top off an immature coconut with a machete, and hand it to you so you can enjoy the coconut water inside.  It’s generally safe from contamination, although the savvy traveller carries their own straws, and very refreshing and hydrating.

On the way back to the road to Mysore, through more small villages, we shared the road with the occasional tractor, but more often teams of oxen pulling carts.  My favorite vignette was a very old man, dressed in a dhoti, riding a bicycle, and herding a large flock of black goats along the road.  He was also talking on his mobile phone.  It seemed symbolic of the ways things have changed, and not changed, since I was last here. 

Modern India - Nandi Hills

 

From Bangalore I made a day trip to the nearby Nandi Hills, an ancient hill fortress / hill station.  The hills rise dramatically from the flat plains, and afford wonderful views of the surrounding countryside.

There are several paths to explore, and a large swath of the unique peninsular gneiss rock also found at Lalbagh gardens.

You can see how happy I am to be outdoors and hiking around!

At the edge of the gneiss outcropping, there is a fence in progress, to prevent the kind of potentially perilous behavior these teens are indulging in.  The rock is slippery, so I exercised due caution.  At the right of this picture, you can see very old fortifications:

The walls have small spy holes / rifle ports.

Yet another spectacular view:

As I hiked around in the lush environment, I kept encountering plants I’m familiar with as houseplants, like this Hypoestes:

This temple was built into and extended out from the rock:

Appropriately, there’s a large Nandi statue on the Hill; here’s  the signage:

And the tree, covered with offerings:

And the Nandi:

The statue is regularly anointed with butter, into which are pressed flowers:

Also nearby is a small Muneswara temple under a spreading banyan tree:

There are some small guesthouses and restaurants available:

As well as a large Horticultural Guest House and formal gardens to stroll in.

The weather was ideal, with pleasant temperatures and cool breezes.  It was another very good day in India.

Modern India - Bannerghatta National Park

Gets your attention, doesn’t it?  If this is what you saw in real life, it could be the last thing you saw…..Fortunately, I saw it while riding a bus through the Bannerghatta National Park Wildlife Safari, near to Bangalore, India.  (All of the pictures enlarge if you click on them.)

After arriving at the Park, procuring a ticket, waiting in a queue to have my ticket inspected, waiting in another queue, and boarding the bus, I took one of the remaining available seats, towards the back.  I was the only non-Indian on the bus.  There was a certain amount of gesticulation and discussion, then I was waved forward with cries of “single seat, Madam, single seat!” to the front of the bus and a prime spot looking out of the windshield.  This type of preferential treatment used to bother me, years ago when I was new to India, but I have since learned to selectively accept it.  When immersed in a foreign culture it is my responsibility to be polite, friendly, respectful, and not act like an idiot.  It is not my job to challenge the status quo at every instance, despite my egalitarian leanings.

One of the advantages of the “single seat” was that when the wildlife was located on the opposite side of the bus, the driver would gesture for my camera, lean out of the window, and take pictures for me.  He was quite good at it.  He captured the crocodile sunning on a rock, above, the water lilies, below, and many of the other pictures that follow.  Again, I just handed over my camera and went with the flow.  Everyone was happy.

It was a good photo safari.  The infrastructure of the park was a rather faded in spots, but the animals without exception seemed healthy, happy, and very well cared for.  They tended to gather at what appeared to be feeding stations, conveniently located for photo ops, which makes perfect sense.  That’s what drew these spotted deer to this clearing:

Here are some bison:

More deer--obviously not spotted, but I’m not certain of their classification:

The elephants were not wild, as they were being bathed by attendants, but charming and picturesque nonetheless:

Next up were the sloth bears, who sport impressive claws for digging up termite mounds, and protruding lips for vacuuming up the termites.  They are an endangered species, due to habitat loss, and the Park has a breeding program for them.  They were living up to the “sloth” part of their name by napping in the road, and were loath to get up and amble off:

We left the herbivore section and passed through security gates to various carnivore habitats.  We were lucky to spot quite a few lions:

Including this pair who were stalking each other:

They were obviously just playing--anyone with housecats will find these postures very familiar:

I wish I could convey to you just how LARGE a tiger is.  It is very startling to see one materialize out of the underbrush:

My gardening friends will observe that there is a lot of orange flowered lantana growing wild here, if you can take your eyes off of the tiger:

This is how close he came to the bus, although he was not the least bit aggressive:

The park also has a colony of rare white tigers:

After the safari, I took a quick tour of the zoo.  In general I find zoos a bit depressing, and this one was no exception, but again, the animals appeared to my inexpert eyes to be fed and cared for.  Here was a truck delivering freshly cut fodder to the hippos:

There were some free-range monkeys:

Another good day and culturally interesting experience.  I am having an excellent Indian adventure.