Kannada Rajyotsava-state of Mysore becomes karnataka

Today is the momentous day on which the state of mysore was formally named as the state of Karnataka 50 years ago. As we celebrate the 5oth year, many things have changed. The states were formed based on the languages prevelant in them. However, today the capital of karnataka-banglore is more of a metropolitan city with as many people speaking other languages as kannada if not more.Today as "Banglore" becomes "Bengaluru", not much is changing. English is becoming a language of choice for the students, due to its wide spread use, especially so in the newly emerging BPO industry.

If we need to preserve our language we need some inovative rather than drastic measures, such as picketing english language advertisement boards. When i say inovative, i refer to inititives like essay contests, awards to kannada writers, journalists and otehrs who have been working for kannada. I do agree that these measures may not seem to be suffecient.But atleast let us make an honest begining.

Karanji Lake mysore

Since i have started talking lakes, let me continue with another lake. The "Karanji lake" is situated on the way to the chamundi hills, just behind the zoo. The lake is being maintained by the zoo authorities and remains in good condition. Generally the lake is open for the public. But tuesdays there seems to be a restriction of some sort. Boating was allowed in the lake, however, things seem to have changed with a few accidents happening in the lake.

This lake also has its own share of birds and Butterflys. It is also called a nature park, due to its huge butterfly population. You can take a look at it in the evening light at

http://vikram404.blogspot.com/2006/08/karanji-lake-nature-park-mysore.html


The lakes in mysore may go the same way that lakes in all the bigger cities have gone. Attempts will be made to make them land fills and build tall buildings.Lets hope the sanity in men will survive and we will let these lakes live.

Kukkarahalli lake -Mysore

Mysore has a number of lakes, dating back to the times of the maharaja's. when the irrigation system was not very well developed,prior to the construction of the KRS dam across the kaveri river, these lakes provided the water needed by the people of the city. Later on the british built water pumping stations for some of these lakes. Kukkarahalli lake is one of the bigger lakes which has become popular recently due to efforts by the citizens forum of mysore. You can find details about the lake about the lake at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukkarahally_lake

Efforts by the mysore university and other citizens has resulted in cleaning up of the sewage, which was polluting the lake. Now, fishing and boating have been intoduced here. Earlier to its popularisation ,MAN (Mysore Amateur Naturalists) used to organise bird watching expeditions around the lake. With the increased popularity the number of birds has decreased significantly. Some of the birds that could be seen are the Brahmini Kite, Morhon's, various ducks, even some pelicans could be found at the central island-peninsula.

University of mysore

Mysore has been a center of learning from the days of the maharajas. Mysore is known not only for its university but also for the numerous schools and colleges. The picture sh

ows the craford hall-where earlier students who graduated where given their certificates. The university which is spread over a large area is known as Manasagangothri. With changing times various courses are being introduced in the university. You can know more about the university by visiting their site at

http://www.uni-mysore.ac.in/

earlier the various colleges were affiliated to the university based on their location. However, with the creation of universities specific to the educational strams the colleges affiliated to the university have changed. Now the Vishweshwarya technical university, rajiv-Gandhi Health university have taken up colleges present in mysore as well.

Mysore Rasam and mysore bonda

No mysore is not all about food. We are not a bunch of people crazy about different varities of food. But who does not like food?? Mysore rasam is appreciated by one and all. If you want to make it take a look at

http://www.sulekha.com/blogs/blogdisplay.aspx?cid=94732&contributor=mika

A rasam is a type of soup..may be. It is either taken directly as soup or mixed with rice and eaten. Since we are talking about food let me tell you about mysore bonda as well. It is a fried food which is very tasty. Although not very popular in mysore, the name mysore bonda is popular and wide spread. You can get a recipe here.

http://www.webindia123.com/cookery/v_recipe/mysorebonda.htm

Well i dont cook, so please dont blame me if these recipes cause any problems.

Terrorists in Mysore!!!

The very thought of terror attacks in mysore is frigthening.With a long list of soft targets it would have been vey vulnerable. However, this warning bell will suerly make it very difficult for terrorists to attack mysore.The arrests which were made late thursday night at around 2pm in vijaynagar near to the infosys campus shows the high degree of alertness of the police force. whatever the reason and justification for terrorism it will not be able to explain the killing of innocent people. With these arrests the terrorists have made their intentions very clear--they will attack anything that is not gaurded. Since they lack the courage or rather the numbers to attack a well gaurded location, which has become evident in the recent attacks on the parliament and other places they will try to attack maxium impact targets that are not well gaurded.The 2terrorists who where arrested in mysore have been identified by their pakistani passports. The terror group is known as "al-badr", and it seems to be its first attack attempt outside of kashmir.

So long then. Life moves on in mysore, people not gripped by terror as much they are in various other terror prone locations..??If at all terror can be localised.

CFTRI Mysore-Central food technology research institute

The central food technology research institue situated in Mysore is a part of the CSIR institutes that are invlolved into reasearch in various fields of science. The institute whch opened during 1950's was a result of the severe food problems caused due to the famines and wars that ravaged this country during its formative years after independence. The website offers more information about history and that sort of stuff. You can visit them at

http://www.cftri.com

The institute offers project internships to students in the various departments in the institute. And several full time doctoral and post doctoral oppurtunities can be found here. Apart from this they provide various Msc courses as well.For detailed information you need to check out their website.Some really fascinating things like dosa machine have been made by them. Various patents are taken by them every year. The institute which is the "forerunner in food technology" also offers solutions to private sector firms as well.The location which is a huge campus is situated in between theKukrahalli lake and the railway museum. The recent terrorist attack at the Indian institute of science has resulted in beefed up security here as well. When i visited the institute during its 50th anniversarry celebration various things like bio-degradable plastics, biscuits made from ragi,wheat,rice etc where shown to us...and we ate one and it was delicious. Glass blowing was also demonstrated to us.They have the state of the art facilities as far befitting any institute of such repute.

Mysore Search Engine-Mysooru Hudukuwa Yantra

Every great city needs its own search engine. So i am presnting to you the Mysore Search engine. Optimised to search for more mysore specific results every time. You can use the search bar above to search using Mysore search engine. If you want to have your site included in this search engine you can let me know. At present it is presenting many of the results similar to the main google search, however, as more refinements are made the engine becomes more mysore friendly.

The homepage of the Mysore search engine is

http://google.com/coop/cse?cx=006220872262304550041%3Aovrstpzr4r4

You can put the search engine box on your site by pasting the code in this blog with the search engine title. If the name is not included the engine will become non-operational after some time.And those of you who want to contribute can do so by contacting me either through this blog or by the Mysore search engine home page.

Mysore pak-the famous dessert of Mysore

So you have heard of the famous sweet called "Mysore pak". The sweet named after Mysore is available even in other cities due to its huge sucess. If you are planning to cook it you can follow the steps below
Ingrdients:
Sugar-100gms,
Water-50ml
Bengal gram flour - 100gms
Ghee-150ml
Keep all ingrdients ready.First time it is better to try out small quanities.
Place water and sugar in a thick bottom pan and keep a long laddle handy.Do it on low fire,stir this sugar and water until a thin(thread like consitency is formed)slowly add the fine flour ,stir well and go on adding the ghee.A strong appetizing aroma brings every body in-but don't get distracted,keep stirring until ,the ghee is seen on the sides of the pan,when it is still semi solid stop heating and pour into a greased plate which you should have kept ready before hand.Cut into square or triangular shapes.This is Mysore pak but if you didnot do it right it may look like Mysore map instead of pak.Goodluck-try to make it.
You would make your family memebers very happy if you can cook it at home. Though you can find it most of the sweet stalls. However, I would recommend you to buy from Krishna sweets near the Appolo hospital or Mahalakshmi sweets in Vidyaranyapuram. Even Bombay tiffani's mysore pak seemed ok. You can even order it some of the hotels in Mysore. The tast of Mysore pak cant be described in words--sure enough--but you should taste it atleast once when you come to Mysore.

One of my classmates who had come here from far of delhi, liked the sweet so much that he took a load full while going back. Infact he was asking me where to get the best variety of the sweet. May be he will eventually get addicted to it...hehehehe...And those of you who cant visit mysore right now, you could prepare it by using the recipe given in the letzcook blog given above.You can even get a look at the wonderful delicousy on that blog.

Ganduberunda-mythological bird of mysore wodeyars

'Ganduberunda' is a mythical bird that is the royal emblem of the royal family of Mysore, the wodeyars. Later on after independence the government of Karnataka has taken up the same symbol as the emblem for state government. The bird which was present in the flag of the erstwhile kingdom og Mysore is known to be a very very strong bird capable of lifting even elephants. The uniqueness of the bird is that it has two heads with a single body.The bird can be found in many carvings in temples and even in the palace. I hope to put up a picture of the same along with the legend behind it in a separate post. The emblem is also present on the KSRTC bus service. This is a state run bus service and has the bird as its logo. The picutre of the bird can be found in the tickets issued by the bus service. The bird is shrouded in mystery due to its mythical and magical prowess. The bird is also known by other names such as 'Gandaberunda' or 'Gunda Berunda' just 'Berunda'. Some claim that the bird is an eagle which had two heads. The bird is supposed to have been visible only to the maharaja of mysore. Later during the British rule, the symbol was used as part of a badge with the motto 'i will defend the right'. Many such gifts were given to the RAF during the world war. You can find details at http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1940s/Presentation.html

I am reminded of the folk-story of a two headed bird.The two headed bird was living in a forest.One of the head comes across a very sweet and juicy fruit, but instead of sharing it with the other head it eats it up alone. The other head overcome by jealosy, goes in search of a poisonous fruit and eats it up. The two headed bird then dies of the poison. Well the moral of the story is 'think before you act'. The action of the bird in its jealous rage got it killed. Mostly this is a story from the panchatantra or some subashita.

Mysore-Legend behind the name

Every name of indian origin generally has meaning attached to it. The name of Mysore is no exception.
The word 'Mysore' which is the anglised version of mysooru is based on the mythological demon Mahishasura. Mahishasura is belived to have been residing at this place. And when he became very powerful he started tormenting the humans residing in the area.His atrocities became unbearable and the people prayed to the gods for mercy. The godess Durga blessed with various weapons of the gods descended to the bhuloka (earth) to vanquish the demon. This avatara of the godess is known by the name 'Chamundeshwari' or 'Mahishasura Mardini', meaning the vanquisher of the demon Mahishasura. The godess is known to have killed the demon and brought peace to the people. The Chamundeshwari temple atop the Chamundeshwari hill is a place of pilgrimage. A idol of the godess is present in the temple, which is considered to be having the spirit of the godess. The picture shows the statue of Mahishasura present on the hill. This is present near the entrance leading to the temple complex. A more detailed post on the various places of interest on the hill will be put up shortly.To mention a few you could also visit the Nandi statue, the temples of various other deities present in the same premises.

Where is Mysore?

Somebody i met during my discussions on the web asked where Mysore was located. So i thought it would be good to post about that.SO assuming you know that there is a planet called earth in the solar system which is a part of milky way. I present to you the world map of earth.In the map you can see a red box surrounding a country called india.To the left end of the map.The red box shows a state called Karnataka in the country called India. India is situated in the continent of asia. A blue dot present in the red box denotes the location of this city called mysore. Like any other small city it may not be present on the bigger maps.But it is generally present in maps of india.Well so to say its making a mark on the map of india.

Mysore to become Mysooru

It has been officially declared that Mysore will revert to its pre-colonial name of Mysooru from November 1st. The decision comes along with decision to name banglore as banglooru and manglore as mangalooru. This is a phenomenon that has been happening in other states as well. Madras has become Chennai. Calcatta has become Kolkatta.The move to switch to pre-colonial names is supposed to foster love for native language. Though it is being criticised by many as a mere political move, the physchological effect may have a positive effect on the society. The British who ruled the country for nearly 200 years, changed the names of various cities to those that could be spelt by them easily. In the case Mysooru, it is easier for them pronounce My-sore. well it might have been an eye sore for them to see such a rich and prosperous country when compared to their tiny little island. The internet though will be slow in adapting to the change, we have to wait and see how other sreact to the change as well. will the popular evening daily Star of Mysore become Star of Mysooru.. we shall be tracking the growth of the word Mysooru on the internet as weel. as of today we have just 678 results for the same. and google suggests the more appropriate name of Mysore.More about the history behind the name in some other post.

Infosys Mysore-is mysore a dead end??

Infosys has built the biggest trainign center at mysore. The training center supposed to be built with an expenditure of more than 200 crores is having facilities that can be found only in five star hotels. The center is situated in the Hootagalli industrial area on the way to KRS (Krishna Raja Sagar). But some suspect that the decission to build the training center was driven by the poor infrastructure of the city which cannot support a full fledged development center. The city still is in the process of building a bigger operational airport. Although the Mysore Banglore 4lane highway construction is over. The 4lane roadway is a very effecient patch of work with vehicles going at high speeds. So it generally takes 3 hours to travel from one city to the other. The lack of railway lines connecting to other southern states directly from mysore is being considered as a reason for considering Mysore as a dead end. Only time will tell if the infrastructure in mysore is good enough. Many other software majors such as IBM, Wipro etc are thought to have bought to have got large tracts of land nearby as well. The infosys campus suerly is majestic and its dome's light can be seen from nearly 3kms away. More about the campus later in some other post may be.

Mysore-Flowers, birds and weather

The weather in mysore is genrally very pleasent, not to much hot sun but bright days. Although it may get tricky when it starts raining, it is not very humid as it can become in places like Chennai(erstwhile Madras), Manglore, and other coastal towns. Check this picture in which a tiny little bird is perching on the branch. There are plenty of birds, especially in the large patches of trees that can be fund in the city as well as other extension areas. And a very intresting fact about mysore and its dassara is that every year during the procession it rains. although not torrentially..I do enjoy watching the procession-rain or shine.. Due to the Kaveri river that flows near by and the dam built across it, there is no shortage of water as such, and agricultural fields abound in the villages surrounding Mysore. The city even has got a few bird watching groups, notable among them is MAN (Mysore Amature Naturalists) mostly....

Mysore Palace-The Grandeur of Mysore

Mysore is known as the city of palaces. But when some body refers to the mysore palace the reference is to the Amba vilas palace. This is also called the main palace. The significance of this palace can be appreciated by knowing that the world renowned Dassara procession starts from here. The current palaces was built as the previous palace got burnt in a fire. To know more about the palace, its architectural history and interiors check out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_Palace

The debris from the palace that was gutted in the fire was dumped in the fields surrounding the outter extremes of the city. This has now become part of the extension layouts. More about the effect of these debris on the gardens of these areas in a latter post.
The above picture of the palace taken at the night can be seen only during the days leading upto the the Dassara festival and few days there after. The Lighting is removed during rest of the year.

Mysore-the new face

The sleepy pensioners paradise is now being considered as the next IT Destination. Many new companies are mushrooming in the city.

In "Mysore Chronicles" we focus not only on this sudden economic change but also on the history, heritage and changing life of Mysoreans.As of todya google returns as many as 6,340,000 sites matching the query "Mysore". If this is any index of the growth of the city on the world map we will keep track of this as we move along.

However, everybody accepts that the emergence of demand for land in any city is a sure indicator of coming economic progress. Here we not only look at material benefits but also its effect on other factors as well