In the Midst of the Action

We had school off a couple days ago and took the opportunity to visit the city of Mysore (about 91 miles Southwest of Bangalore). Among other things, we visited the gorgeous Mysore Palace—previously the official residence of the former royal family of Mysore. The palace is quite unique in that it can be illuminated at night in a variety of ways: with spot lights, as seen here, or with over 10,000 actual bulbs lining the walls, as seen here. Other palace novelties include courtyard tours on a beast of your choice. For $2.50, I rode the elephant.

Our fun was far from over, however. After a decision by the government of Kashmir to award a section of protected forest land to a group of Hindu pilgrims, a week of violent protests by Muslim activists ensued throughout the state. The decision was rescinded, which then caused the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to call for a nationwide strike to put pressure on the state government. The violence was much more contained down here in southern India, but we still saw evidence of the protests. We were in the middle of enjoying a delicious lunch on the way to Mysore when suddenly this crowd of BJP members swarmed the restaurant and forced the owner to shut down. Fortunately our adviser from the college was traveling with us and knew what was happening. The second he saw them coming he said, "Children! Finish eating right now, we go!"

When we got into Mysore, our van had to make a U turn because government buses were being attacked by drunk protesters throwing rocks on the road ahead. We took another street. When we finally reached the hotel, we arrived to find that it had already been closed. The van drove around to the back though, and we entered through the back door of an attached restaurant. I never really felt like I was in danger, but we were instructed to only use the stairs because the elevator could be seen from the street. It was pretty exciting, to say the least.

Anyway, I'm safe and sound, so don't worry.