" I touch God in my song
as the hill touches the far-away sea
with its waterfall.
The butterfly counts not months but moments,
and has time enough."
A very famous few lines by Rabindranath Tagore. While describing the heavenly architecture and structure of the famous Mysore Palace, I would have loved to have Tagore for company, had he been living in my age. The grandeur and beauty of the palace as presented by the panorama of Indo - European styles of architecture is to be seen through the eyes and felt through the heart. It certainly requires some great poets like Tagore to praise the royal show of beauty and taste in an age when India's wealth lied in its history and potential alone, just as he has praised mother nature in one of his several ode s through the beautiful honey like words. Praising the beauty of Mysore Palace is not the work of lesser mortals like us. Cameras are not allowed inside the palace today. That leaves our God's gift of memory and sensors called eyes to record the awesome spectacle that unfolded infront of us as we entered through the gates of the Magnum Opus of a bygone era. But the absence of camera probably unleashed our heart to enjoy the grand spectacle in the best possible way.
Apart from the beauty and grandeur of the palace, I will certainly remember Mysore Palace for making the immortals of the incognito and insignificant. The gallery of life like oil paintings of every facet of royal lifestyles and subjects along with the names of every individuals in the pictures from the erstwhile royal family of the Wadiyars who ruled Mysore to that of common men and women who worked for them, but are normally unnoticed deserves the utmost praise. It has done what is only ideally expected of all democracies, the importance that is due to common man. Ironically it was done under royal patronage.
I would love all the readers of my blog to visit Mysore Palace to enjoy the beauty through their own eyes instead of mine and endure the lust to stay in the palace the entire life.
If the Mysore palace is the crown of Mysore, then the royalty is incomplete without the royal logo - the Krishnaraj Sagar dam and the Brindavan gardens. Anybody who nears Mysore during the day for the first time by rail or road, would be surprised to see how green the agricultural fields are. A careful observation will reveal the presence of an exquisite and extravagant network of canals that carry the waters of Cauvery throughout the area. In an otherwise barren Karnataka, where people normally dig deep to find water, the greenery around Mysore will be a pleasant surprise. Arguably the oldest dam of India is responsible for this agricultural prosperity. Yes, I am speaking of the Krishnaraj Sagar Dam, designed by one of the greatest Civil Engineers of the time, Mr. Visveswaraiya. If the stupendous structure of the dam is not enough, then look behind to see the beautiful Brindavan Gardens downstream. The background scene for so many Bollywood and South Indian hits is feast for the eyes, as it soothes the eyes with the panorama of different hues and colours with its flowing water and gardens sporting fountains to interrupt your thoughts. Again I happen to miss the Maestro, our very own Rabindranath Tagore, to write an ode to the heavenly spectre that unfolded before our eyes. Watch the marvel of Krishnaraj Sagar dam and feed your eyes and lungs with the neat and beautiful Brindavan Gardens, as you still fight the desire to go back to the Mysore palace.
With tired bodies and memories of unmatched beauties,
Adieu Mysore
April 5th, 2010
0 comments:
Post a Comment