I had decided to head down to the bustling metropolis of Mysore to meet her. Partly for the sake of a pleasant feeling of symmetry, the first time I came to India in 2007 the very same friend had come out to visit me and we had met on the lawns of a the beautiful hotel we were staying in. Almost four years on we had booked a room in the same hotel, a restored colonial era palace for the princesses of Mysore currently run as a eco friendly luxury hang out spot. In a perfect re-enactment of our prior visit we met once again in the garden restaurant, both terribly happy to see each other in such exotic surroundings.
The 24 hours we spent in Mysore itself was a lovely haze of meandering around what seemed like our personal palace and gardens catching up on each others news. One particular high point was our Sunday evening trip to the city palace illuminations. Built in 1912 Mysore palace is a serious caricature of fairytale wonderment, when lit up in the evenings with its 96,000 glowing bulbs it looks unbelievably disneyfied.
I have added a photo taken while we were there to illustrate my point because I am sure you would otherwise think it an exaggeration.
The next day we tootled around the rather charming city itself, enjoying the feeling of being tourists. I managed to spend more than a week or two of my average indian living costs on some truly lovely Mysore silk but hey, its an investment right? Then we finally clambered aboard the bus to make our way back to our little rural out posting. Eyes pealed along they way as we bumped our way through the wild life park, eager for the inevitable glimpses of deer, monkeys and elephants.
By happy coincidence there was a dinner party that night at the lovely home of our senior doctors, a great opportunity for my school friend to meet all of the many and varied friends I have been lucky enough to accumulate in my time in India. From the long standing permanent members of society here to the newest batch of charming British medical elective students! Also a wonderful opportunity for us to enjoy the fabulous Indian home cooking to which I have grown so accustomed.
As we strolled home across the fields later on, navigating by thin beams of torch light through the treacly darkness that you only really get in the countryside, it occurred to me that it was really rather wonderful to be able to spend time with my oldest and my newest friends at once. I had been a little worried that it may not seem like enough of a holiday for my English visitor, as I was not planning to take much time out from my hospital duties. But on airing my concerns I was glad to realise that actually for her the quiet and beautiful green mountains outside her windows and the knowledge that work was very far away in england was likely to be holiday enough!
So it began, our rambling and relaxing and not terribly busy holiday. A lot of the time it just involved the very simple enjoyment of each others company and a cup of very sweet indian tea. However in my next post I will tell you a few of the more exciting things we got up to, including our visits to the very chilly hill station Ooty and our rather wonderful elephant ride.
Until then all my love,
A x
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