The monsoon has hit Mumbai at last. It’s well over a month late and started raining 4 days ago. The heat that I have been sweating through during the trip as far as Bhubaneshwar has now been replaced with a comfortably warm damp air but not a hint of the sun. The rains arrived in the east before I got there and caused cancellations of trains due to damaged bridges south west from Calcutta. None of that affected me but now this late rain in the west has meant that my train going south from Mumbai was going to be late by well over 4 hours. Consequently, because of missing connections later, I took the first available train to Bangalore where a train to Mysore starts from. The 30 day Indrail pass is invaluable in this situation because I don’t have to wait in queues to buy a ticket and no reservation has to be obtained as there is a quota for pass holders. Just jump on the train and ask the ticket inspector to find a berth for me. EEEasy. 
Shopping, or is it consumerism, has caught on in all the major cities of India with the emergence of the shopping mall. I popped into one on the way to the railway station. I needed a shirt as both my tee shirts were getting to be unbearable. As you can see, some quite modern equipment has been implemented in ‘Big Bazaar’, as it is called.
Tuesday 29th July.
MysoreFeeling pretty tired and happy that the train journeys have finished for a couple of days. Since I left Vishakapatnum last Saturday morning, by bus, I have covered over 2,500 km by train. But now in the hotel Dasaprakash in Mysore. I reached here on a slow passenger train from Bangalore in about 4 hours which was enough to finish this phase of the trip. Even that was made much more bearable as I travelled that part with a Thai girl who was on the train from Mumbai, not to mention the three little cheeky faced kids sitting with us.
Had a great journey from Mumbai with six great travel companions in my part of the carriage. Three of them were business guys, two working for a British company. Then there was a kindly old lady going to visit her daughter in Bangalore and opposite her bunk was an extremely elderly gentleman who bore all the hall marks of being one of the freedom fighters who fought for independent India all those years ago. One of my Indian comrades suggested he was a rich farmer but we never found out who was right. The other was of course the Thai girl learning English here in Mysore.
Yesterday evening was a great social occasion as we chatted about everything from bombs to cooking curry. I suppose not much difference really; the latter has a somewhat slower slightly less violent reaction. I don’t feel particularly threatened by these bombings as India is a very big place and the likelihood of being caught up in such a blast is very remote. However, if they strike at the railways it could cause some hold-ups that could interfere with my tight plans. The other inconvenience could be the heavy rains in this part of India. But still, in 3 days time the situation will probably be quite different, hopefully not worse.
So, now making myself at home doing my usual chores such as washing clothes and getting all my batteries up to scratch. Mysore sits at about 2,400ft and the temperature is around a very agreeable 23/24 degrees.
After filling myself with a badly needed meal I took a stroll down to the palace about a kilometre away. I wanted to get some night shots which would have been considerably more spectacular if the thousands of electric light bulbs had been lit. Alas, it was Tuesday and display is only put on when it’s Sunday, and only for one hour. The reason for this is that a huge amount of precious energy is used. But I did spot something rather odd happening at a small temple outside the gates. If you can’t guess what is going on I’ll illuminate you with the answer in my next blog. Cheers Derek
PS 6am and in what promises to be a hot oppressive day in Chennai
