Summit of Mysore

The state of the Mysore Chamundi Hills has been on my mind since my last visit to the hill with one of my friend from Hyderabad. One in which he was quite impressed by its calmness, and views it gives of the Mysore city. I have been fortunate enough to have taken rides or a walk up to the Chamundi at all times of the day. Thanks to the visitors who come to visit me and that I have this one thing to show them the in the various good things of Mysore. Its really a place that should not be missed. The mornings are a little foggy at times with the cold wind which gives a feeling of being on a nice hill station. The height of the hill is not that much at 3000 ft but it surely is one tall natural structure in the contrast to the surrounding flat city.
My friend as I said liked the nice ride up the hill and the sights it could give but the blot on this beauty was the dump of garbage lying just at the city view spot. There is a spot from where people love to park their vehicles and have a look at the vast landscape below. The spot also gives a nice sight of the city place and many a people flock to see the Sunday lighting of the palace from the top. It is a wonderful moment to see the palace lights switched on from the top. It almost shines like a jewel in the crown of Mysore. But unfortunately people bring loads of eatables, chips etc and in their fun leave all that at the place only. The spot now can be mistaken by someone to be a municipal dumping ground.
I appreciate the actions taken by the Chamundi hill caretakers to declare it a no plastic zone but the implementation is not perfect. It would be wrong to say that its totally inept as the roads are pretty clean up and yes its difficult to find plastics thrown everywhere but there are a few spots where its a sad sight.
In today's TOI I also see the article of stalling the ropeway up Chamundi. Its a wonderful idea and one which will go on to generate a lot of revenue for Chamundi hills and for protection of its surroundings. Increase in number of visitors on the hill top does not harm the flora and fauna. By introducing the ropeway the bus up Chamundi can be de-commissioned which actually pollutes the surroundings with loads of smoke and loud noise. This will not totally remove road traffic on the hill but reduce it drastically. Less traffic on the road means more environment friendly jungle around it. I feel this is one initiative which should not be stopped even at the costs it might take initially. Later the costs will surely be recovered from the tickets.
Some of the good things going on Chamundi is perhaps the INEP (Indo Norwegian Environment Program) which is aimed at conserving and increasing the natural resources of the hill. The only thing that should be taken care that while so many efforts are made in one direction we do not forget the basics. Installing dustbins at the visited tourist spots and also at other stray location will atleast prompt the aware to make use of them. For those who are careless enough would need to be educated of fined for enforcing a policy for clean and natural Chamundi hills.
With the good efforts of people and with the grace of Chamundeshwari, it’s not a miracle that we have a international tourist destination with rich natural flora and fauna and loads of good money flowing in from tourists.
Amen.
-aps

Bangalore needs no half measures

A recent visit of mine to Bangalore has prompted me to write this about Bangalore. The city is growing beyond its capacity. It has literally exploded with people. You get down at the railway station and the stairs up the bridge connecting the platforms can easily be interpreted by Golaiths as a stick on which ants are climbing up. This is the state with all the sticks up the bridge. Not long back there was a stampede on this station and yet no signs are visible of improvements.

It rains almost every evening and the roads are more pot holes than roads itself. How I wish everyone was so rich to be owning a Dicor and making his own road. The traffic problem in my view cannot be solved by half measures like making one ways etc. The city needs to expansion horizontally with bigger roads and flyovers. Cities like Mysore need to be connected well enough so that people opt to stay there and commute the 2 hour journey. It might sound funny but with a fast lane highway which might be coming in a few days the Mysore-Bangalore travel would be reduced to 2 hours and this is the time many of the people spend reaching the electronic city.

Its high time the care takers of Bangalore wake up from their slumber and sit down planning the future growth of the city. It has a great potential to be one of the most prosperous cities of India but only if the current problems are adressed. As the days is not far when people like me who enjoy the luxuries of a smaller town Mysore pack their bags and move for it.