Heritage walk:Would it work in Mysore ?

Date: Mar 21, 2006

Heritage walk:Would it work in Mysore ?

Date: Mar 22, 2006

Nice idea and a change from the routine for some people if this happens in Mysore. Mysoreans are a nice bunch of people and hospitable as well, I wonder if this experiment could be tried, especially the mylapore model. But, having said that, Mysoreans are also a bit lazy and I wonder if they can be roused from bed that early on a weekend to host visitors who'd come in for some "mysore special" coffee and Idli, Vada, Dosa and perhaps to chat with them about Mysore, the life here, heritage, history and so on. Mysoreans need a lot of motivation to get up and do something (abouot anything!). Am I harsh? Am I being unfair? After all, I grew up here and my ancestry is here and I have a penchant for telling things as they are!

Heritage walks were organized during the Dasara, but that was just a walk to see the sights and was confined to the Dasara celebrations period.

Date: Mar 23, 2006

It is indeed a good idea to start a Heritage Walk in Mysore. As such there are a lot of places in Mysore City that are major landmarks. But like Capt. Murthy says, Mysoreans need a lot of motivation to do any thing new. I had previously posted a topic titled 'Homestay Visitors and Mysore' on this site itself. Being conservative by nature, not as open minded as the Bangaloreans or the Mumbaiites, it is difficult to imagine too many households ready to welcome unknown persons home to walk in. But I am sure there are many open minded and forward thinking persons who would welcome the opportunity to make new friends and share experiences. I know how important it is to give the visitor genuine information about the heritage of the place. (I occassionaly accompany visitors from our Head Office in Europe for shopping on MG Road, Bangalore and for dinner). They are keen to know about the history of the place they visit.

Wouldn't I relish taking one of those walks on a Heritage tour of Mysore? I will certainly get to know My Mysore better.

Let us wait and watch - hoping it is not too long a wait.

Date: Mar 23, 2006

Dear Friends,

Good idea, but it would also be better if we can converg at a place in a mohalla/locality/area and invite people who has been there for a long time and make them talk about the life that was. This information could be collected and published as a coffee table book by the group which could also be some source of funding for some future activities.

Just a thought......

shanks

Date: Mar 23, 2006

I do not know if Mysoreans are laid back. We are the same here. So Mysoreans you have lot of company. We do have walks here in various cities. But I kind of feel they fizzle out. But, what the heck. You need to try. May be you need to make it seasonal when the weather is cool, air fresh and the flowers blooming. No one can afford to miss the smell of Mysore Mallige. If I were there I would join. Go for it and enjoy.

B.R.Ramaprasad
Millington. U.S.A.

Date: Mar 23, 2006

Heritage walk for tourists is a very good idea, as Mysore has a large number of heritage places. In fact, it was introduced two years ago during Dasara and was somewhat successful. I feel it was poorly planned and organised.
Heritage walks should consist visit to cross section of places, each tour spread over different durations to suit the tourists - say 2 hrs, 4 hrs, 8 hrs. Apart from talking to tourists by a well conversant guide, the visits should include a tonga ride, elephant ride in the zoo and visit to some traditional families/restaurants to taste Indian culture and food.

Date: Mar 23, 2006

Nice to know Mr. Ramaprasad, that your city Millington is a "sister city" of Mysore, in terms of being laid back. Have'nt been there but for three years in Atlantic City, NJ, it was anything but laidback, when I moved to Seattle for the next three, same thing, and much later, having been to all of the 48 contiguous states for months at a time and ending up in Ft. Lauderdale for the final three years before coming back home, same thing. We have a unique mindset here in Mysore and we are self critical about it. And, there's a difference between being laid back and being lazy, got me? That does not mean we lack motivated people or people who have made a mark for themselves. After all, Infosys NRN is from here, some of the local chaps started a Wireless Internet service in Mysore, of which I am a user, for the first time in the whole of India.

Why would anything fizzle out? Perhaps because of lack of commitment. Mylapore walk as mentioned by Mr. Vincent D'Souza seems like getting good response. The walking tour during the Kala Ghoda festival in Mumbai is also driven by committed persons. Perhaps, Mysoreans could also attempt something similar, on seasonal lines. No one with families would like to host anyone during exam time, during vacations they may be away, during monsoon-it would rain every day. Dasara sounds perfect but millions of tourists are jostling around each other at that time. Excuses? Nothing stops Chennai, why should it stop us?

Mr. Shankar Prasad's ideas are very good. A coffee table book of the lives of mysoreans, their ecollections, the homes and family connections, the heritage building they live in (in some Mohallas) would greatly help. It would make good reading and help propogate the walk. Once you get Mysoreans talking, you'll find that they are a very interesting people and some of the older folk have marvelous stories of the bygone era. Add to that a dash of local flavour in terms of home cooked breakfast or even eating at a popular place in Mysore known for Mysorean food, as mentioned by Mr. Gauri Satya, would be a great idea. Imagine taking a group of people, Indians or foreigners and treating them to Mylari Dosa! and the never to be missed Mysore filter coffee. Visitors will carry back magical memories of Mysore.

Date: Mar 24, 2006

Neighbourhood heritage walk

Date: Mar 24, 2006

RE: Heritage walk:Would it work in Mysore ?

Date: Mar 24, 2006

Getting competent guides to take Heritage Walkers around will be a challenge. A competent guide will need to be a pleasing personality, having impressive communication skills and thorough knowledge of the city and its history. He has to be impeccably dressed, preferably in traditional Indian attire. He has to be a respecter of culture and have passion for his work. He has to be a proud Indian and prouder Mysorean. He has to know social etiquettes and manners. A man who is amiable, but knows where to stop.

Nothing like having guides that can speak at least two-three major foreign languages. Since that will prove expensive, we must have recorded commentary of the places to be visited in both Indian (Central Institute of Indian Languages) and foreign (Lyric Labs?) languages. Most importantly, he has to keep his mind and eyes away from the guests pockets.

A man with these requisites will be hard to come by, unless, of course, some of the eminent citizens of Mysore come forward to act as guides without thinking it is infra dig.

For some years now, I have wanted tourists to Mysore to be taken to places like Dhvanyaloka - unfortunately, CDN is no more.

Vijendra Rao

Date: Mar 24, 2006

One of the frustations of creating a forum for sharing ideas must surely be not having the means to see them translated into reality.The usefulness of the forum would diminish, in my view, if it just becomes an alternate virtual Coffee House, for individuals to scatter ideas with no one to pick up the pieces.

May I suggest that we pick up 5 areas of intervention which will require the resources that can be generated within the existing community created by mymysore.com and attempt to implement at least 2 with a time frame of 3/6 months.

My list would include a) creating one quality public convenience with toilets/washrooms on user charge basis b) picking up one visitor attraction and this could be the new folk lore museum on the Mysore university campus whose restoration has benn funded by Sudha narayana Murthy and creating the inputs ( content in text/voice/sound/music/visuals-still and moving in English and Kannada) to engage a visitor c) creating one heritage walk d) taking care of waste/garbage from one locality e) offering the facility to have a venue for all informal service providers for yoga visitors to assemble and share their experiences which could be used to enhance Mysore's standing as yoga hub.

FICCI is planning to have a 2 day tourism conference in Mysore around mid May and that could be one platform to ensure that debate/discussion/dialogue does not dessipate and join the cobwebbed reccesses of our minds.

Date: Mar 25, 2006

The quality of suggestions on this forum is very high indeed. Mr. Gauri satya's last suggestions, Mr Rao's input and Mr. prem's continued good ideas-excellent indeed. I also agree with Mr. Prem, this forum has to take the next step and evolve into a group of people that could do some of the projects mentioned.

It has been a virtual coffee house as Mr. Prem puts it. Thats good, ideas always come out of such places, and thanks to GVK for this VCH (Virtual Coffee House!) but there is a need to move beyond discussion. There are people with heritage homes and access to nearby heritage structures and other points of interest whom I have started to talk to already. It is the weekend and there are possibilities of meeting one of them tomorrow (Sunday) and chalk out a plan to do an experimental walk perhaps, and then lets see how this can be developed. I will report in this column first thing next week and perhaps others with ideas can come forward and take this to the next step.

I am also hoping that resident Mysoreans take this up first and train a person as mr. Vijendra Rao has mentioned and keep this sustained. it may pick up slowly but a start needs to be made. Those of us who keep jumping in and out of Mysore can involve to the extent that we can. Those of you Mysoreans such as Mr. Prem can also help in any way they can, their suggestions are just as valuable.

Date: Mar 25, 2006

Well said, Mr. Prem. I think it is very essential that we lift ourselves from the talking stage and set ourselves attainable targets.

Vijendra Rao

Date: Mar 26, 2006

As promised in my earlier reply that I would update information, I am writing this piece after a meeting with Mr. Dinakar and Mr Vijendra Rao, fellow bloggers on mymysore.com, the venue was Mr. Dinakar's lovely old (95 years old) house, a heritage building. Like the heritage walk in question, Mrs. Dinakar offered us Bisi Bele bath for mid morning breakfast, laced with ghee. The aroma and taste and the ambience was more Mysore of the old that I grew up in, than the modern Pizza/Burger infested Mysore that it is now, not that anything is wrong with pizza and burger, by the way!

It was also nice to associate faces with names of felow bloggers. We did talk about a lot of issues and we hope to bring in more fellow bloggers and participants who have been commenting on mymysore.com fora. Coming to the issue of a heritage walk, Mr. Dinakar is agreeable to be the host, be able to provide his ancestral home as a venue for a breakfast (B'fast may be sponsored together by a core group) on the same lines of the Mylapore experiment. it is also noteworthy to mention here that Mr. Dinakar has very good knowledge of Mysore, in general, and has a passion for heritage structures and their preservation.

Although, a general route has been talked about, covering Seethavilas Chatra, going through Sunnada Keri and then to Mr. Dinakar's house and then proceed down the road towards Vani Vilasa Market, a heritage structure. There are reportedly many houses in that area that still maintain the old Mysore feel and look and are worth visiting.

We decided that in the next meeting, we should get everyone involved with this idea to come out and do some "dry runs", to walk the route and to make a plan of action to be followed up on a sustainable basis. Mr. Viji rao has offered to put this information on a CD that he is working on, to be sent to and distributed at the American Kannada Koota meet in the US this year, specifically targeting Mysoreans, to make them aware and perhaps entice a few to participate in disseimination of information about Mysore and also help in other ways.

I am sure that there are more routes throughout Mysore that may be used and I think all of us with an interest to do something for this City can take this opportunity to come together and make something happen, for a change. This has only been a first step.

Date: Mar 26, 2006

Capt. Anup Murthy wrote:

I am sure that there are more routes throughout Mysore that may be used and I think all of us with an interest to do something for this City can take this opportunity to come together and make something happen, for a change. This has only been a first step.

A meaningful first step. Any idea how long would this routine take ? I suppose we should involve someone in tourism and hospitality sector in further exploratory meets, for doing promotional work for the heritage walk. Our friend Mr Yerapathi could put out an item, interviewing people involved in walk planning process - Capt.Murthy, Mr Dinakar, Mr Rao, for In &Around Mysore magazine.

Date: Mar 26, 2006

It is indeed a meaningful first step but to take ti forward, we need more committed residents to help out. Often the first step does not go beyond that but there is hope two of the three people who met are normally resident in Mysore. A "business round' discussion must take place with a bigger participation and we are looking at second saturday of April to meet, may coincide with another meeting proposed by Mr. Nagakumar, one of our forum participants, although that meeting is yet to be announced on this web site. We need more ideas, planning and execution. I am sure each one of us have enough connection to travel agencies and services and can chip in more ways than one.

Those who can't attend our meetings because of their geographical locations, such as Mr. Prem, Mr. Ramprasad etc can be our virtual guides. We need learned inputs from persons such as Dr. javeed Nayeem, who perhaps has more proposal on alternate walk routes as well. Mr. Yerapathi's local knowledge and position would also help. Not to count anyone out, this is all inclusive and in case I have not used some names, does not mean they are excluded. We are all volunteers here, minus egos and willing to work as a group. No hang ups about name, fame and stuff like that, just get the ideas moving.

Date: Mar 26, 2006

Opps, sorry my busy schedule has kept me off from visiting mymysore.com, Sorry for missing out on this thread. I would need a day's time to go through this thread and will look forward for the meeting during the Second Saturday of April or whenever it is announced.

Rgds
Suresh

Date: Mar 27, 2006

Here is my idea of two heritage walks that we can perhaps plan for Mysore. Having been in Mysore all along I cannot think of any other set of heritage taggable sites that can be included in a 'walk' as there are not many of them in sufficiently close proximity to be seen purely by walking around.
Walk 1. Start by entering the Mysore Palace from the southern main gate (through which all visitors now enter) and, after seeing the Palace, leave by one of the two western gates and enter the Jagan Mohan Palace Art Gallery which lies bang opposite and, after viewing this, walk along the Landsdowne Bazar and through the Devaraja Market, entering it from the southern gate opposite the Dufferin Clock Tower and after zig-zagging through what is bound to be an intriguiging assortment of shops selling anything from rangoli powder to rat traps, emerge out of the northern gate to complete the walk at the Cauvery Emporium which should by now be the right destination where any tourist can hope to buy any of the things that might have appealed to his or her senses, without the risk of being taken for an after-walk ride!(The one good side effect of this walk will perhaps be the cleaning up and regular maintainence of the now neglected Devaraj Market)
Walk 2. This can even be called the R K Narayan Walk to attract the interest of tourists.Start at the Maharajas College Centenary hall and after learning about the historical importance of Ramaswamy Circle walk through the twin campus of the Maharajas and Yuvarajas college where many luminaries were either students or teachers (including S Radhakrishnan) and enter the adjoining Oriental Research Institute (where a small museum can easily be estabilished for the tourists) and after taking a look at the imposing Crawford Hall, end the walk at the vantage point overlooking the Kukkarahalli lake, which has inspired many literary giants like R K Narayan, Kuvempu and T P Kailasam among many others.

Date: Mar 29, 2006

Back after a long time, thanks to the inspiration by Anup and Vijayendra.

RK Narayan was living in a house in our area which was owned by the father of late M.Gopalswamiand Sri M.Ananthaswami Rau - he's fond of saying that he was born in the same year as the Mysore University (1916). Still stands straight and his sharp memory can put all of us to shame. RK Laxman too grew up in this house. The RK Narayan-walk could include this route (far?). RKN was fond of chewing cloves which was bought always from Srinivasa Stores in KR Circle. RK Laxman's good friend, TS Satyan knows a lot better as he used to go there to play in his student days. Mr.Rau continues to live there, his brother Jayaram living in the adjacent house. For a few years till some years back, this house had been housing the Officer's Club.

Close to it on the Western side facing the Jhansi Lakshmi Bai Road is the premises that belonged to Srikanteshwara Iyer (the circle at Hardwicke School is named after him). Now his grandsons reside there, the old bungalow has given way to new smaller ones. Perhaps they too could be interested in this "Heritage Walk"???

Opposite his house, there was a triangular road divider with iron fence. IT was heritage! Now they have removed it in the name of making a park!!

Date: Mar 29, 2006

Thanks Mr. Dinakar for your kind words and also for providing an insight into RKN's life and associations in your area. I think it would be great to have a discussion with Mr. Ananthaswamy Rao about this heritage walk and perhaps glean some information from him about Mysore's past. Could be used for providing info to tourists on the walk.

Fabulous suggestions by Dr. Javed Nayeem abut his proposed routes, but not to forget, large monuments and public buildings are not the only heritage buildings, there are many with no "tag" but actually are heritage and some of those are available on the walk suggested during our little meet at Mr. Dinakar's house. All these routes can be discussed, included and also plan the next steps to be taken at our future meeting date on 8th April hosted very kindly by Mr. Nagakumar. What say?

Date: Apr 1, 2006

Dear Friends,

I agree with Mr. Prem’s view. But I think building a toilet is a bit too much for this kind of a group. Since we ourselves have some morning vocation to perform and taking up a toilet project takes enough planning, execution and implementation. But other ideas are excellent and worth implementing. As rightly said this can’t be a virtual coffee house. Can we meet some time to take these ideas forward? What’s the meeting Anup is talking about on 8th April.

I personally feel we should not involve ANY organization be it social, professional or religious in this endeavor.

Although we will call it a ‘Walk’ we can use eco friendly open carts for moving in the designated paths. Given the condition of our footpath and attitude of the road users, I feel we need to use a cart, it would also take care of the old and weak and those who don’t wish to walk but are interested in this kind of knowledge.

shanks

Date: Apr 1, 2006

Shankara, you have asked what is Anup talking about the 8th, I am talking about the mymysore forum get together on the 8th. If you go to the information page of this website, you will find this topic and several people have responded to the open invitation. Would be nice if you could make it also. All topics discussed in these forums can be brought to the table. I will try to be there, to the best of my ability since I am in Delhi at this time and will be here for the rest of the week.

Date: Apr 5, 2006

Making April 8 memorable

There seems some ambiguity over the number of mymysore folks who would be making it to the meeting. Just had a word with Mr. Nagakumar, and it would make things easy for him if the exact number of participants is known latest by tomorrow evening. That apart, if I may preempt any sense of disappointment on account of poor turnout, numbers should scarcely matter. It is the quality of deliberations that matters. To that extent, even five participants is a good number. In order to achieve optimum results out of the limited time available, I have the following to suggest.

a) Have a definite agenda, it will help.

b) Ideal number of subjects for discussion would be two and only two. If it is one, nothing like it.

c) It is most appropriate that an agenda be set well ahead of the meeting; preferably on the mymysore forum itself.

d) Identify a moderator for the discussion straightaway. It will avoid wastage of collective time.

e) Arrive on time for the meeting. Spend not more 30 seconds on introduction. Avoid asides. Stay completely focussed as, time available, in effect, will be not more than 90 minutes. Rest will go getting excited (at meeting those whom one had only read), touching bases, exchanging pleasantries, eating, thanksgiving, etc.

f) Going prepared will help, too. If there are, say, ten participants and each one takes ten minutes to make his submission, it needs 100 minutes - which is ten more than 90, the possible number of minutes available. It is therefore ideal that only a single item be on the agenda and it be discussed threadbare.

g) Time can be saved by avoiding repetition of ideas. It generally happens during such proceedings - be it in parliament in civic corporation - that five speakers speak about the same issue without having contributed anything original. It is a kind of compulsive jabbering, resulting from a deepseated urge to say something for the heck of it. At the same time, let no single individual dominate the proceedings. Let there be equitable participation.

It is unreasonable to harbour any suspicion that the enlightened members of mymysore would do anything but act in a way as to take their ideas for Mysore forward with earnestness. I am firm in my belief that we will all return home with immense satisfaction that our maiden meeting was a success.

Looking forward to spending those quality 90 minutes,

Vijendra Rao

Date: Apr 6, 2006

Sitting in Delhi, I can only wish the 8th meet well. Your reply, Vijendra, may have been better at the other forum where the discussion has been about the mymysore forum meet instead of this one about heritage walk.

All your points are good and I am sure there will be five or more at the meet. Firstly, i think the group should just get to know each other and then discuss about how future forum meetings can be held such as where next, who hosts next, points to be discussed next, moderator at that meeting and so on.

This meeting may not have the agenda that you have suggested, it is only a first meeting that can be used to plan subsequent meetings. Hope this suggestion is OK and all come there with an open mind and no real agenda (personal ones!).

Date: May 1, 2006

Couldn't make it on 8th. Whatever happened to the get-together?