Mysore market and surrounds

Various pictures taken in the spice and veg market. The bright coloured powder is used to make bindis on peoples' foreheads for visiting the temple.

Banana leaves for plates:

Various herbs:

I couldn't have said it better myself!

These posters were on a couple of random trees by the roadside. I think some of them are political. I didn't manage to get the one of Nehru because an old man nearby started shouting at me!!

The flowers here are beautiful- this is a hybiscus which I remember from Africa although it's slightly bigger than the African one I think. There is also bougainvillia growing outside my window and I've seen garlands on jasmine and jacarranda trees.

This fellow was a member of the Wodeyar family who were the head honchos in Mysore a couple of hundred years ago. The garden where this statue is is stunning and I found it just by chance after walking down the side of a dual carriageway dodging rickshaws and heavily crowded buses.

This clinic is near my flat- don't think I'll be going there. You never know what you could get from a doctor with a name like that!

Since I arrived there have been a lot of celebrations for the Ganesh festival. Each neighbourhood seems to have its own temporary stage set up to sing and dance for ganesh and there are loads of these brightly coloured statues of the elephant god who is the destoyer of obstacles. There have also been some films on TV one with a real live elephant wearing pyjamas and a pair of shades!

My first sighting of a sacred cow! I've also seen a few goats, lots of dogs and some scrawny cats and there's some kind of bird that likes making a row in the mornings.