You are on a school excuusion You have travelled outside the
city for the first time without
your family. Write an email
friend telling him/
her about her experience.

The school closed for Dussehra holidays. I usually enjoy my holidays in the best possible manner. So I planned to go to an important city with my cousins. I hadn’t been to Mysore and so we decided to visit it during our holidays.

It was my first visit to this beautiful and fascinating city. I was also told that the best time to visit Mysore was during the Dussehra festival. I started from my house in Bangalore with two of my cousins. We boarded an express bus to Mysore. We got down at Sreerangapatanam, about fifteen kilometers away from Mysore. The historical town of Sreerangapatanam was the capital of the erstwhile rulers of Mysore, Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan. These two patriotic rulers of South India fought heroically against the British and laid down their lives for the freedom of the motherland. The city of Sreerangapatanam is a fort city and is on the bank of the river Kaveri. As we entered the fort, we were greeted by a mosque, and a few yards away we saw the famous Ranganath Temple. Inside the fort city we saw the place where the dead body of Tippu Sultan was found after the fourth Mysore war. We came out of the fort and went to see the summer palace of Tippu which was nearby. It is a specimen of the architectural skill of South India. The walls of the palace are full of mural paintings depicting the major incidents in the lives of Tippu. We then proceeded to see the Golgumbus, the tombs of Hyder Ali and Tippu. The tomb is situated in the middle of a beautifully laid garden.

From Sreerangapatanam we reached Mysore and from there proceeded to the Brindavan gardens. The garden is in the vicinity of the Krishnarajasagar dam built across the river Kaveri. The whole garden was fully illuminated. The colourful fountains, the dancing fountain and the beautiful flowers attracted us very much. We came back to Mysore at night and stayed in a hotel. The next day we visited the zoo. The beautiful birds and animals attracted us. Then we visited the famous Mysore palace. It was the seat of the Wodayar dynasty, the former rulers of Mysore. We saw the throne, the darbar hall and lovely carpets inside the palace. The palace was fully illuminated and it was a rare experience to watch it in the night. We had a walk in the city in the evening. There was illumination everywhere in connection with the Navaratri festival. We spent three days in Mysore and come back happily.