Arrival in Mysore

Another early morning for us, we left Delhi on a 6:30 flight to Bangalore. We arrived in Bangalore, on schedule, at just past 9:00. After gathering our bags and seeking some information, we rushed off to the train station. The station is about an hour’s drive from the airport and our train was due to leave at 11:00.

We made a mad rush through the city and made it to the train station with 10 minutes to spare. It was a bit of a gamble because we had read on the Internet that you must purchase tickets for the train that we wanted at least four hours in advance. We didn’t want to do that because if our plane had been at all delayed we never would have made it. So we had just enough time to purchase our tickets and board the express train to Mysore. The ticket also includes lunch and a big bottle of water, so that was good too.

Sadly, Mysore’s Baha’i community is not what it once was. We met a Baha’i couple who have come to Mysore to help revive it. They had spent two years at the Baha’i world centre in Haifa, Israel. They had lots of stories to tell. We were invited to have dinner with them and we really enjoyed ourselves. The power went out before supper so we were sitting by candle light for an hour and a half or so. It just added to the ambiance. Apparently power outages happen on a daily basis in Mysore so we’ll have to stock up on candles.

The Baha’i centre has a large room for us to stay in. It has mattresses that spread on the floor, much the same as they did in Iran many years ago (says Nadim, who once fell and broke his arm while playing on a stack of them). The building is relatively new. We aren’t sure how long we will stay here. We would prefer to have a furnished apartment if we could find one. There is a Baha’i who will meet us tomorrow morning to see if he can help us in that area. Hopefully we can find a place with good Internet access. I’ve been hanging off some wireless networks in the area, but the signal is pretty weak and sometimes it’s not there altogether.

CM