Veteran journalist and my friend, Mr Krishna Vattam, asked me once how I managed to access offbeat mags and blogs for writings of interest to Mysore and Mysoreans. He had not heard of Google News Alert that monitors on my behalf the worldwide web matters on Mysore life and people. I didn’t tell this to Mr Vattam, who probably thought I spent an awful lot of time researching stories. Fact is, I get an e-mail alert on this kind of stuff on a daily basis, courtesy Google.

Yesterday’s Google Alert linked me to Desicritics.org, which carries a Mysore travel piece by  blogger Bishwanath Ghosh, He writes: “Mysore is one of those places like Siberia: you've always heard about it, but you never really see anyone booking a ticket to get there”. Ghosh blogs on about his 'feel' of the city; its places and people. He mentions how a few Mysore old-timers who made it big have grown with the city.

Yoga guru Pattabhi Jois: The door of the house( in Lakshmipuraam where he used to live) still bears a small signboard: Vidwan Pattabhi Jois... looked too simple to have been the world's biggest export centre of ashtanga yoga. Jois now lives in upscale Gokulam. He charges Rs 27,900 for the first month of training (doesn't include food and lodging) and Rs 17,900 for each month thereafter.

K.B. Ganapathy, owner-editor of Star of Mysore, has an impressive office which also houses his Kannada paper, Mysooru Mitra. In the parking lot, a Mercedes stands out proudly. Ganapathy, impressively turned out in a red silk shirt and black Color Plus trousers, showed me into his office….” I can relate Mysore's growth to my own. [In 1977] I started my press in Saraswathi Puram in a small house. The owner was not able to build the house fully so I completed it. Now I have grown so big”

Growth of industry and trade is a sure indicator of growth of a city," says Ganapathy. According to him, Mysore has two kinds of visitors these days: people who come sightseeing, and those who come site-seeing. "Last year MUDA auctioned four and a half acres of land near the race course. The highest bid was Rs 22 crore. The next highest bid was Rs 11 crore.”  

To read the article ..Click on Desicentrics.org

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Bishwanath Ghosh blogs at   www.bytheganges.blogspot.com