There is, on almost every street in Mysore, a shop selling sweets. They are made with sugar and ghee (some kind of "clarified butter," I don't know exactly what this means but obviously its delicious and of course I've eaten a ton of it). The best sweet shop is downtown; its called "New Bombay Tiffanys" and their sweets are fresher, tastier, and more gorgeous than anyone else's.
And what would a fabulous Indian sweet shop be without a wonderful, jolly proprietor? His name is Maneesh and he exudes endless volumes of joy. Whenever I stop by he makes me a saffron lassi, which is best described as an orange julius but with exotic indian spices instead of oranges. Really, who needs oranges when you have fresh mangoes and saffron on hand?
"Ummmm....I made some delicious sweets with saffron and pistachios and raisins but they all kind of look like brown balls....."
"Oh here, just stick this piece of silver foil (yes, REAL silver) on it, its delicious."
Its like eating princess food for snack time. And when you're wearing a tiny rhinestone bindi and half a meter of white and orange flowers in your hair and eating silver, you really, really feel like a princess.
Entrance to the outpatient department. 
Of course, a fabulous temple attached to the corner. 
Entrance to the respiratory ICU. Once a month they "fumigate" each ICU, note the sign on the door. 
Taken immediately after the fumigation, all squeaky clean and ready for new patients! 
Fabulosity. He wanted to wear them, I in no way encouraged this. And there were no patients around to see this, thank goodness. 
These people are no joke. Snake bites are common, as is fertilizer poisoning. 
And what would a fabulous Indian sweet shop be without a wonderful, jolly proprietor? His name is Maneesh and he exudes endless volumes of joy. Whenever I stop by he makes me a saffron lassi, which is best described as an orange julius but with exotic indian spices instead of oranges. Really, who needs oranges when you have fresh mangoes and saffron on hand? 
"Ummmm....I made some delicious sweets with saffron and pistachios and raisins but they all kind of look like brown balls....."
So thank goodness, Mysore actually has a pretty good public transit system. I never wait more than six or seven minutes for a bus and fare is 4.5 rupees. 
Sometimes the busses get so crowded that people use the yellow poles to hang out the doors. I did this once. It was similar to riding the trolley in San Francisco but faster and more complicated with the long flowey scarves everyone wears. 
Women and children in the front. 
Men in the back. A female passenger explained "we have the men in the back so we don't give them the opportunity to misbehave." You said it, sister. 
This guy goes around and collects fares from passengers. (That's why he's allowed in the front.)
Meet Jana, official roommate #3. 
In Mysore, at any time and any place, you can buy a garland of white and orange flowers to put in your hair. All the women wear them and they blow around when they ride on scooters and auto rickshaws and busses, sprinkling petals and making everything smell like jasmine. How do they think of these things? If I died and went to heaven..... there would definitely be garlands of flowers for sale everywhere. 
Outside the pediatric wards. 
Outside the maternity ward. 
I loved the peacock and insisted upon taking a picture. If you look closely you can see Paul waiting for me inside.
