I congratulate on floating this idea of an anthology.

Mysorians, have memories of all kinds, and my list includes, a) hiring a bike (with no questions ask, or any background checks); b) buying vegetables (from amma, ayya, or babu -- irrespective of their affiliation of faith or creed); c) giving away -danam: cash or kindness--to the needy (without looking at his / her face or color, and with no blinkers); d) enjoying the facilities of choultaries and chattars for marriages of people who belong to any religion or community (Dassappa Chattar, is the one that comes to my mind, and there are still many of this category); e) studying in any school (Christian, Hindu, Muslim) with total religious accommodation and tolerance; f) understanding and respecting the neighbor in the cosmopolitan "extensions" that grew, I suppose in the 1960s, 1970s, and later; etc.  I am not stating this from the utopian planet. I remember Gundamma (my Kannada Teacher, Good Shepherd Convent, Mysore in 1963-64); Mrs. Philo D'souza (St. Mary's School, Mysore, in 1966-67); Gopal's dairy in Mandi Mohalla; etcetra.

Re: the anthology let me give you my mind. I think it is better to plan for a series of anthologies (may not be so wonderful idea for some!). The series may be classified as follows:

a) An anthology covering all information available on the Web, about Mysore and Mysorians (example1, example2, example3: Mysore-based researcher gets US patent).  b) Another anthology about the people. To get an idea about this, a publication already exists in Urdu, with a title: Mysore ke Khadeem Chirag (transliterated as, "Old Celebrities of Mysore").  c) Yet another anthology that deals with products, processess, services, tourist sites, etc.

I will be happy to contribute more ideas, if some one is interested. Best, Dr. Mohamed Taher

Vanitha Sadana.... this takes my memory esp. down to 1970-71. Like all boys, I had a great fancy for tennis ball cricket. I was in the 8th std at Sarada Vilas High School. Someone among our classmate-friends told that a match had been arranged near Vanitha Sadana after school some weekday. We went there around 5pm or so. All I can remember now of that day is that I clean bowled 4 batsmen in 5 balls including a hat-trick. I have no idea now against whom we played, but I was the hero that hour and I think we won the match without a fight. Even now, that piece of open land [now enclosed by compound wall] is still there. Just happened to pass by it recently [Dec.'05] and that memory popped up.

Another vivid memory is of playing a match with the cork ball in that Vanitha Sadana School ground where the 'slide' was in the middle of the ground. It was now '73 I think and that was the eve of my College cricket team selection. I bowled one end only to find my hands stiff for the selection and I could not perform - gave my name as an off-spinner and just spent time that day. That was my first experience too with a real cricket ball! Our team of street-boys played many games here on this ground --- "Dumma Vasu" has always been a common factor in all our matches those days. This Vasu used to boast of his Sixer he had once hit. The ball had landed on a shrub in a house across the railway line! We teased him as the distance was way too long for a tennis ball to carry from even this hard-hitting Vasu!

I am looking for the same information when people came to houses in Huli Vesha and sing Kamana kattige Bhimana Berani and ask for money or Kattige. I also remember when there was elachina hannu and Kaasu was done on children Aarathi.

Mysore is when elephants resided in ‘Ane Karoti’ in Ramanuja Road and the infernal concrete corbuncles of JCC complex was not there. Mysore is when wild elephants were brought for taming at the’Ane karoti’ and kids were allowed to witness the taming process which included the wonderful ritual of feeding elephants. Mysore is when the big tusker was prepared with wonderful ornaments for the Maharaja to mount and I as a yougster sat on the roof of our house with my sisters and saw the prepararion of the tusker literally 100yards from us. Mysore is when the Maharaja ruled the roost and the politicians did not put their sticky fingers in the state’s money kitty. Mysore is when the Dasara is held in grandeur , was envy of the whole world,and Goddess Chamindi seated on a ‘theru’ was pulled by hundreds of devotee to signal the end of Dasara festivities. Mysore is. when there was only Kannada spoken. Mysore is when all the kids could play in the street, and women can walk safely in the streets all times of the day. Mysore is when there were trees every where, air filled with jasmine and sandalwood fragrance and mango trees near Chamundi Hills pregnant with fruits were ready to welcome the visitors as guests. Mysore is when its university was famous all over the world with scholars like Dr Shama Satry, the discoverer of Kautilya’s Arthasasatra and when that great scientist JC Bose visited Germany, he was greeted as a scientist from the land of Dr Shama Sastry . Mysore is when there was only NIE, where admission was on merit and there was no other engineering college created purely on caste grounds and was used as a ‘cash cow’. Mysore is when my beloved poet Adiga was in St Philomena’s College and all of us in the NIE and Mysore Medical college, were swayed by his’Navya Kavya’