Our day exploring Mysuru ended with a return trip to the palace. Chatting to the English couple at breakfast they told us that the thousands of individual bulbs that decorate the facade of the palace are only turned on at weekends now (a cost saving measure from the state government). 

As it was Wednesday we thought we would miss this spectacle, but when we visited the palace earlier, Vaishakh’s friend who worked there told us that the evening light show at the palace (7-8pm each night) concludes with all the lights being turned on for just ten minutes. The light show itself was narrated telling the story Mysuru (sadly not in English so we weren’t really able to understand), the lights were turned on and off to relate to the narrative. Even not being able to understand the story, they were pretty to watch. 

Vaishakh knew when to tell us to get our cameras ready for the finale when all the lights came on. It was beautiful and worth the wait. Some of the bulbs had blown so it reminded us of when the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol used to be lit with individual bulbs like this – when some of them blew, the illuminated bridge looked like a smile with an occasional missing tooth. Watching the lights on the palace was a perfect end to a perfect day.