 Srikanth Wodeyar, sign of a long line of royals, now ascends the Gaddi, or throne of his forefathers, but once a year on the Shera Day. Maharaja had about four cars, first time 1907. At that time we had two cars, then later on four. Sometimes palace requires car, they used to get our car, they used to get our drivers. Now you'll see thousands of cars and lakhs of two wheelers. Born much before independence, this old patriarch had once rubbed shoulders with the royal family, but found his true vocation in the service of the people, and later in politics. In acknowledgement of his efforts, he has a locality of Mysore named after him. Though they now mostly house government offices, the palaces and buildings of Mysore present the visage of an early 20th century princely city. The civic architecture of Mysore is a blend of Indo-Sarsanic and the classical European, but there is one building in Mysore that stands apart from all else. A neo-gothic structure that acts not only as a landmark visible from far and wide, but one which stands testimony to the secular nature of Mysore. Close to the imposing bulk of Saint Philomena's cathedral, Ishmael is busy working in his small one-room factory. Like the erstwhile rulers of Mysore, Syed Ishmael too has a long lineage, but it was not riches that Ishmael inherited, but the tools and knowledge of his forefathers, for he comes of a line of craftsmen who over centuries have created poetry out of wood. The huge and ornamental Brindavan gardens were laid out below the embankments of the imposing Krishnaraja Sagar. While over the years the face of urban Mysore underwent a gradual change, there are areas and activities in and around the city that seem untouched by time. In small hamlets surrounding Mysore, life remains connected to the pale yellow cocoon of the silk worm. The whole family participates in the daily chore of rolling the fine silk thread that would one day be woven into the famed Mysore silk saris. But life in Mysore had been irrevocably changed sometime in the first quarter of the 20th century, when a small, sweet-meat shop inaugurated their latest offering, and Mysore Park was born.