Sir,

I arrived as a tourist in your magnificent city two days ago. I love running in a new city, so yesterday morning I tied my running shoes and headed directly from the hotel towards Kukkarahalli Lake. Two kilometres of slightly chaotic running navigation through the busy morning traffic, before I arrived at the Lake.

When you come from a small right-lane-trafficked Denmark, it takes a bit of courage and a lot of stupidity to battle the motorcycles, tuk-tuks (autos), stray dogs and cows on the Mysuru streets. But what a delight to arrive at the Lake and run 4-km together with hundreds of walking and running citizens of Mysuru.

Later the same day, I wanted to walk the shores of this wonderful city Lake with my wife. We arrived at 11 am by tuk-tuk, only to find out that the whole Lake is closed to the public from 9 am to 4 pm.

Nobody could explain the logic of this decision to me. So here is my question as a guest in Mysuru: Why is a whole Lake and its splendid trails closed to the public during daytime? The Lake is a true gem, so why this restricted access?

By the way, at 4 pm today, I put on my running clothes again to reclaim the Lake.

– Carsten Nielsen, guest and runner, Mysuru, 17.11.2025

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