Mysore set for Jamboo Savari

www.mangaloretoday.com

Mysore, Oct 5, 2011: The City of Palaces is well prepared to host the 401st Jamboo Savari, the last leg of the nine-day Dasara festivities, on Thursday.

As per tradition, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda will offer pooja to ‘Nandi Dhwaja’ at the auspicious Dhanur Lagna near Balarama gate of the palace as a prelude to the Savari between 12.54 pm and 1.24 pm.

Torchlight parade, another major attraction, will be attended by Governor H R Bhardwaj, besides the chief minister, at 7 pm at the torchlight parade grounds in Bannimantap.

Elephant Balarama, which will carry the 750-kg golden howdah on the D-Day, has undergone a rigorous exercise along with 13 jumbos that arrived in the City in two batches.

Unlike the second batch of jumbos, the Balarama-led elephants that arrived first have undergone nearly 50 days of rehearsal — from getting acclamitised to the procession route, the hustle-bustle of the traffic and weights in the form of sacks filled with grains, among others.

Being a howdah elephant, Balarama has also been acclimatised to the ‘wooden howdah’ filled with sacks of grains. The four-km-long procession route from the palace to Bannimantap passing via the Statue Circle, K R Circle, Government Ayurvedic Hospital Circle and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Circle has been re-asphalted.

The kerbstones too have got a fresh coat of paint. Addressing media persons here on Tuesday, Medical Education and district in-charge minister S A Ramdas said as many as 20,500 passes had been distributed to enable all — from common people to VIPs, freedom fighters to the specially abled, foreigners and various departments among several others representing different strata of society — to witness both the Jamboo Savari and the torchlight parade.

In all, 34 tableaux from 30 districts will form another attraction with each district laying thrust on its culture and tradition. The tableau of Mysore will portray ‘mahisha mardini- navaratri bombegalu’. Over 3,000 police personnel have arrived in batches from across the State, besides local police, to ensure smooth celebrations. Security checks have been regularly conducted along the procession route.

Courtesy: Deccan Herald