Naada Habba - Mysore Dasera

Even after being born and bought up in this state Karnataka where in Mysore Dasara is world famous, had never been to Mysore to see Dasara. This time I decided not to miss it and finally was in Mysore for the Jumbu Savari on Vijaya Dashami. Even though Mysore is not as commercialized as Bangalore its fast catching up. The sheer reason why I love Mysore, the cultural capital of this state is simplicity of people living here but slowly every where its giving out to commercialization. Yet this place reminds of our childhood days where in life used to be so simple and slow moving.

There was a huge crowd outside the palace gates, yet reached early around 10:30am. Dasara procession started around 12. Many times and in fact every year in various newspapers I had seen lots of pics from the Dasara procession however this time I felt its the energy of the artists to be felt at the venue. It was amazing to watch the drummers dancing with their drums. It was very hot but I am sure most of the artists had come dressed up very early in the morning. I was really surprised when I heard these artists do not just perform in front of the palace but its a procession which starts from the Palace and going through various parts of the city ends up in Banni mantapa. Most of the artists were in fact performing bare foot. It was so hot, yet they were just lost in their own world. Drummers rocked the procession with the local folk beats.

After the performances of various artists, it was the turn of "Balarama"- The Royal Elephant accompanied by 2 female elephants along his sides to carry the 750kg golden ambari (howdah) carrying goddess Chamundeshwari in it. It was the majestic walk of Balarama with the Ambari which makes every one in the crowd stand up from their seat. Its the moment every one had been waiting for the day to watch. After the pooja to goddess Chamundeshwari from the state Chief minister, the procession heads towards Banni mantapa where it finally ends.

Evening there was parade and acrobatic stunts from police teams along with 21 gun salute at Banni mantapa. It was spectacular to watch bikers in their royal enfield bikes showing their skills with various stunts. But the best of the lot was Panjina Meravanige (Fire Torch Procession) followed by laser show and fireworks to end.

We started from home at around 10am and after spending the entire day on the roads watching the spectacular events we returned home around 11pm in the night dead tired with lots of pics and lots of memories.

Like always, after all the good things I was disappointed with the crowd management, lack of security, improper seating arrangements and lack of basic necessities like toilets or food at the venue. Even worse was the crowd itself throwing waste on roads and spoiling the beauty of the venue.