All set for jumbo savari procession

Mysuru : After eight-day cultural extravaganza, Mysuru, the cultural capital of Karnataka, is all set for world famous 410th Dasara jumbo savari procession at Mysuru Palace premises on Vijayadashami on Monday.

Festive fervor which has enveloped the city has pulled the people out of the gloom of Covid 19 pandemic situation. Adapting themselves to new normal -- wearing masks, carrying sanitizers and keeping physical distance -- people rushed to Jeevarayanakatte grounds and other places to buy flowers on Saturday.

This year owing to the pandemic, Dasara jumbo savari procession will be restricted to 270 meters in front of Mysuru Palace, within the compound or fort of the palace and is likely to end in 30 minutes.

So after enjoying cultural programmes virtually, the illumination of Mysuru city every evening, the people of the State's cultural capital are all set to witness jumbo savari procession virtually on Monday, as it will be live streamed via Doordarshan channel and social media via https://www.facebook.com/mysorevarthe/ and https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvhg-sbsHV_ybFvK6Iu7HLoaOmh3yCcVC.

While only 300 people are being allowed to be part of the procession including officials, staff on duty, artists, artisans, security personnel, journalists, on Monday, as many as 80 artists of six cultural troupes, and also 15 musicians of Carnatic police band of Mysuru who will be carried in a tableaux of Aane gaadi (elephant cart) will be part of the procession. On Saturday morning all those artists were tested for Covid-19.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa will offer pooja to "Nandi dwaja" between 2.59 pm and 3.20 pm at auspicious Makara lagna and launch the procession. Once the cultural troupes and tableaux pass, he will offer floral tribute to idol of Goddess Chamundeswari seated in 750-kg golden howdah before it is pulled by ritual elephant Abhimanyu at auspicious Kumbha lagna between 3.40 pm and 4.15 pm.

Scion of royal family Sri Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has been invited to participate as chief guest during the procession. District minister S T Somashekar, city mayor Taslim, Krishna Raja constituency MLA S A Ramdas and others will participate.

With just a day to go for Dasara, all the five elephants completed their 22-day training with final round of rehearsal in front of the palace on Saturday morning. Abhimanyu, the 54-year-old elephant, carried with ease and majesty 750-kg wooden howdah laden with sand bags. Along with the elephants and 36 horses of KARP mounted company who will escort golden howdah were also acclimatized with final round of cannon fire shots on Saturday morning.

Though Dasara procession is restricted to Mysuru Palace premises, since the entire city is illuminated for Dasara, and also due to long weekend due to holiday for Vijayadashami on Monday, the occupancy of hotel rooms on Saturday reached 40 percent, according to Mysuru hotel owners association president C Narayangowda.

"While 95 percent of tourists are from our own State, the remaining five percent are from neighboring Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh. Normally, occupancy rate in hotels is 100 percent during Dasara every year, the business was badly hit this year because of Covid-19. Though hotels offered discounts ranging between 20 percent and 50 percent, the occupancy of hotel rooms was just 10 percent in June and it rose to 30 percent in September, after the lockdown restrictions were lifted. The hotels in Mysuru were permitted to reopen from 8 June.

While there are 405 hotels with 9,500 rooms in Mysuru, 70 percent of them are vacant. And 30 percent of those hotel rooms were occupied last weekend after Dasara began," Mr Narayangowda said.

According to Mysuru airport authorities, the occupancy of the flights to Mysuru has picked by 64 percent this month compared to June after lockdown restrictions were lifted and domestic flights were permitted to operate in June.

Flights to Mysuru had 1451 passengers on arrival and 1169 passengers departed in June. This month, from 1 October to 20 October 2110 passengers arrived and 1997 passengers departed, they said. Mysuru has flights connecting Bengaluru, Belgaum, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Goa.

Every year over 4 lakh people including 40 percent tourists from other states, five percent foreigners and the rest from our own State descended on Mysuru on Vijayadashami and gathered on either side of 4.8 km procession route from Mysuru Palace premises to Bannimantap grounds to watch Dasara jumbo savari procession.

Last year over a kilo meter long procession with 44 cultural troupes comprising over 1200 folk artists and 39 colourfully-decorated tableaux had taken more than three hours covering the procession route from Mysuru Palace to Bannimantap.