“Doorada betta nunnuge” (from afar, even a distant hill looks smooth) is an old Kannada saying.
The sight of the Mysore palace with the Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar circle in the foreground, all decked up for Dasara in Mysore on Saturday, is a shining example of that. “Dasara Works” are going on feverishly even as the festival is veering to an end, but tourists and visitors are unlikely to notice.
For, the lights provide a nice veneer to mask the darkness.
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Dr K. Javeed Nayeem writes in Star of Mysore:
“We are all in the middle of Dasara which is our most important annual event. But Mysore is still getting decked up for the occasion even after the short-lived celebrations themselves have started and are also about to end. It is a little like the bride still getting dressed even after the priest has started chanting the sacred mantras, completely unmindful of the fact that she is missing and only mindful of not allowing the designated auspicious moment to slip away!
“This is the scenario that meets our weary eyes year after year, ever since the Dasara slipped from the hands of our erstwhile royalty into the hands of our new netas. I wonder why some proper planning does not go into its preparations. At least it can then serve its intended purpose of showcasing our city at its best and making our tourists happy that the time, effort and money they spent on seeing it were worth it….
“Here I am reminded of Aesop‘s fairy tale where work on the project which started off in great haste, has fallen asleep enroute like the hare, while it is slowly but steadily being overtaken by its rival, the tortoise of escalating costs. Instead of wasting money and time on fairy tale projects and trying to achieve the impossible, it would be better if we concentrate on doing something tangible and useful.”
Photograph: Karnataka Photo News
Also read: What is so world-famous about Mysore Dasara?
Should Bollywood have a place in Mysore Dasara?
churumuri 
Chamaraja Circle not Jayachamarajendra Circle… Churumuri is erring for the second time.
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This is 402nd Dasara. More than 50 years since Karnataka state was formed. What does the government lack in celebrating dasara? We have everything for organising a good dasara. But, it is the race for money and publicity that has always spoiled the celebrations.
This year, the whole dasara has been the durbar of District ministrer Ramdas. Dressed in his rather irritating contrast colour dresses – Dark red / flashy blue shirts + white pant and a kumkum, this MLA is interested to inaugurate everything in this dasara.
There were instances when a senior scientist after a long wait at KSOU was about to leave the place. He questioned, “is Ramdas my father for me to wait for him so long?”… similar things have happned at all venues.
Usually, it was a practice to invoilve all the people’s representatives during the dasara celebrations. but this time, it has been the monopoly of Ramdas and Company! not even of other BJP people.
Dasara has reached a substandard level this year..
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Here is one photo I saw in National Geographic Magazine
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2011/entries/110118/view/
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I Presume this business of numbering 400, 401 and 402nd Dasara originated from the belief that Raja Wodeyar started it at Srirnagapatna in the year 1610.
In the case of an event ( unlike a Birthday) the first year also gets counted. Thus if 1610 was the first year , then Dasara in 1619 would have been the 10Th and not 1620. In the same vain, 2009 would have been the 400Th Dasara and 2012 is the 403rd Dasara.
But what about the years when it was not celebrated at all ? At least from 1794 to 1798, it was not celebrated by a Wodeyar King. Though Tipu did celebrate, it was mainly about amusement by conducting Vajaramushti fight, Killing a live Tiger etc.
But if one were to argue that it is not about a Wodeyar King or successor celebrating, then Dasara as celebrated by the State is only from 1976 or so.
So either arithmetically or Historically this business of prefixing the number 402nd etc to Dasara does not make any sense.
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