Hordes of tourists have come and gone after delighting themselves with the glitz and glamour marking the just-concluded, nay celebrated, Navaratri festival dating back to ancient times more popularly known as Dasara of four centuries vintage. The administration has deservedly earned unalloyed praise for organising the show free from any disturbing incidents, except for some minor glitches. The workforce of the civic body as well as the Police Department seem to stand out for their mite in keeping the city environs clean and orderly to a great extent. The task of wrapping up and restoring city’s pre-festival ambience, not to forget the plethora of problems bugging its citizens, is sure to expose the unpreparedness of both administration and the residents of the city to halt the transformation of magnificent Mysore to metamorphosed Mysuru as it were. The elderly in the city, who can recollect the beginning days of the transformation marked by vanishing of monarchy in the erstwhile Princely State can be heard murmuring the words of lament about the change, praising good old days.
Taking stock of the plus and minus sides of decking up the city with a coat of paint and ornamental lights covering the entire length and breadth of the city, primarily to promote tourism in the region can be fascinating exercise if done objectively without yielding to emotion. In this context, the verdict that the spiritual orientation, particularly in public domain, got sidelined during the festival cannot be ignored. However, the tradition-bound families of the city deserve to be complimented for upholding the time-honoured customs special to the festival.
