Poor response on day one

Rain plays spoilsport, as expected

In fact, the city had experienced rains on Friday night and there were dark clouds since morning. The weather was sultry but yet cool in the morning. The rains delayed the inauguration of the cultural programmes at Gombe Thotti in the palace premises. Although, thousands of people had gathered at the premises to enjoy the programme they returned because of intermittent rains. A few people took shelter under the Gombe Thotti to watch the programme. The plastic chairs in front the palace remained empty.

Various stalls of Government departments are yet to be ready in the exhibition grounds. Two days ago, Karnataka Exhibition Authority Chairman B P Manjunath had claimed that all the government departments are ready with the stalls and even ‘A’ and ‘B’ blocks are fully occupied by traders. However contrary to his claims, no government stall was ready and the blocks were not occupied by shop-keepers. The exhibition premises has virtually turned in to a slushy area because of rains.

Rains and Dasara

It is a coincidence that rains lash during Dasara festival every year and disrupt cultural programmes. Usually the cultural programme is hit by rains as the inauguration takes place in the evening. As a result, there used to be hardly any audience to watch the programme of artists of national and international repute.

On Saturday too rain played the spoilsport with the rain started to pour in much before 6 am, the scheduled time to inaugurate the cultural programmes in front of the Palace. Not deterred by this, the organisers Dasara Cultural Programmes Sub-committee made quick arrangements at ‘Gombe Thotti’. C Ashwath entertained the gathering with his usual hit numbers for an hour. At the grounds of the office of Command Area Development Authority (CADA) too, where Food Mela is opened, it was a ‘souring’ experience for the traders. For over 30 stalls, there were only a few takers.