JOIN USJumbos rehearsing majestically on Jamboo Savari route, sprucing up of Amba Vilas Palace and a number of meetings to ensure that everything in place, stands testimony to the fact that the countdown for ‘Nada Habba’ Dasara has begun. It is also the time to welcome hordes of tourists to the heritage city.
Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir is one of the most sought after tourist destinations in Mysore, with thousands of tourists preferring to have a leisurely walk on the spacious gardens and musical fountain situated on the northern part of Brindavan Gardens.
Expectations
But the gardens hardly stand up to the expectations of the visitors. There is no proper lighting facilities near the musical fountain and a sole lamppost is seen shedding light in this entire area. This is of great inconvenience to the visitors, who fear theft of their articles or of their children going missing.
The musical fountain that was installed decades ago is of basic model, when compared to state-of-the-art musical fountain at JP Park, Mathikere, in Bangalore and many others.
The fountain starts dancing to the tunes of ‘Kannada naadina jeevanadi kaveri’, and continues with a decade old Hindi songs, disappointing the young crowd.After a 20-minute visual treat, the fountain falls silent indicating the show has come to an end. Hundreds of visitors gathered on the spot start moving from the place immediately, in the cover of darkness.
Poor lighting
There is just a single electric pole with light and the whole area is poorly lit. When contacted, KRS Superintendent Engineer Vijay Kumar however justified stating that while many such fountains which were set up in various parts of the city like Kuppanna park and Dasara expo have stopped functioning, the one at KRS was still attracting visitors.
He said that till date, no visitor had complained about the songs played. Moreover, the fountains had been set up to the tunes of the songs, and it was an elaborate process to reset the fountain to the songs of new beats.
With the State being blessed with abundant rains this year, Brindavan Gardens is expected to receive a record number of tourists this year, especially with aquatic adventure sports being shifted to KRS backwaters.