NGO to make foreign visitors feel at home

Last year, five women international tourists had scaled a wall to get a glimpse of the famed Dasara procession. Not only did they not get to see the procession, they attracted so much attraction and eve-teasing that the experience left them unsettled.

This is a common experience for most foreign tourists during Jamboo Savari, men and women alike. Their travails have gone unnoticed by the authorities. This year, however, a voluntary organisation has come up with a noble gesture to provide them a hassle-free opportunity to watch Jamboo Savari on October 14.

Kalpavriksha Trust in the city has begun to issue free passes to foreign tourists to watch the procession seated at a dedicated gallery. The Trust, headed by Dr Rajashekar, intends to distribute 2,000 passes for the gallery to be created opposite the Government Ayurvedic Hospital on New Sayyaji Rao Road.

To make it easy for the foreigners to follow the attractions of Jamboo Savari with ease, running commentaries in both Spanish and English languages have been organised. Merita Shantaraj, a Spanish teacher,  at the Bangalore University and Mahadev, HoD, English, University of Mysore, have been roped in for the job, administrator of the Trust A G Devaraj told Deccan Herald. The organisers will also distribute water bottles and a packet of biscuits to visitors at the gallery.

Arrangements have been made to distribute booklets containing related information to the foreign tourists at hotels and also through travel agents. A Bangalore-based travel agent has already promised to bring in 200 tourists, Devaraj said, adding that over 500 enquiries had already come in.

The passes have been bar-coded to ensure that they are not misused or sold for a price to guileless tourists.

Quiet ceremony   

On Sunday, Revenue and district incharge Minister V Sreenivas Prasad released the passes at a quiet ceremony at the Government Guest House.

The passes will be issued from October 7 to 13 at: SRS Travels, Gandhi Square, contact - 0821-2441939, 2441913; Greenlife Technologies, No 765, ‘B’ Block, 8th Main, Vijayanagar, 3rd Stage, Mysore, contact 0821 - 2416 923. Contact: 91648 37773, 91616 06455, 98444 05624, 99161 52889, 99000 93152, for details.