Jamboo Savari

Old habits die hard. And in this case it should also :). I was desperate to see the famed howdah that goes around my favourite city Mysore on Vijayadashami day and trust Doordarshan to help me out and they did :).

I could not believe my eyes when I got to know DD Chandana is broadcasting the Dasara procession live via a webcast (http://www.mysoredasara2008.com/webcast.html)

I become very nostalgic during festive season as it makes me miss home. Dasara is one of the festivals. I remember the pustaka (books) pooje that is performed at home for eveyday during the navraatri period. This is symbolic of worshipping wisdom and goddess saraswathi. The entire town seems to be decked up for the festive season, temples are bustling with people offering various pooja's and archane's for the well being of family and friends.

Jamboo savari is the clumination of the famed naada habba ( state festival of Karnataka ). I loved watching the magnificent golden howdah being carried by the majestic decorated elephant and also wonder how the whole thing would have been at the peak of Mysore Maharaja's reign. So to see the procession live , just the way I used to do it in my childhood, sitting in from of my work PC was very surreal. Thank you very much for everybody involved in making this webcast happen.

Jai Chamundeshwari, Jai Karnataka