Dasara-cious Crowds:
……….. Jammed’
ba savari
Welcome to Mysuru,
the crowd-surfing capital of the world during Dasara.
Born and brought up in this Majestic heritage city,I’m in love with its royal charm, but during the Dasara festival season, one thing always strikes me: the Dasara pedestrians are a terrifying, unstoppable force.
An average visitor
loses a month’s supply of adrenaline in four hours just trying to navigate the procession route
(a study conducted by me, on myself). The crowd has absolutely no fear of
police regulations .
Every stratum of the
human age-graph has a unique strategy for surviving the chaotic sea of
humanity:
• Kids: Catching a glimpse of the decorated elephants or securing a
balloon from a street vendor is far more important than staying glued to their
parents' hands. If there is a gap
between a security guard’s boots, a child will slide through it like liquid
grease just to wave at Mahendra the
elephant. They will confidently duck under a heavy
police barricade, leaving a mildly palpitating cop in their wake. No harm done;
they always reappear with a toy in hand.
• Men: The master Gymnasts of the concrete jungle.They take a quick
glance at the wall of people, lock eyes with a gap in the crowd, and blaze
right through the swarm. In case of a shoulder-bump or a near-stampede, they
just shrug, offer a polite “Svalpa
adjust madi” (please
adjust a bit), and push forward. If tempers flare, they unleash a colorful
stream of local vocabulary, praying the sheer roar of the festival drums will
drown out the argument.
• Ladies: Absolute icons of
multitasking .Truly, there is no need to stop talking on the phone or halt a
lively conversation for aggressively bargaining for jasmine
flowers The massive wave of people hurtling toward them is nothing compared
with the local neighborhood gossip. If anyone accidentally steps on their
festive silk sarees, they don't scream - they simply flash a fierce glare that could melt
steel, adjust their pallu finish the transaction, and keep moving.
• Senior
Citizens: These are the most
fascinating masters of crowd navigation. You won’t walk far before seeing a
jolly old grandpa slicing through a dense crowd of thousands right in front of
the Palace gates. It takes incredible skill to dive headlong into a human traffic
jam with arms raised , a tightly gripped umbrella held high in the air, acting
as a mystical beacon that somehow parts the human sea , carving
out a personal path through sheer willpower.
To be fair to the
crowd, management during Mysuru Dasara is always a monumental challenge, filled
with unexpected roadblocks, massive tourist influxes, and naturally traditionally
narrow tight heritage streets. However, the civic administration and local
police have actually done a phenomenal job setting up dedicated viewing
galleries, one-way walking tracks, and spacious pedestrian lay-bys over the last few years.
The real twist? People have grown so accustomed to the thrill of
blindly drifting with the human tide that they completely ignore the designated
pathways. They would much rather weave through barricades and march down the
middle of the main roads, firmly cementing Mysuru during Dasara as the ultimate
crowd-surfing capital of the world.
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