Gentle giants are arriving

MYSORE: The gentle giants are arriving here heralding the Dasara season.
The first batch of Dasara jumbos will be in the city on August 13 after they venture out of the woods on the fringes of Nagarhole National Park.
Balarama, the jumbo carrying the golden howdah, will lead the first batch of elephants. In all, six elephants will start to Mysore and stay put here for six weeks, practising for Jumboo Savari to be held on September 28.
District minister Shobha Karandlaje will welcome them at Veeranahosahalli in Hunsur taluk. Accompanying Balarama are Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Gajendra, Sarala and Varamahalakshmi. Though billed as Gaja Payana (elephants trek), the jumbos will come out of the forest area at Veeranahosahalli and start their journey to the city on trucks.
Restarted five years back, the Gaja Payana was reworked after the jumbos, which walked all the way to the city, developed fatigue and suffered ill health as people fed them with sugarcane, jaggery and other delicacies. Now, they are brought in trucks.
The elephants will be accorded traditional welcome at the Mysore Palace on August 15 where they will stay for six weeks. In the second batch, another six or seven elephants will arrive in early September and will join the Balarama-led team.
Balarama, who is carrying the howdah for the 13th time in a row, is housed at the Nagarhole elephant camp while Arjuna is in Balle camp.
As the Dasara season is here, the Dasara festivities are being lined up. The Dasara flower show, a big draw among the visitors, will be launched on September 19. The event hosted by the horticulture department in association with the District Horticulture Association at Curzon Park will start from September 16. The flower show will end on September 29, a day after 10-day Dasara festivities are over.