Over the weekend

I went out with my college gang (sans 2) on Saturday. We had already booked tickets for a Kannada movie - Aishwarya. Few of my friends wanted to watch it, so I tagged along even though I had watched it once before :-(( The ending of the movie is simply unbelievable!! We watched the movie amidst a continuous narration and fussing of Sheetz. The others liked it.

The plan after the movie was to go to the “Jaanapadha Jaatre” happening as part of the Suvarnotsava (50th Karnataka Rajyotsava) in front of Vidhana Soudha. The program was scheduled to start at 5.30, so we hung around Garuda Mall until then. Nars joined us there and after a rather sad lunch (veg sandwich - not grilled!) went to Scary House in the mall. I was all excited to go see it. Sheetz dropped out as she had had enough the first time :-)

Well, the Scary House is a passage you need to traverse with big Arrow marks showing the path. It is very dark inside with faint lights here and there. What makes it scary? The sudden noises and appearances of "ghosts" and floating skeletons with rolling eyes. At first I thought the effects were cool. There was even one Veerana (A Ramsey movie, I think) style Purana Haveli ka Darwaaza which was banging. The noise effects were very good. Towards the end a weird masked-waala bhoot suddenly got up from a khabr or something and advanced towards me. Thomp! Thomp! Thomp! Eiiikssssssssssssssss...I screamed :-) Then at the door a zombie like kid came in front of me (reminded me of the doll in Child's play) wielding a club or something. Phew! Thankfully I didn't have nightmares that night.

After having some chocolate-dipped wafers and cakes, we proceeded towards Vidhana Soudha picking up Sush on the way.

I really looked forward to watching the display of Karnataka's various dance forms and songs. The stage was attractive, but we couldn’t get a better close view. Had to settle for watching the show at quite a distance. There were food and handicraft stalls lined up and these were showcasing Karnataka's various districts. Hmm..let me re-collect what the food stalls had to offer. There was kajjaya, husli(very theeka and good), joLadha roTTi, masala dosa, chitranna, chaats too!! Tasted most of them. Oh! There was Kodagina kajjaaya :-), some Raagi HuriHittu and other stuff too.

Food aside, there were handicrafts stalls – wooden crafted god figurines and I guess one stall was displaying dolls and wooden artifacts of ChannapaTna. The wooden bangles were very pretty and I bought one.

The program started a bit late around 6.45 or so. There was Dollu KuNita, then some other dances including a very nice rendition of Challidharu Malligeya. Since we weren't getting a good view and it was getting late, we decided to leave after few more songs and dances. After another round of eating, we left.

The crowd-turnout was really huge despite the almost non-existent publicity the event had. It should have been showcased a little better. But it is a very good step taken to promote the culture and talent of people of various places in Karnataka other than Bangalore!! I personally feel it should be organized in all the districts and also outside Karnataka to promote tourism and also in spreading Karnataka's rich heritage.