While the festivities in Mysore and Madikeri have attracted huge crowds, it isn’t the same with Srirangapatna Dasara.

Mandya, October 11, 2013: Call it apathy of the officials concerned in publicising the events or sheer disinterest among people to relish a variety of cultural programmes, the response to the five-day Srirangapatna Dasara has been lukewarm.

The Mandya district administration is organising the festivities at the ‘Fort Town’.

Senior lexicographer G. Venkatasubbaiah had inaugurated the cultural extravaganza on October 7. While the festivities in the neighbouring districts of Mysore and Madikeri are pulling crowds from across the country, Srirangapatna Dasara, which has a history of 400 years, has failed to attract the connoisseurs of art and culture. On Wednesday, the third day of the festivities, a bunch of artistes performed at the ‘Sriranga Vedike’, near Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple. But, the crowd was less than 100, leaving artistes disappointed. .

“Sometimes, even high profile cultural programmes fail to attract crowds,” an officer of the Department of Kannada and Culture told The Hindu .

The culture of attending such events is yet to catch up with the common people. But, the district administration has taken utmost care to publicise the events, an officer in the district administration said.

The programmes at Hampi Utsav and Mysore Dasara always draw huge crowds. But, Srirangapatna Dasara, last year too, failed to pull audiences, a folk artist who performed at the vedike said.

According to M. Nagaraju, a tourist guide from Mysore, many people were unaware of the Srirangapatna Dasara because of lack of publicity.

Source: The Hindu, October 11, 2013