Mysore/Mysuru: As a precursor to the ninth International Day of Yoga celebrations, the city witnessed Yoga Darshana and Yogathon this morning. The events were organised by the Department of Ayush and Government Nature Cure and Yoga College, Mysuru from 6 am to 8 am in front of Kote Anjaneyaswamy Temple.

Though the names of a host of VVIPs including Chief Minister Siddharamaiah, District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Sericulture K.  Venkatesh and Health, Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundurao and over 20 other guests were mentioned in bold letters in the invitation, none of them turned up.

The only leaders at the event were MLA T.S. Srivatsa, MLC C.N. Manjegowda, Mayor Shivakumar and Deputy Mayor Dr. G. Roopa. Over 400 students and staff from the Government Nature Cure and Yoga College and Government Ayurveda College were present, donning uniforms of different shades.

Though one of the main responsibilities of these educational institutions is to promote Yoga and Naturopathy among the public, this is for the first time that the colleges are organising two mass public events — Yoga Darshana and Yogathon — ahead of the Yoga Day to be observed in Mysuru on June 21.

From 6 am to 7 pm, various Yoga postures were performed under the guidance of Yoga Bandhu Dr. A.S. Chandrashekar, Shashikumar, Dr. Suma, Dr. Hariganesh and Bharatheesh. Later, Yogathon was taken out from Palace premises to Kukkarahalli Lake via Devaraj Urs Road and Old DC Office.

Addressing the participants, Mayor Shivakumar, who religiously practises Yoga every day, even during his busy schedule, said that for a human being to become a good human resource, he/she must be healthy and for good health, Yoga is the key.

MLC Manjegowda recalled the Yoga practice by thespian Dr. Rajkumar. “Only when people saw the Yoga postures displayed by the late actor, it became popular and his images were etched in public memory. We all consume all kinds of food these days and most of the food is junk. In this situation, Yoga helps purge all impurities and toxic content from body,” he said.

Principal of Government Nature Cure and Yoga College Dr. Gajanana Hegde, In-charge Principal of Government Ayurveda College Dr. Radhakrishna, Ayush District Officer Dr. Pushpa, Assistant Director of Ayurveda College Dr. Lakshminarayana Shenoy, D. Srihari of GSS Foundation and Deputy Director of Horticulture Department Rudresh were present.