Mysore/Mysuru: Dasara elephant Gopalaswamy, who is being considered as an alternative to Abhimanyu, to carry the Golden Howdah (Ambari) during Dasara procession in future, carried a weight of 550 kg comfortably and walked through the route of Dasara procession on the second day of rehearsal on Friday.
Gopalaswamy started his rehearsal from the premises of the Palace carrying sand bags weighing 300 kg in addition to the to the weights of cushion and Namda which together weighed 250 kg and passed through the Dasara procession route via K.R. Circle, Sayyaji Rao Road, Highway Circle and reached Bannimantap Torchlight Parade Grounds. This 5-km journey was covered by Gopalaswamy in just 1 hour and 10 minutes which raised confidence of the officials of Forest Department.
It may be recalled here that during last year’s Dasara festival at Srirangapatna, Gopalaswamy had created a ruckus after hearing the sound of crackers. But this time, by walking comfortably with the 550 kg weight on him, he has made amends for his earlier scare.
He completed the distance of procession 5 minutes earlier than Abhimanyu. After resting for some time, he returned back to the Palace in an hour.
In 1950s the elephants which carried the golden Howdha were tall and majestic compared to the puny sizes of Abhimanyu and Goapalaswamy.
Also these elephants look mal nourished.
Those days , the elephants were kept in Ane Karoti near Palace, where they were well nourished. The elephant called Biligiri from the name of the betta forest from where it was captured as an young elephants had beautiful white plastered front, which carried the golden Howdha for years. This Ane Karoti was given way free to Suttur Mutt-the saffron-clad so called seers, who have been nothing but politicos, have since destroyed the quality of education by opening colleges of sorts, including medical college, where they charge a fortune for dullards to become doctors. Mysore is not developed by them, but destroyed by them. The saffron-clad suttur seers have been the king makers selecting who they want to become the CM. Today, they have the caterpillar moustached toadie Lingayat Bommai, a dim witted moron as the CM.