Mysuru: Fondly called ‘Sweet 16’ by her friends owing to her enthusiasm for life, 70 – year–old widow, M N Yadugiri Gopalan, arrived as early as 7 am, her hair neatly plaited, wearing make-up, a big bindi and sporting a hat and T-shirt over her salwar kameez to join over 300 students and fellow Mysureans for the 2 km long “Dasara heritage walk” Saturday morning.
Happy to learn more about the history of the city she is proud to be a part of, Ms Yadugiri eagerly joined the walkers , who visited 12 heritage structures, including the 120 – year – old Devaraja market, accompanied by members of the Mysuru Heritage Experts Committee , Eechanur Kumar and Prof N S Rangaraju, who provided them interesting tidbits along the way.
For instance, they revealed that the Devaraja market was named after former Mysuru Maharaja, Chamaraja Wadiyar’s son, Devaraja, who lived for just a year. Elaborating, Mr Eechanur Kumar, continued, “What was started as a fair by Chikkadevaraya Wadiyar was expanded by Tipu Sultan and Chamaraja Wadiyar and became a full fledged market during the reign of Sri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. The first floor of the Devaraja market housed the Mysuru Medical college’s first batch for two years. And it housed the Devaraja police station until recently.”
With over 650 shops selling the Mysuru Mallige, and other goods typical to the city, the market is a source of livelihood for many vendors, who have been here for decades.
But the Mysuru City Corporation Council recently passed a resolution to demolish and rebuild it at a cost of Rs 92 crore, leaving many aghast.
Although a list of 201 heritage buildings was submitted 10 years ago by the Heritage Experts Committee, and an amendment was proposed to section 13 E of the Town and Country Planning Act five years ago to empower the local bodies to declare and protect heritage buildings, nothing has come of either move, leaving these heritage buildings as vulnerable as always to change.
‘Akash Ambari’
The Department of Tourism has signed a contract with Kairali Aviation Private Limited (KAPL) to run non-scheduled connectivity, “Akash Ambari”, between the HAL airport in Bengaluru and the Mysuru airport till September 30 for the benefit of tourists visiting Mysuru for Dasara. King Air – C 90, Twin engine Turbo Prop Aircraft with six seats will operate two flights daily as per the contract.
Timings will be fixed as per the demand. Additional flights are also possible if there is demand. For more details, call 919342536565 or 918317321347
