Select elephants in Mysore being prepared for the Dasara festivities

Dasara celebrations in Mysuru is an affair where elephants descend in the procession - and they are decked up in all its finery. In order to ensure that these elephants are fit in all respects,they have been put on a special diet so that they can gain up to 500-Kg before the great occasion.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 19 September 2016.

It is expected that they will gain 500-Kg before the festivities begin on October 1.
The 12 specially picked Dasara elephants in Mysuru have been put on a special protein-rich diet. This includes pulses, cereals and onions and the animals are expected to gain 200-500-Kg in a month. They are fed food, rich in carbohydrates before and after rehearsals in the morning and afternoon.
The diet for each elephant comes to Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 daily and the total expenditure incurred would be of the order of Rs 20 lakh.
As explained by a veterinarian, the animals have to gain weight so that they can withstand the six-hour Dasara procession and those involved in carrying extra load have to do special exercises.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


Some more interesting links -

Disneyland bans 25 things including selfie sticks in all its locations

Hillary Clinton has pneumonia - she fell ill at September 11 memorial

Lord Ganesh's laddu weighing 21-Kg auctioned for Rs 14.65 in Hyderabad


Moody wants Gold medals from Olympics (satire)

Didi and her BMW dreams (satire)

Goddess Durga and her kids wait for the annual bash (satire)


Suicide bomb attack in Pakistani mosque during Friday prayers kill at least 25

Security beefed up for Munich Oktoberfest 2016

29 people injured in an explosion in New York - no evidence of any terror link


Shah Rukh's 'Fan' and Salman Khan's 'Sultan' to be screened at Busan International Film Festival

Sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy to release in US theaters on May 5, 2017

London-born singer Skepta wins the 25th Mercury prize fr his album Konnichiwa

Ghost closes Mysuru court hall for nine months

#ghost #mysuru #courtroom #astrologer A ghost has closed a court room in Mysuru – a court hall has remained shut for nine months due to the presence of a ghost as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 20 February 2015. As indicated by sources, the hall has been branded as a "ghost room" after a judge who was holding court there lost his life in a road accident last year.
The district sessions judge's hall is located right above the closed hall.
The room was locked out in May 2014 and, before that date, it housed the First additional sessions judge, and many important judgments and sensational cases were read out of this hall. The hall is located at the entrance of the court premises and has, now, been reduced to a storeroom where broken furniture and chairs and tables are kept.
It is a bit strange that the court authorities have not opened the hall or posted a judge there, and, by their inaction, they have fueled rumors. Apparently, an astrologer has suggested that the court hall should remain locked until special pujas were performed so as to clean the place of evil influences.
This is happening in 21st century India where efforts are being made at the government level to rid the fear complex associated with the superstition.