Mysore Dasara Gold Card is a farce. Review on Mysore

Mysuru is a place that is close to our heart.  We visit it on every pretext - sometimes even once a month.  It is a place where I would love to settle down someday.

I have seen the Dasara procession in Mysuru on on many occasions in the past. This time, I bought the Gold Card for my family which cost me Rs. 12, 000/- for 3 members. Each card allows 2 persons and costs Rs, 6000/-.  When I went there, I found to my dismay that the seating area was filled with MP/MLA/MLC pass holders many of whom were straight from the villages.

These people had no sense of decency and would stand up in the front rows and block the view of people at the back.  On requesting them to sit down they would start arguing in their rustic manner and would leave you speechless.  While I do not mind rubbing shoulders with villagers, after all that is how I have watched the Dasara procession all these years, but having paid Rs. 12, 000/- for the show, which I could have watched free of cost, am I being unreasonable to expect something special?

I noticed that amongst the 500 odd people seated in the pavilion hardly 50 odd looked like they would have paid so much to watch the spectacle.  There were a few foreigners amongst them who looked even more bewildered.  Their faces read "Where have I landed in after paying so much?".  The rest were all free pass holders who had obtained them from the MPs/MLAs/MLCs.  Almost everyone had those passes in their pockets.  So why con us into buying these expensive cards.  I would have jostled with similar people on the road to get a free view of the procession.  That would have saved me my 12, 000 rupees.

Also, please note that for the price that they are charging, I could book 2 rooms for my family for a night in almost any five star hotel in Mysuru even at the peak festival rates.  So they mean to say that I pay the five star price but have to rub shoulders with plebeians who have got free entry.

If the Government wants to make the Gold Card program a real success, they have to treat the public paying a 5 star price with some privileges, e.g., separate entry, separate reserved seating area right opposite the Chief Minister's pavilion, seats with numbers on them, water dispensers, a snack bar, etc.

I might sound boorish but then hey, they are taking a whole lot of money!  They better give me value for that!!!