MYSURU: Donning male’s attire, female artistes drew wide admiration from the audience at Town Hall. The entire auditorium was packed to the rafters to watch the play ‘Krishna Sandhana’ staged by Professional Women Artistes Association.
The women’s team comprising 22 members mesmerised the audience through their performances. Characters of Krishna, Dhyurodhana, Bheema, Arjuna came alive. The artistes played the characters very well making the audience spellbound. The stage wore a royal look and the costumes used were very attractive. There was a pin drop silence in the auditorium and theater lovers were found hearing every conversation with rapt attention of the nearly three-hour-long play. The association with around 60 women artistes, some of them are widows, students, divorcee and housewives. They have dedicated themselves for theater field. The troupe have staged performance in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and other states.
“Acting like men and walking like them was not an easy task. After years of practice, we have become professionals and stage plays with full confidence now,” the team said. They hoped that they get to perform every year during Dasara. With youngsters evincing interests in the theater field, senior artistes opine that the government should ensure they are provided with proper training.
“Many depend on theater field for livelihood even today. Apart from main artistes, thousands of people who work behind the screen are also facing problems. A minimum of `4,000 pension and a special health package should be given to the artists,” said Vasantha Krishna, president of association. Sulochana, who is in theatre field from last six decades, said: “We don’t know any other occupation except theater acting. we have dedicated ourselves to the theatre.”
An avid theatre lover, Rajalakshmi, a resident of Agrahara, said: “Even today there is a lot of interest among people to watch theatre plays as special importance is given for mythology and history. I watched more than 800 plays in last four decades.”
Importance of water conservation highlighted through drawing Youngsters came together to create awareness on water conservation here on Friday. Hundreds of children took part in drawing contest to highlight on the importance of water conservation as the theme of this year’s Dasara is Green Dasara.
Through their drawings, they depicted how life will be without water, how birds and people are suffering with climate change, pollution of water bodies, how fauna affected with release of industrial waste into river bodies, farmers plight, impact of global warming, how cutting trees leads to environment imbalance, afforestation, soil erosions much more.
Members of Mysuru Karate Association took out a march through the main thoroughfares of the city shouting slogan ‘Save Water - Save Life,’ ‘Water is Precious Don’t Waste’ and ‘Don’t Pollute Water Bodies. The karatekas are here to take part in the 10th state-level Dasara Karate Tournament to be held at Chamundi Vihar stadium.