ENARADA, Mysuru, October 7, 2015
The Dasara jumbos in Mysuru were witness to canon firing.
The exercise is done to acclimatise pachyderms so that they don’t panic during the 21-gun salute during the Vijayadashami procession.
However, 21-year old debutant elephant Kenchamba (who was captured last year in Hassan and has been tamed since) did panic on Wednesday and was tied to a nearby tree. Now, she will undergo further sound acclimatisation rehearsals. If she doesn’t qualify, then Kenchamba will not participate in the finale procession.
However, the howdah bearer Arjuna along with his accomplices did behave well during the rehearsal.
Authorities said they were training younger elephants for the Dasara procession as most of the elephants were nearing 65 (the retirement age for participating in the Dasara procession).
