Contest entry Golu Contest - 2015: Mysore Dasara Gombe Habba - 2015 - Usha Bilgi by ushabilgi
Hi my name is Usha,I was born and raised in Bangalore and my grandparents are from Mysore, so every summer and Dasara holidays we would visit our grandparents and attend dasara procession and visit Mysore Palace. Growing up my father did gombe (golu) set up in our house, we were actively involved with set up. After I got married I moved to US, 24 years back and I started the tradition of setting up gombe in our house in US from 2004, started to collect gombe as and when I visited India. My collection includes clay, handmade bead, wood, brass, dolls made of chalk, and my King and Queen (Pattada Raja & Rani is 50+ years old, given to my mom by her mom and she gave it to me) My preparation starts 6 months before the actual festival; start planning for the next year and it takes me 3 to 4 weeks to set up from start to finish, as I work full time I setup as and when I get time. My theme is always about Mysore, I stick to this theme, as a tradition this is how it is done in Mysore. It starts with Mysore Palace, Dasara procession, and off course Mysore Zoo, Chamundi hills, Mysore exhibition, and I add or change few others every year. This time I added Mandy Rice field, Cheluvamba park (which is famous park we use to go when we were kids in Mysore)Chamundi pura, Mysore city market which has metal merchants and farmer’s market, Lalitha Mahal Palace hotel. My backsplash I used all Mysore silk saree as a tradition, and all the streamers were done by hand. The dolls on steps, few are made of clay got them from Channapatna, which is famous for these, and bead crafts I made them when I was 10 years old; I saved few of them. The outer fence and palace gate I made them from Styrofoam, fence around temple, the temple on top of chamundi hill, kalyani all done by hand using Styrofoam. I do enjoy doing this every year, keeping up with my father’s tradition, hope you all will enjoy by checking out the pictures.Lovely! :) :) :love: :love: