When singer Chandan proposed to Niveditha of Bigg Boss fame

Yuva Dasara organisers were taken by surprise when singer Chandan Shetty  proposed to Niveditha of Bigg Boss fame, put a ring on her finger and hugged her on stage late Friday night after the concert. His romantic gesture boomeranged on him, however,  as Mysuru district minister V Somanna  directed the authorities to issue a notice to him on Saturday and the Yuva Dasara sub- committee hastily released a  press statement to clarify that it  had no information about his plan to propose on stage. But hardly put off by the fuss,  Chandan Shetty told the media he had decided to propose at the concert to put an end to the rumours of his affair with Niveditha. 

“At 4 pm on Friday I thought of  surprising the audience and so bought a ring at a jewellery store near the suburban bus stand and decided to propose to her and she agreed,” he concluded happily.

Dr Sukanya Soonaganahalli,  an NRI from Mandya, flew all the way from Nairobi to Mysuru to participate in the Dasara Poets' Meet at the Jaganmohan Palace on Saturday. But there were other participants, who surprised for other reasons.  While 32 -year- old Manu Kumar from Chamarajnagar, who read his poetry at the event,  is a life convict at the Mysuru Central jail , other poets included Chandini, a transgender, Chinnaraju B V, a watchman, Raachappa, a daily wage worker, Sathyanarayan, an auto driver, Manjaiah, a police constable, Shankara Ankanashettypura, a pourakarmika, and a girl from a destitute's home. Their poetry was both poignant and heartrending as they used it to speak of their life experiences.

Much to the delight of art lovers over 70 artists displayed their unique work at the Chithrasanthe on Saturday on the Krishnaraja Boulevard.   The participants included 77- year -old calligrapher and artist, Abbas , paper cutting stensil artist, Chandan Suresh , who holds a record for painting in 3.05 seconds , Parikshith, who holds a record for painting in 3.10 seconds,  a line drawing artist, Rajgopal, a Zulu artist, Prashanth M S, a tattoo artist, Nanjundswamy, who has carved busts of several icons on pencil lead like Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  and actors Rajnikanth and Puneeth Rajkumar.  And at the Hasiru santhe also held on the boulevard, organic vegetables , millets and millet products drew the attention of young and old alike.