Krishi Mela 2022, UAS Dharwad

Krishi Mela 2022 at University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad started on September 17th and ends on 20th. I decided to visit the Mela on Monday rather than Sunday or Tuesday which was the last day to avoid crowds. Also I had decided against driving, buses would be a better option considering the heavy traffic and packed parking lots. This picture was shot Sunday early morning during our bicycle ride. UAS entrance was lit up for the event, it looked so peaceful.

Sept 19. I reached Dharwad new bus-stand by 3-00 pm. KSRTC buses were plying between the bus-stand and UAS. I boarded one of the buses, reached UAS entrance at 3-15 pm. Passengers alighted the bus in the middle of the road. Traffic was crawling, horns blaring, it was chaotic.

Walking in the tree lined main avenue of UAS would be a nice experience on normal days. However, today I saw a river of people, air was laden with dust. I was hesitant to proceed but made up my mind to check out a few stalls.

The exhibition has about 250 to 300 stalls covering different aspects of farming like agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, farming equipment, piping solutions, organic crops, food processing, gardening needs, entomology, and more. Also there's a separate compound for livestock stalls. I skipped livestock and entered agricultural compound. The crowd was denser inside, it was almost impossible to move without brushing against people. Some of the stall exhibits were interesting however my patience had eroded, I paused to take a look at the products but didn't stop at any.

By 4-00 I had had enough. I decided to leave. I could see that lot of people were just fooling around. Many students and youngsters weren't interested in anything particular, they were just roaming around, adding to the crowd. My rating of the experience of attending Krishi Mela 2022 stands at 1 out of 5. Rating it low because of the of poor crowd management, lack of information and inadequate transportation. I could think of dozen simple ways to improve things. Hoping the organizers do a better job in the next Mela.

.........