In the age-old tradition of Buckingham Palace, where tourists queue up to make the stoic guards laugh, visitors to the Uttara Karnataka festival here were invited to try to make a couple from north Karnataka laugh. The couple, reportedly, hasn’t laughed in at least a decade. The Rs. 10,000 prize for a successful contestant, which was raised to Rs. 1 lakh, went begging as nobody could get them to crack a smile.
Also up for grabs is the ‘roti veera prashasthi’ — the one who eats the most jolada rotis wins a quintal of jowhar — and 10 gm gold for the best traditionally dressed.