Yvonne Webb

Reign­ing south Queen of Car­ni­val Rose­marie Ku­ru-Jages­sar is call­ing for the es­tab­lish­ment of a Car­ni­val mu­se­um to dis­play cos­tumes that were ex­hib­it­ed in the na­tion­al com­pe­ti­tion. Ku­ru-Jages­sar said in an in­ter­view yes­ter­day that the ma­jor­i­ty of peo­ple on­ly got a glimpse of these elab­o­rate cos­tumes dur­ing their short ap­pear­ance dur­ing the com­pe­ti­tion stages. She said many of them were elim­i­nat­ed af­ter the pre­lim­i­nary stage and nev­er see the light of day again. Point­ing out that a lot of mon­ey, time and thought, were in­vest­ed in these cos­tumes Ku­ru-Jages­sar said it was al­most a sin to dis­card them with­out peo­ple get­ting an op­por­tu­ni­ty to ap­pre­ci­ate their re­al beau­ty and craft.

"I see so many love­ly cos­tumes which do not make it to the se­mi's so peo­ple do not re­al­ly get to see them." It is for this rea­son, she said, "I would like to see a Car­ni­val mu­se­um where lo­cals and tourists can see cos­tumes, whether they win or not, on dis­play long af­ter Car­ni­val." She said they can be tak­en down and apart at the end of the year to clear the way for cos­tumes from the sea­son to come. Ku­ru-Jages­sar, who copped the na­tion­al ti­tle af­ter 28 years, said she would like see her 2010 win­ning cos­tume Wa­ka-Nisha–the Sa­cred Wa­ter Bear­er, dis­played at the Pi­ar­co In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port. "So peo­ple com­ing in or leav­ing the coun­try could see it," she said.