Skip to main content

Going nuts, are you?


Nuts!
Several years ago, my brother and I took out our handy cam and went around the city capturing the essence of Bangalore on our recorder. It was on one such occasion that we went to the kadlekai parishe or the groundnut fair in Gandhi Bazaar. This was over a decade ago. That was my first brush with the parishe, but I have been there many times later. So, when this year's parishe came along, I decided to make a small trip. Much like most of our festivals, this fair is also rooted in an agrarian past. Typically, our festivals are about changing seasons, harvests, fertility. All rooted in the land we till. And yet, we have lost our roots with that lifestyle. Our festivals today are gaudy affairs, display of gold, silver and riches. And excessive gift-giving with no respect whatsoever for our bond with the soil and forces of nature. I'm digressing, so, back to the kadlekai parishe. There's a fascinating legend that describes how this festival came about.

A raging bull ravaged fields of farmers in and around what is now called Basavanagudi. The village was Sunkenahalli, and on a particular full moon night, when the bull arrived to rampage their fields, a farmer decided to chase it. But somewhere along the chase, the bull turned into a stone. However, the stone continued to grow into a Dodda Basava or the big bull. Eventually, it had to be nailed with a trident on top to check its growth. Then a temple was built, and people from far and wide came to worship the Dodda Basava. On the day of Karthika Somavara (Monday) every year, farmers came to offer the harvest of their groundnut crop to the Dodda Basava.

The festival is being celebrated over centuries now, and is a very Bengalooru affair, much like the Karaga (more on that on another day).

Today though, farmers from all over the villages outside Bangalore come here to sell groundnuts. The parishe is home to not just groundnuts, but a more eclectic mix that includes beaded jewellery, tablemats, kitchenware and the like. There's something in it for everyone, from foodies to shopaholics to gaming enthusiasts too!

An assorted mix
Colour me pink!

You win some, you lose some! Just throw a hoop over one bundle pasted with a certain denomination, and the cash is yours! A casino of sorts. 




Pick your idol.

(This year's kadlekai parishe was held between November 17 and 19.)


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Remember Sadanand Vishwanath?

I write this as I watch the post-lunch session of the first Ashes Test 2017 at the Gabba. Watching it on Sony Six with the Channel 9 line-up of commentators (plenty of flak for that line-up, of course), my mind goes back to the Benson & Hedges series of 1985-86. I was too young to remember much, but certainly remember the Audi car that Ravi Shastri won. That was also the first time that DD telecast the Channel 9 feed -- I know now not then. I only remember the famous animated duck walk past the screen as the batsmen walked back to the pavilion. That series saw the emergence of a young, dashing wicket-keeper who kept the chatter going behind the stumps -- Sadanand Vishwanath. A Google News search told me what's up with him now. Here's a link: http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/vishwanath-seeks-to-live-cricket-again/article20628906.ece

When the #Emergency was clamped in India...25-06-1975

The Indian Express edit page was left blank in protest against the Emergency. Photo courtesy: The Indian Express 25th June, 1975 . One of the darkest days in Indian democracy, when the Emergency was declared. Growing up, I was fed on a steady diet of anecdotes from those days.  Both my parents worked in Central government offices, so I have heard a million stories about the disciplinary action taken by authorities during the Emergency. Of office gates being closed, so people wouldn't leave before 5.30 pm etc. And stories of colleagues speaking against the government at bus-stops in hush-hush tones. Of the louder ones asked to keep the volume down. My parents recall how they'd have to take a day or half a day's leave even if they were late to work by a few minutes. They recall how union leaders would be put under suspension, and many people dismissed. Some were even demoted as part of disciplinary action. They also talk of how it was when the Emergency was lifted even

Notes on 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha'

What a nice ode to the Nineties 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha' is. Recording favourite songs on cassettes, sometimes re-recording on them, retrieving stuck tapes from the recorder/player, the whole works...Growing up, I remember how the person with the most tapes was always looked upon reverentially. I also remember using some of my parents' old cassettes to record, re-record and re-re-record. The Nineties were when we took our Hindi movies quite seriously and even watched terrible ones like 'Waqt Hamara Hain' in a theatre. My only quarrel with the movie is the manner in which it ends (over-simplistic, I felt). Suddenly, thanks to a local contest, the wrinkles are ironed out, and everything is sweet, and all is well that ends well. For a film that has managed to look at small-town Indian society and arranged marriages from a realistic perspective, the manner in which it ends is much like any other Hindi movie Also, take away the last device of the contest, and there