IT Café Online

It has come a long way from the sleepy village that got its name from boiled beans.


But every year, the very cosmopolitan Bangalore returns to its rustic roots with great pride at the Kadalekai Parishe or groundnut carnival.

This yearly ritual at Bugle Rock near Bull Temple is a three-day event that is a unique showcase of where Bangalore’s culture stems from. Forget the glitzy malls, the air conditioned stores with their brands, the neon lights. This carnival is about farmers who lived in old Bangalore and know nothing beyond their produce and folk tales. Every year, they meet after the Karthik Somvara (Karthik Monday according to traditional calendar) to take forward the story which started this festival of sorts.

Legend has it that Bugle Rock area once saw an abundance of the groundnut crop. But a bull (basava after whom the area Basavangudi has been named) would ravage these crops at harvest time. The farmers were furious, but could do nothing because a it was a sacred animal. So they promised to build a temple for the basava and also hold a groundnut carnival every year for him. IT was then that the farmers’ crops were saved. They built the bull temple, whose statue continued to ‘grow’ till they hit a nail on its head to make it stop.

But it is not just the legend that skirts past the sublime. For people who have enjoyed the cosmopolitan culture of Bangalore, the rustic feel that comes with it is quite a cultural shock. More than 3,000 vendors sell about 20,000 kgs of groundnut in open heaps and well dressed ladies who wouldn’t think twice about dropping a couple of thousands for some branded item are seen gleefully haggling. “It is all part of the fun,” says Ruchika Jain who lives close by.

There are the desi versions of merry go rounds and giant wheels which are still pushed by hand.

Even visitors from abroad are caught up in the fervour. Jeff Juliana, from Paris who is the in city on business, was going round the stalls and having a gala time.

Nijaguna Kalyanmantap owner Shivayogi is supplying breakfast to all visiting vendors.