Early morning notes from back home series-3

Trip down memory lane

Read a center page metro supplement article about BMTC woes. Apparently BLR Metro will not be fully functional to a reasonable extent, servicing major localities till 2020! So until then Bangalore commuters are to survive on the mercy of BMTC- which till this date- does not service all localities, that does not have enough stops(even with multiple promises from the BMTC officials that noone should have to walk more than 1/2 km to their closest bus stop), the rash driving is enough to make one stay off the roads for extended periods of time.....and the list goes on. Sigh!

Groundnuts are here in Bangalore. Yes, its the famous(or less touted?) 'Kadlekai Parishe'. A lazy Sunday evening stroll along Bull temple road, with this festival in full swing ended up being a not so lazy stroll-but a busy, buzzling street buzzing of good ol' jaatre(fair) fun.

For those that didnt know, here's the story behind Kadlekai Parishe(as always, thanks to wiki).

In the past, Basavanagudi was surrounded by places like Guttahalli, Mavalli, Dasarahalli and other places where groundnut was cultivated. On every full moon day a bull would charge into the groundnut fields and damage the crop. The farmers then offered prayers to Basava (Nandi) to stop this and pledged to offer their first crop. Subsequently, an Idol of Basava was found close by. It has been said that, the Idol was growing rapidly, and the farmers nailed an iron peg on the head of the idol, which is visible in the form of a trishula even to this date. Later in the year 1537, Kempe Gowda, dedicated a temple to ‘Dodda Basava’ on top of the Basavanagudi hillock and installed the Idol. This temple is known as Bull Temple. Eversince, the farmers from surrounding villages come here every year and offer their annual harvest of groundnut as offering to Lord Basava. This is accompanied by the annual fair, which is known as the Kadlekai Parise.

• It was fun to walk along casually, with random requests from young and old alike to take pictures of themselves.

• A stop at Dodda Ganesha temple, despite the crowds, was a must.

• Also, a must-do was a stop for a quick glass of sugarcane juice at Cane-o-la(if anyone hasnt tried this, pleaseeeeeeeee do asap). They have some wonderful variations to good ole ghanne ka ras-like ginger, chaat masala, salt/pepper, nimboo and mint and of course, just plain, natural, sweet kabbina rasa.

• And last, but certainly not the least, a short stop for fingerlicking, butter dripping benne masala dosa at 'Shri Sai Sagar-Davangere Benne Dose'. Yummmmmmmmmmmm!

What could be better than an evening spent in apna ilaaka, amid apne log, savoring apna khaana- familiar sights and sounds and smells. Bliss!