soon to be ‘without peanut’ fair

Peanut annual fair of Basavanagudi, is one of the fairs that gives Bangalore a touch of village tradition . The story associated with the start of peanut fair in Basavangudi is really interesting. Farmers growing peanuts around this place mistook Nandi ( the holy bull of the god, Ishwara ) for a peanut thief and chased the bull. But the bull came to this place where the bull temple is now and metamorphosed in to a stone. Farmers built a temple there and decided to dedicate their first crop of peanuts. This practice turned in to a fair and now famed as Kadlekayi parishe ( peanut fair ) where farmers around Bnagalore come here with their first crop and dedicate to the temple and start sell the rest here. Or atleast how it used to be!

Today’s peanut fair and the reality

Today People visit in thousands during this annual fair but one can see more shopping stalls than the peanuts itself! Book stalls, households items, Chinese toys, clothing stalls, sweets stalls, Merry-go-rounds, giant wheels, bubble-blowers, fruit stalls, juice stalls, Chinese food , food courts completely dominate the peanut fair. The street sellers who sell toys, sweets , fruits can be seen in hundreds every where hunting for customers. Among all these chaos heaps of peanuts with their owners eyebrows raised out of unsureness of selling their hard earned goods.

One more reality is there aren’t any farmers at all coming to this fair. Most of them are buying it from peanut markets which are in outskirts of Bangalore and sell it here for higher price! Fights for the spaces on the footpath are most common here! A vendor Selva says he has to pay money for getting a space here . Another family who work as laborers are originally from state Tamilnaadu , spent all their hard earned money here for buying peanuts and the stall expenses. They expect a profit out of it but little worried as this peanut fair is now not all about peanuts. They say this year they had to raise the prices as last year not many people bought peanuts. The family frequently complained about the non-peanut sellers . They are hoping to make enough money to teach their kids so that their sons and daughters need not have to go through this in future. There were few farmers who came from farther villages and told that they are just putting up stall here just to respect their family practice and they do not expect any huge profit here.

The family frequently complained about the non-peanut sellers . They are hoping to make enough money to teach their kids so that their sons and daughters need not have to go through this in future. There were few farmers who came from farther villages and told that they are just putting up stall here just to respect their family practice and they do not expect any huge profit here.

But thanks to the modern technology , every year the fair looks more brighter and colorful. Thousands of people rush to the streets and shop everything they come across. The roads are filled with banners and sign boards of local politicians, shops welcoming the people visiting the fair . The temples get highest visitors during the fair days so they temple people organize more spiritual and cultural events. The latest LED lights, powerful street lights have completely replaced the old gas lamps or kerosene lamps and the whole street gets as bright as day during the evenings and nights .After the fair the whole place is a mess with plastics and remains flying everywhere. The officials will have to put up a big fight to clean the area and bring back the original colors.

Amidst poor security and death of old traditions Basavanagudi peanut fair draws huge crowd. It is expected to multiply in the coming years and peanut selling is expected to decline after studying statistics . On one coming fine year peanut fair might be just a name of the fair and the piles of peanuts and farmers selling their stuff will be forgotten.