A 400 Year Tradition Still Continues- Groundnut Festival is Back in Bengaluru

                                         A nutty affair: Kadalakai Parishe or the Groundnut Mela While the entire city of Bangalore gets decked up for Christmas at this time of the year, there is a historic part of it that comes alive too during the winter season every year. The ‘Kadalakai Parishe’ or the groundnut mela, that takes places in Basavangudi on the Bull Temple Road near the Dodda Basavana (Ganapathy) Temple, catches the fancy of not just the locals but even the tourists who come here from various parts of the world.   With mountains of groundnuts available for reasonable prices, the ‘parishe’, which started recently and is on till December 10 this year, is a must-visit although it can get very crowded on weekends with not even an inch of space to walk on. Deepa Natarajan writes about a few attractions of the festival. Tourists and locals flock to the fair   An amusement park for children It’s a fair within a fair within a fair! Yes, while the entire fair is a festival affair, there are smaller fairs within like a play area and amusement park for children right next to the Bull Temple. Replete with good old rides like the Giant Wheel and Christopher Columbus, there are sure to keep your entire family happy.   A vendor is all smiles as she sells balloons & other goodies for kids   The temples in all their glory While the glorious Bull Temple and Dodda Ganapathy Temple look spectacular all year round, it’s during this time of the year that they are decked in all their glory. The massive bull with its flowers and the beautiful elephant God with its adornments are surely a sight to behold during this time. A view of the decked up Bull Temple    The groundnuts of course Salted, roasted, boiled, raw….. You can go nuts over groundnuts and we are not kidding! After stashing your bags with the choicest of groundnuts for yourself and your friends and family, we suggest you explore all the quick peanut snacks that you can dig into. Our choice? The delicious boiled groundnut masala! With a dash of lemon, onions, and chili - this mouth-watering snack could give any peanut starter in the fanciest pubs of the city a run for their money. The boiled groundnuts!   Street food And if peanuts aren’t enough for you, go ga-ga over the array of street food spread out across the fair like bajjis, bondas, chaats, masala dosas, condiments, masala papads and we can go on and on. There are candies in varied colors and shapes for kids too. So if you love digging into street food, you can rest assured that you can keep filling your tummies up during your exploration. Street Food   The fun and fair magic The ‘parishe’ isn’t just about groundnuts. It’s basically a world under a roof! So if you wish to buy utensils for your kitchen or dolls for your little ones, you can do so here while admiring the groundnuts sitting in heaps on both sides of the road. Shop till you drop!   Where Kadalekai Parishe Near Dodda Basavana (or Ganapathy) Temple on Bull Temple Road near the Bugle Rock Park   When Till December 10, 2018 All the pictures credit to Meghana Suraj Nair (@missusnair) and Shravya Sharath (@shravya2209) For more interesting information follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.