Basavangudi decks up for Kadlekai Parishe

The annual fair on Bull Temple Road begins on Monday

Groundnut Fair. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy.

Get set to soak in the city’s heritage as the historic groundnut fair, Kadlekai Parishe, will be celebrated on Monday.

Ahead of the festival that is celebrated every year on the last Monday of the ‘Karthika masa’ (month) of the Hindu almanac, dozens of groundnut and puffed rice sellers have already taken positions on the either side of the footpath on Bull Temple Road and adjoining lanes with mounds of raw, dried and roasted groundnuts along with fried, spiced and jaggery-coated groundnuts.

Chikka Parishe or mini fair will be celebrated on Sunday. Besides the groundnut vendors are other vendors hoping to do some brisk business during the festival. Stalls that have come up include that of terracotta articles, condiments, fancy articles and toys. When

The Hindu spoke to some of the vendors who have put up their stalls on Saturday, they aired their anxiety over rain possibly playing the spoilsport during the parishe. “Many of us have taken loan to invest in the business during the parishe on 6 per cent interest. We hope the rain god will help us do good business by not playing the spoilsport,” says Chinnaswamy, a groundnut seller from Banashankari, who has been participating in the fair for the past decade.

While the high quality groundnut — raw and dried — is priced anywhere between Rs. 25 and Rs. 30 a litre, the roasted ones are being sold at Rs. 40 a litre. According to him, the yield of the groundnut crop was good this year.