<p>Roasted, dry, raw or boiled - it was groundnuts all the way in southern Bengaluru’s Basavanagudi on Monday. The first day of Kadlekai Parishe, the annual groundnut fair, drew thousands to the famous Bull Temple Road. </p>.<p>Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun, along with Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya, corporator B S Sathyanarayana, JD(S) MLC T A Sharavana and Chickpet MLA Uday Garudachar, inaugurated the fair on Monday morning. They also carried out Tulabhara of the Nandi idol (an ancient practice in which a person or idol is weighed against a commodity). An equivalent weight of groundnuts was then distributed to the public. </p>.<p>The Kadalekai Parishe is observed on the last Monday of Kartika Masa every year. </p>.<p>Though the fair officially began on Monday and will go on until Wednesday, locals have been celebrating it for the past three days. </p>.<p>But the fair isn’t just about groundnuts. There are hundreds of trinket shops selling everything from fashion accessories to toys. There are also eateries. As for Kadlekai, roasted groundnuts sold like hotcakes as they can be readily eaten. The opening-day crowd consisted mostly of college students. </p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Plastic ban hits business</strong></p>.<p>The ban on the use of plastic led to a dip in sales compared with previous years, many vendors complained. Cheluvi, a vendor from Tamil Nadu, said she hiked the prices to Rs 35-40 per kilo as against the last year’s Rs 25-30 to give paper bags to customers. “Not everyone brings paper or cloth bags. So, we have to shell out on paper bags,” said Cheluvi, who has been setting up a stall at the fair for the past three years. Many vendors are from Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, where groundnut is grown on a large scale. </p>.<p class="byline">DH News Service</p>
<p>Roasted, dry, raw or boiled - it was groundnuts all the way in southern Bengaluru’s Basavanagudi on Monday. The first day of Kadlekai Parishe, the annual groundnut fair, drew thousands to the famous Bull Temple Road. </p>.<p>Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun, along with Basavanagudi MLA Ravi Subramanya, corporator B S Sathyanarayana, JD(S) MLC T A Sharavana and Chickpet MLA Uday Garudachar, inaugurated the fair on Monday morning. They also carried out Tulabhara of the Nandi idol (an ancient practice in which a person or idol is weighed against a commodity). An equivalent weight of groundnuts was then distributed to the public. </p>.<p>The Kadalekai Parishe is observed on the last Monday of Kartika Masa every year. </p>.<p>Though the fair officially began on Monday and will go on until Wednesday, locals have been celebrating it for the past three days. </p>.<p>But the fair isn’t just about groundnuts. There are hundreds of trinket shops selling everything from fashion accessories to toys. There are also eateries. As for Kadlekai, roasted groundnuts sold like hotcakes as they can be readily eaten. The opening-day crowd consisted mostly of college students. </p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Plastic ban hits business</strong></p>.<p>The ban on the use of plastic led to a dip in sales compared with previous years, many vendors complained. Cheluvi, a vendor from Tamil Nadu, said she hiked the prices to Rs 35-40 per kilo as against the last year’s Rs 25-30 to give paper bags to customers. “Not everyone brings paper or cloth bags. So, we have to shell out on paper bags,” said Cheluvi, who has been setting up a stall at the fair for the past three years. Many vendors are from Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, where groundnut is grown on a large scale. </p>.<p class="byline">DH News Service</p>
