AVAREKAI MELA 2016

It was on Sunday evening 10th January 2016 on our way back from J P Nagar, we stopped over near SajjanRao Circle, VV Puram, NammaBengaluru to see how the AvareKai Mela looks like. It is one small street, with hundreds of stalls selling food delicacies and people, people and people. Hardly any walking space, people pushing to find way. In between, a cow also walking freely, pushing people. We didn't see much of avarekai sellers, but food stalls everywhere.

Welcome to Flat beans fare, locally known as Avarekai Mela - 2016. Old Bengaluru welcomes the harvest of the bean with the Avarekai Mela in the Winter season. 12 Day mela has begun from 7 Jan will go up to 24th Jan. Organized by Sri Vasavi Condiments, farmers from Magadi taluk have put up snack stalls at Sajjan Rao Circle, V V Puram. Enter the food street, dozens of delicacies waiting to be munched. Burp!

The Avarekai Mela held at Sajjan Rao Circle in V.V. Puram is an annual event, where farmers from rural districts around Bangalore bring their produce, the ‘avarekai’ (a kind of beans), for purchase by households, wholesalers and retailers in the city. Food stalls nearby also sell special avarekai fare.

Written, Wednesday 14th January 2016

HAYAVADANA - KANNADA DRAMA

Hayavadana (HorseFace) is one of Girish Karnad’s most remarkable works.
Benaka, (Bengaluru Nagara Kalavidaru), one of the oldest theatre groups in Karnataka founded by theatre veteran and parallel-cinema pioneer B.V.Karanth, staged the play at Rangashankara. 
This is 375th presentation of play on Sunday 10th January 2016. The star cast was led by noted film maker T.S. Nagabharana as the narrator (Bhagavataru), PoornaChandra Tejaswi as Devadutta, MicoChandru as Kapila
Our society, a Brahmin is learned and wise but physically weak. Likewise, the image of Devadatta is stereotypical of a male Brahmin whereas Kapila, a Kshatriya, is a wrestler and is not as wise as Devadatta. Here the caste of the men plays a major role in the portrayal of both the men, which is true of our Indian society where we judge people on the basis of their caste and creed. 

The human body, is a device for the completion of human destiny. Even the transposition of heads did not liberate the protagonists from the psychological limits imposed by nature. Karnad’s play poses a different problem, that of human identity in a world of tangled relationships. When the play opens, Devadatta and Kapila are the close friends-‘one mind, one heart’, as the Bhagavata describes them. Devadatta is a man of intellect, Kapila a ‘man of the body’. Their relations get complicated when Devadatta marries Padmini.

ARTISTS

Kapila falls in love with Padmini and she too starts drifting towards him. The friends kill themselves and in a scene, hilariously comic but at the same time full of dramatic connotation, Padmini transposes their heads, giving Devadatta, Kapila’s body and Kapila Devadatta’s. As a result Padmini gets the desired ‘Man’. Kali understood each individuals moral fibre and was indifferent than the usual stereotypical portrayal of god and goddesses.

The result is a confusion of identities which reveals the ambiguous nature of human personality. Initially Devadatta- actually the head of Devadatta on Kapila’s body- behaves differently from what he was before. But slowly he changes to his former self. So does Kapila, faster than Devadatta. But there is a difference. Devadatta stops reading texts, does not write poetry while Kapila is haunted by the memories in Devadatta’s body.

 Padmini, after the exchange of heads, had felt that she had the best of both the men, gets slowly disappointed. Of the three only she has the capacity for complete experience. She understands but cannot control the circumstances in which she is placed. Her situation is beautifully summed up by the image of river and the scarecrow in the choric songs.

A swordfight that leaves both the friends dead brings the baffling story to end. The death of the three protagonists was not portrayed tragically; the deaths serve only to emphasize the logic behind the absurdity of the situation.

The sub plot of ‘Hayavadana’, the horse-man, deepens the significance of the main theme of incompleteness by looking at it from different perspective. The horse man’s search for completeness ends comically, with his becoming a complete horse. The animal body triumphs over what is considered, the best in man, the Uttamaga, the human heads! Probably to make a point Karnad names the play ‘Hayavadana’, human’s search for completeness.

Another factor which was impressed is the performance of the supporting cast. Characters such as Hayavadana, Goddess Kali, and the talking dolls have only about five minutes of stage time, however their performance lingers in mind for quite some time after you walked out of the auditorium.
The 150 minutes play with a break of 15 minutes, mesmerizes the audience with songs, stage setting, narration, humour dialogues and acting by all the actors.
It was an excellent time spent watching a Kannada Drama.
written Monday 11January2016

FUNCTION AT MANDARTHI

Wednesday 30December2015

Nalini, Navya, Neha

Somayaji,SudhakarK, SatishHande

Mandarthi is about 12 km from Brahmavar and the house of Vishwanatha Udupa is a familiar place for us. His son Ramachandra Udupa is known to us for 25yrs, since the time he came work in Dubai.

After his marriage, he with his wife, Rajani has been close family friends and we have seen their children grow since they are born, His brother, sisters UshaSatishHande and Prabha are very closely known to us.

Ramachandra Udupa is now working at Muscat and came on holidays as he planned to HomaShanthi or SandhiShanthi, so we were there  for grand lunch

Rajani, Nalini , Ruchira

It was more of family get-together and grand lunch. About 100 people were for oota.
After lunch, coffee we left with SudhakarSumangali to Brahmavar.
written Friday January8,2016
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NEELAVARA GOSHALE

Neelavara is a small temple town, about 8 km from Brahmavar, Udupi Dist, Karnataka State. A Goshale,(CowShed) a place for taking care of cows in an area of 35 acres, in a forest was established by Pejavara Junior Swamiji about six years ago. There about 1050 cows and buffaloes in Goshale.
The animals are well looked after by the caretakers. We visited the place on 28th December 2015.
There is also a beautiful water pond like MadhwaSarovar, in the middle of Goshale and a Krishna temple in the centre.
The few pictures speaks for themselves.

KrishnaTemple

MadhwaSarovara

ಗೋವಿನ ಹಾಡು : ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿಯ ಕಥೆಯಿದು

ಧರಣಿಮಂಡಲ ಮಧ್ಯದೊಳಗೆ ಮೆರೆಯುತಿಹ ಕರ್ನಾಟ ದೇಶದೊ ಳಿರುವ ಕಾಳಿಂಗನೆಂಬ ಗೊಲ್ಲನ ಪರಿಯನೆಂತು ಪೇಳ್ವೆನೊ

ಗೊಲ್ಲ ದೊಡ್ಡಿಯಲಿರುವ ಪಶುಗಳ ಎಲ್ಲ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಮೇಲೆ ಮೇಯುತ ಹುಲ್ಲುವೊಳ್ಳೆ ನೀರ್ಗಳಿಂದಲೆ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಮೆರೆದವರಣ್ಯದಿ ಎಳೆಯ ಮಾವಿನ ಮರದ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಕೊಳಲನೂದುತ ಗೊಲ್ಲ ಗೌಡನು ಬಳಸಿ ನಿಂದ ತುರುಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಿಗೆ ಕರೆದನು ಹರುಷದಿ ಗಂಗೆ ಬಾರೆ ಗೌರಿ ಬಾರೆ ತುಂಗಭದ್ರೆ ತಾಯಿ ಬಾರೆ ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿ ನೀನು ಬಾರೆ ಎಂದು ಗೊಲ್ಲನು ಕರೆದನು ಗೊಲ್ಲ ಕರೆದಾ ದನಿಯ ಕೇಳಿ ಎಲ್ಲ ಹಸುಗಳು ಬಂದು ನಿಂದು ಚೆಲ್ಲಿ ಸೂಸಿ ಹಾಲು ಕರೆಯಲು ಅಲ್ಲಿ ತುಂಬಿತು ಬಿಂದಿಗೆ ಹಬ್ಬಿದಾಮಲೆ ಮಧ್ಯದೊಳಗೆ ಅರ್ಭುತಾನೆಂದೆಂಬ ವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನು ಅಬ್ಬರಿಸಿ ಹಸಿಹಸಿದು ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಕಿಬ್ಬಿಯಾಳು ತಾನಿದ್ದನು ಸಿಡಿದು ರೋಷದಿ ಗುಡುಗುತಾ ಹುಲಿ ಘುಡುಘುಡಿಸಿ ಭೋರಿಡುತವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನು ತುಡುಕಿ ಎರಗಿದ ರಭಸ ಕೇಳಿ ಓಡಿಹೋದವು ಹಸುಗಳು ತನ್ನ ಮಗನಾ ಪಡೆದ ಪಶುವು ತನ್ನ ಕಂದನ ನೆನೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿಯೆಂಬ ಹಸುವು ಚೆಂದದಿಂದ ತಾ ಬರುತಿರೆ ಇಂದೆನಗೆ ಆಹಾರ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿತು ಎಂದು ಬೇಗನೆ ದುಷ್ಟ ವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನು ಬಂದು ಬಳಸಿ ಅಡ್ಡಗಟ್ಟಿ ನಿಂದನಾ ಹುಲಿರಾಯನು ಮೇಲೆ ಬಿದ್ದು ನಿನ್ನನೀಗಲೆ ಬೀಳಹೊಯ್ವೆನು ನಿನ್ನ ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಯ ಸೀಳಿಬಿಡುವೆನು ಎನುತ ಕೋಪದಿ ಖೂಳವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನು ಕೂಗಲು ಒಂದು ಬಿನ್ನಹ ಹುಲಿಯೆ ಕೇಳು ಕಂದನಿರುವನು ದೊಡ್ಡಿಯಾಳಗೆ ಒಂದು ನಿಮಿಷದಿ ಮೊಲೆಯ ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಬಂದು ಸೇರುವೆನಿಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹಸಿದವೇಳೆಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದೊಡವೆಯ ವಶವ ಮಾಡದೆ ಬಿಡಲು ನೀನು ನುಸುಳಿ ಹೋಗುವೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಬರುವೆಯ ಹುಸಿಯ ನುಡಿಯುವೆನೆಂದಿತು ಸತ್ಯವೆ ನಮ್ಮ ತಾಯಿ ತಂದೆ ಸತ್ಯವೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಬಂಧು ಬಳಗ ಸತ್ಯವಾಕ್ಯಕೆ ತಪ್ಪಿ ನಡೆದರೆ ಮೆಚ್ಚನಾ ಪರಮಾತ್ಮನು ಕೊಂದು ತಿನ್ನುವೆನೆಂಬ ಹುಲಿಗೆ ಚಂದದಿಂದ ಭಾಷೆಕೊಟ್ಟು ಕಂದ ನಿನ್ನನು ನೋಡಿ ಪೋಗುವೆ ನೆಂದು ಬಂದಿತು ದೊಡ್ಡಿಗೆ ಅಮ್ಮ ನೀನು ಸಾಯಲೇಕೆ ನಮ್ಮ ತಬ್ಬಲಿ ಮಾಡಲೇಕೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನಿಲ್ಲಿಯೆ ನಿಲ್ಲು ಎಂದು ಅಮ್ಮನಿಗೆ ಕರು ಹೇಳಿತು ಆರ ಮೊಲೆಯನು ಕುಡಿಯಲಮ್ಮ ಆರ ಬಳಿಯಲಿ ಮಲಗಲಮ್ಮ ಆರ ಸೇರಿ ಬದುಕಲಮ್ಮ ಆರು ನನಗೆ ಹಿತವರು ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಭಾಷೆಯ ತಪ್ಪಲಾರೆನು ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಯೋಚನೆ ಮಾಡಲಾರೆನು ನಿಷ್ಠೆಯಿಂದಲಿ ಪೋಪೆನಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಕಟ್ಟ ಕಡೆಗಿದು ಖಂಡಿತಾ ಅಮ್ಮಗಳಿರ ಅಕ್ಕಗಳಿರ ಎನ್ನ ತಾಯಾಡಹುಟ್ಟುಗಳಿರಾ ಕಂದ ನಿಮ್ಮವನೆಂದು ಕಾಣಿರಿ ತಬ್ಬಲಿಯನೀ ಕರುವನೂ ಮುಂದೆ ಬಂದರೆ ಹಾಯಬೇಡಿ ಹಿಂದೆ ಬಂದರೆ ವೊದೆಯಬೇಡಿ ಕಂದ ನಿಮ್ಮವನೆಂದು ಕಾಣಿರಿ ತಬ್ಬಲಿಯನೀ ಕರುವನೂ ತಬ್ಬಲಿಯು ನೀನಾದೆ ಮಗನೆ ಹೆಬ್ಬುಲಿಯ ಬಾಯನ್ನು ಹೊಗುವೆನು ಇಬ್ಬರಾ ಋಣ ತೀರಿತೆಂದು ತಬ್ಬಿಕೊಂಡಿತು ಕಂದನಾ ಗೋವು ಸ್ನಾನವ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಗವಿಯಬಾಗಿಲ ಸೇರಿನಿಂತು ಸಾವಕಾಶವ ಮಾಡದಂತೆ ತವಕದಲಿ ಹುಲಿಗೆಂದಿತು ಖಂಡವಿದೆಕೋ ಮಾಂಸವಿದೆಕೋ ಗುಂಡಿಗೆಯ ಬಿಸಿರಕ್ತವಿದೆಕೋ ಚಂಡವ್ಯಾಘ್ರನೆ ನೀನಿದೆಲ್ಲವ ನುಂಡು ಸಂತಸದಿಂದಿರು ಪುಣ್ಯಕೋಟಿಯ ಮಾತಕೇಳಿ ಕಣ್ಣನೀರನು ಸುರಿಸಿ ನೊಂದೂ ಕನ್ನೆಯಿವಳನು ಕೊಂದು ತಿಂದರೆ ಮೆಚ್ಚನಾ ಪರಮಾತ್ಮನೂ ಎನ್ನವೊಡಹುಟ್ಟಿದಕ್ಕ ನೀನು ನಿನ್ನ ಕೊಂದು ಏನ ಪಡೆವೆನು ಅನ್ನೆಕಾರಿ ನಾನು ಎನುತಲಿ ತನ್ನ ಮನದೊಳು ನೊಂದಿತು ಮೂರುಮೂರ್ತಿಗೆ ಕೈಯಮುಗಿದು ಸೇರಿ ಎಂಟುದಿಕ್ಕು ನೋಡಿ ಹಾರಿ ಆಕಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ನೆಗೆದು ಮೀರಿ ಪ್ರಾಣವ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿತೂ.

Written on Friday, 8th January 2016

NELLI THIRTHA - GUHALAYA

Tuesday, 28th December 2015

Nalini. her sister Vijaya and two lady friends Malini and NaliniBhat left from Kadiyali, Udupi at 9.30am by car and reached Mulki along National Highway. From there took left turn towards Kateel. From there it is 5km, though we went in a kachcha road and reached by 12noon.

Entrance to the cave

Entrance to the Temple

Nellitheertha Cave Temple in NelliThirtha near Kateelu in Karnataka is dedicated to the Indian deity SriSomatheshwara or Shiva.The temple dates back to at least 1487 CE.To the right of the temple is a natural cave, about 200 metres (660 ft) long. Access is restricted, forcing visitors to crawl in on their knees. Inside, there is a lake and a Shiva Linga

It is believed that the cave in Nellitheertha was used by Sage Jabali to perform a penance to appease Goddess DurgaParameshwari. Goddess Durga appeared in front of sage Jabali and assured him that she will kill the demon Arunasura. She later took the shape of wasp and killed Arunasura on the banks of RiverNandini in Kateel. At this place today, beautiful, famous temple of Goddess DurgaParameshwari

To visit the cave, there are restrictions like one has to take bath is the pond behind the temple, have to come in wet clothes, walk down the cave and crawl about 200 metres. The guide come with a wick lamp as it is completely dark. The cave is open to public only six months in a year.

Kateel DurgaParameshwari Temple

We had lunch (prasad) after the pooja at the temple, visited the Kateel Temple and reached back to Udupi by 5pm

It was a nice religious visit to one of the old temples in Dakshnina Kannada.

written Thursday 07January2016

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TRIVANI SANGAMA - MUSIC CONCERT

Saturday 2nd January 2016

Triveni Sangama - it was fusion concert of Carnatic, Hindustani and Western music at ShriRama MahaPattabisheka, ShankaraPura, NammaBengaluru.

Vidwan B C Manjunath

Vidwan Juliano Modereno

Vidwan Praveen Godkindi

Vidwan NedMec Govan

It was excenllent beginning for the year, with international famous artists present on the stage, presenting a superb program.
Vidwans Mysore Manjunath on Violin, Praveen Godkindi on Flute, B C Manjunath on Mridanga, NedMec Govan on special (Continental) Flute, Giridhar Udupa on Ghatam, Pramath Kiran on Tabla, Morching and RhythmPad and Juliano Modereno on Guitar.
There was a huge crowd of music lovers in the hall, somehow I got a chair to sit on the sidelines of the stage, courtesy PradeepKumar Sharma, one of the organizers.

Godkindi with NedMec

The performance started with Manjunath on violin and Godkindi on flute presenting a beautiful peace. Then a small piece on Guitar by Juliano and the beautiful performance of Raaga Keeravani by all the artists joining in.
The last half hour presentation of solo Mridanga, Ghatam and Morching by the artists.
Celebrity vocalist Vidwan K L Padmanabhan made a poem on all the artists and sang in his heavy voice in carnatic style.

That was an well spent and refreshing musical evening.
written Monday 4Jan2015

ASHTAVADHANA - Shatavadhani R Ganesh

Sunday 3rdJanuary2016

It was a beautiful morning of Sunday of NewYear2016 and when we reached the auditorium at 10am, MangalaMantapa of RMKRV  College at Jayanagara, NammaBengaluru, it was already full.
Shatavadhani R Ganesh was to conduct ASHTAVADHANA  based on works of Dr SL Bhairappa's.

audience in the hall

"VamshaVruksha"

"Biththi"

The program was organized by Dr SLBhairappa's Kadambari PriyaraKoota on FaceBook, which has more than 10000 members from all over the world.
Avadhana is discussion and deliberations on a topic by Avadhani and questions asked by eight people called "Praschkas".

The program started 15 minutes late with Shashank Parashar calling Shatavadhani R Ganesh and Prachakas on stage.
Shatavadhani Ganesh introduced all the praschakas with detailed information about their career, hobbies and special ability.
It is amazing to see how "Vidvaamsa" (Knowledgeable) Ganesh elaborating on each point raised by the praschakas and giving a fitting and sometimes humorous reply, making the audience into laughter.

Udayavani 4/1/2016, page 4

SriRaghavendra Hegade on ChitraPrajne, made four drawing/painting on Yana, VamshaVruksha, Bitthi and NaayiNeralu (shadow play) all were aptly elaborated by Ganesh with quotes and references
"Aprasthuta Prasangi" (Diverting and distracting the attention) SomaShekaraSharma also did a wonderful job by asking questions relevant to  Dr SL Bhairappa's novels.
Q: What is the punishment for those who do not read Bhairappa's novels?
A: That's the punishment.
Q: Why not "JnanaPeetha" Award for Dr S L Bhairappa?
A: In the past many knowledgeable people(Jnani) have not got the award and people with poor knowledge (Ajnani) also got the award. "Peetha" can be taken but not "Jnana"

Dr S L Bhairappa

Felicitations

UshaHande and Nalini in the crowd

RanganathPrasad on "SankhyaBandha" (Suduku) also interestingly asking numbers related to Bhairappa's novel  and Shatavadhani has perfectly completed it.
Dr S L Bhairappa himself present throughout the program and presented the citation to all participants.
It was a memorable program with lot of information to improve the knowledge.

written Monday 4Januaru2016