Suggi Huggi Habba gives visitors a new experience at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens

BENGALURU: In the run-up to the Organics and Millets International Trade Fair 2019, scheduled to take place from January 18 to January 20, the agriculture department, in association with the Kannada and Culture and horticulture departments, organised Suggi Huggi Jaatre at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens on Tuesday.

Visitors were treated to variations of the harvest festival in Karnataka, including coastal, Malnad, Kodagu, South Interior Karnataka, Belagavi and Hyderabad-Karnataka. Bullock cart rides were a huge attraction at the Jaatre, held on the occasion of Makara Sankranti.

“We are giving city dwellers a platform to re-establish their traditional roots. One of the prominent features of Suggi Huggi Jaatre was organics and millets. Our aim is to promote millets, which require almost 70% less water, compared to wheat and rice. We want to create awareness about the health benefits of organics and millets, and promote the inclusion of millets as part of the daily diet,” said NH Shivashankara Reddy, Minister for Agriculture.

Suggi translates to harvest festival and huggi is a kind of porridge served at the festival, while Jaatre means mela or festival. People could enjoy free samples of huggi and pongal, and there were also stalls selling traditional, organic and millet food items.

“This is a great opportunity for Bengalureans to witness glimpses of village life and experience the rich culture of Karnataka. The government is keen to make the state the ‘millet capital’ of India. The Suggi Huggi Jaatre sets the tone for the forthcoming Organics and Millets International Trade Fair 2019, which will be bigger and better than all previous editions,” said Maheshwar Rao, Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture.

Sun rays fall into Gavi Gangadhareshwara temple on time
Thousands of people thronged the historic Gavi Gangadhareshwara temple in the city to witness the rare phenomenon of sun rays falling on the Shivalinga in the sanctum sanctorum on Sankranti day on Tuesday. This year too, beams of sunrays passed through the two windows of the south-facing cave temple and slid down the horns of Nandi to touch the Shivalinga. This lasted for four minutes and 44 secs.