BENGALURU: Gone are the days when garlands made of flowers were the most sought-after in political rallies. They have now been replaced with those made of fruits and dry fruits. Recently, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who was at Krishnaraja Sagara in Mandya district campaigning for his son Nikhil, was presented with a 14-ft garland made of raisins weighing 220 kg. A battalion of 10 workers toiled for 15 days to create the exotic garland.
Not just raisins, garlands made of apples, musambis, figs, almonds, cashews, strawberries, pomegranates and grapes are in huge demand and they are so humongous that a crane is needed to lift them. These garlands can burn a hole in a customer’s pocket by anywhere between Rs 6,000 and Rs 2.5 lakh. The change in trend, however, has put a smile on the faces of flower and fruit vendors.
Dhanraj, who owns a flower and fruit shop at Mysuru’s Devaraja Market, got an order from a JD(S) leader for a garland made of rasins. “Raisins are small. Hence, it consumes a lot of time to make a garland measuring 14-ft. We deployed 10 workers. Each day, each worker could put together only 2 kg of raisins. Flowers were also added to the garland to increase its grandeur. It took us a fortnight to complete it. It was transported in a truck from Mysuru to KRS,” he said. Dhanraj adds that painstaking efforts are required to create an almond garland. “We got an order for a 12-ft almond garland. We used 120 kg of almonds and spent close to Rs 1.5 lakh. We had to soak the almonds in water for 10 hours and then string it together using a needle,” he added.
Like his counterpart in Mysuru, Raju from Bengaluru’s KR Market, who specialises in apple garlands, is a busy man this poll season. “Recently, a political party placed an order for a 250-kg apple garland worth Rs 55,000. We send our garlands to other states as well,” he added.
So how did this tradition of using fruits in garlands start? According to Belur Somashekar, a politician from Mandya, “Giving fruits to our guests is part of our custom. Hence, we do the same for our netas.”
Change in trend