Mysuru: A huge number of people thronged Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry in city today morning to attend Jackfruit Mela and have a bite of their favourite fruit ‘Halasina Hannu.’ 

The Choultry premises hosting the festival appeared congested due to large number of ‘jackfruit lovers’ visiting the venue even before the event began and the whole locale permeated with sweet smell of their favourite fruit won the hearts of all.

The two-day event, which began today morning 11 am, has been organised by city-based Sahaja Samrudha, in association with Rotary Club of Mysore West at Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry in city.

The event was inaugurated by Rotary District Governor Rtn. Joseph Mathew. During the event, Director of Indian Institute for Horticulture Research, Bengaluru Dr. M.R. Dinesh released the book ‘Halasina Hannu Bidisidaga’ written by A.P. Chandrashekar.

The visitors relished a wide variety of jackfruits available here including Chandra Bakke, Rudrakshi Bakke and Siddu Halasu. The jackfruits bearing various hues including red, yellow and white are being sold at Rs. 4 to 10 per piece and the gathering seemed mesmerised by taste and characteristic sweet fruity smell of the ripened fruit.

Other than fruits, the venue is also featuring a number mouth watering dishes prepared with the fruit including jackfruit happala, holige, halwa, payasa, dosa, kabab, and jafi (roasted jack bean powder) and the list goes on. All these exotic, authentic delicacies are drawing food lovers in large numbers.

Jackfruit does have a number of different varieties and cultivars, having their own unique colour, taste and texture. Good news is that most of these jackfruit saplings are on sale at Jackfruit Mela, which is also a huge hit here. Distinctive and rare varieties including Toobugere Special, Sarvarutu, Gumless, Super Early, Chandra Bakke, Rudrakshi Bakke, Siddu Halasu and Byrachandra are available for sale and people seem to be fascinated with such rarely available species of jackfruit and saplings for sale here.

Most notable part of the event is that the whole premises is well kempt and tidy even as cleaning of jackfruit itself is a messy job. One needs to appreciate organisers for their efforts and forethought.

The two-day festival has been organised to create awareness about nutritional and medicinal value of jackfruit, known as ‘Halasina Hannu’ in Kannada. The event is also featuring jackfruit farming workshop today and jackfruit food competition on Aug. 4 (Sunday) at 12 noon followed by jackfruit eating competition at 2 am tomorrow.