India, Nov. 20 -- You can tell the character of a city by what it is willing to stop traffic for. In London, roads are cordoned off for royal processions; in Paris, for a marathon and in New York, for a Thanksgiving Day parade. In South Bengaluru, for three days each year, we block off roads.for a peanut. The groundnut, or what we call the kadalekai.

Until it became known as a source of allergies, this legume (Arachis hypogaea) that ripens under the earth was viewed in many cultures as a healthy snack. It brings texture to soups and stews in Africa, Asia and South America- where it originated.

But no other culture celebrates it the way we do in Bengaluru. Parishe is a Kannada word meaning fair, but the Kadalekai Parishe is a religious f...