Dornahalli fair

Every year on June 13th not much known St. Anthony’s church in Dornahalli , K R Nagar ,gets lakh’s of Christian devotees for the annual feast. People not only come from corners of Karnataka but also come from neighboring states Goa, Tamilnaadu and Kerala. For surrounding villages regardless of religion this fair is their bragging right. Some use it for commercial purposes but some families it is part of their culture to take blessings from the church.

the wheel in the trees	The Mahatma Gandhi performer

 History :As per the story in 1800 a poor farmer found an idol in his farm while ploughing which he assumed that it is a toy until in his dreams a sage came and told him to respect the idol. Farmer ignored the dream but bad things in his life started happening in life which forced him to build a small temple and started worshiping on daily basis. Soon he prospered and became very rich. He shared this story with a Christian priest in Mysore who recognized the statue as St Anthony and built a church there which renovated and on St Anthony’s death anniversary this fair has been being held from 150 years. People offer candles, flowers to St Anthony and take his blessing. Tonsuring hair is also seen here and people offer salt and puffed rice during the procession.

Like any other fair Dornahalli fair also hosts giant wheel, tora-tora, Magic shows, Hotels, Games, Toys, Bangles, sweet shops , agriculture related shops and lots of people. The street tattoo shops , local made ice-cream shops , gambling games and the makeshift hotels   attract huge crowd enough to choke the streets.

Unlike the Hindu fairs that happen in Karnataka , non-vegetarian foods are openly available in Dornahalli fair. Pork and meats are available so cheap that people from nearby villages just visit the fair for buying meat and fishes .It is said that they sell for very cheap price which attracts huge crowd. Animals and birds are killed in public for the meat shops. One can find plenty of makeshift hotels that sell non-vegetarian foods which are always heavily crowded during the fair.

Government runs special buses and arranges safety of the devotees. Direct buses are available from Mysore and nearby cities which run every hour . Plenty of parking place is also available and there are private buses and vans also commute which bring huge amount of people. Many Cristian associations all over the state , visit in mass for whom this is a must visit holy fair of the year.