47th Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava

I was just inspired by the way Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha organized the event (47th Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava) in APS College grounds, Basvanagudi, and I could not resist myself in sharing some of the finest moments of the event. Here it goes..

I came to know about this event through the ad on Times where they have given the event details which will be held from Aug 23rd till Sep 3rd and infact my friend Karthik described about the event on Saturday 29th Aug (while at our usual gathering at PESCE), where he had witnessed Raghu Dixit’s performance which was on last Friday (28th Aug). Inspired by that Karthik was blabbering that he wants to learn to play some music instrumentsJ.

Then on Sunday (30th Aug), I was alone doing nothing at home in Bangalore. In the meantime I went through the list of contacts in my mobile trying to find someone who can accompany me to the show. I gave a ring to Bongale (college friend) to check with him whether he can accompany me to the Ganesh Utsava. Unfortunately, he didn’t pick up. I decided to go alone to witness the performance by Guru Kiran on that day. Suddenly, I got a call from Karthik that he has left to Bangalore and asked me to join with him to the show. I was pleased that my friend will be accompanying me.

The program was schedule to start from 7:30 PM (until 10:30 PM) and informed Karthik that I will be there at APS College grounds, Basavanagudi, at around 7:45 PM. It was a 5 mins drive from my home to that place and I was there at the said time. I found some place to park my bike and walked briskly towards the stage. I was amazed looking at the crowd (reason could be – more kannadigas in that surroundings and some good looking…J). As usual program started with a song on Lord Ganesh, it was “Jai Ganesha” from Kutumba movie then Sunitha sang ‘Moodala maneya muthina neerina’ and after that one of my fav singer Chaithra came on to the stage with “Huduga Huduga oh nanna muddina huduga…” originally sung by her. Four songs went but Karthik was still on his way and when he reached he took me to the place where we can watch the show with good clarity. Hey, I forgot to mention that this event was sponsored by MTR, Raymonds – Jayanagar, Titan, Fever 104.3 FM, and many more. The first thing Karthik said was “we will have some thing to eat first and then will watch”J. We then went to the MTR counter (was arranged aside) and surprisingly there were many counters (one for Mysore region, one for Mangalore, Belgaum and Hyderabad – Karnataka region) ,we went to Hyderabad – Karnataka counter and had Mirch masala and similar to Bhel Puri (I forgot the name).

The crowd was still gathering and at around 8:15 PM, Guru Kiran came on to the stage along with some co-dancers and sang some beautiful songs which were composed by him. Few of them which I can remember were – Mast mast hudugi bandlu (Upendra), Bandal Badayi Mahadeva (Ekadanta), Kolle Nannanne (Aramane), Kannallu neenene (Pallakki), Ello jogappa nin aramane, Bin Laden, Chuku buku railu (all 3 from Jogi). In between there were couple of songs from Hindi movies too sung by new talent Apoorva and others.

Apart from this there was good entertainment from the crowd as well. The cameraman turned his camera (from his usual capture of stage) towards the crowd where an oldman at the age of around 70’s danced for the song “Kolle nannanne” (we could see this at the screens arranged beside) which was simply superb. And also, the cameraman succeeded in capturing a young lady’s performance which was really brilliant for one of the song. Karthik asked me to make a note of her J (no need to explain why). We also noticed some good performers off stage.

The time was ticking at his rate and when checked it was 10:35 PM, still the show was going on. It was time for me to leave and left the place after watching the “Aithalakadi”, the last which I witnessed for that day. When I came out, I saw the event details for next couple of days and noticed that Kunal Ganajawala’s performance is on Sep 1st. While on my way back home, I was just murmuring some melodiesJ and decided somehow I have to make it on Sep 1st as well (as my working hours is from 11 AM to 8:30 PM and will reach home by 10:00 PM).

On Sep 1st:

At 3:30 PM, I decided to make it to the event by leaving office early as my manager was off sickJ. I left at 6:15 PM and reached home by 8:00 PM and in the meantime, I informed Karthik also (since I was sure that he too will make it) on my attendance. By the time I reached home, it started raining lightly, I waited for sometime but somewhere in the corner of heart, I was just thinking of the event spoiled by the rain. After some time I noticed that the rain has stopped (some drizzling was still there). I started my bike and reached the place at around 8:35 PM and was able to hear the voice of Kunal already at the parking place.

As soon as I entered the ground, he just started with “Onde Ondu sari” and the crowd was just going mad about that, WOW. I called Karthik to inform him (even though it was difficult to make a conversation due to noisy crowd) that I have arrived and asked him to come to the same place where we had watched on the previous day. I noticed that he was nearby and joined him, he then introduced me to his friends. The first thing I asked him was whether he had completed singing “Bheegey Hont” from Murder. I was happy hearing that he has just started and he has not yet sung that song.

You don’t believe that he almost sung around 25 songs continuously in the span of 2 hours without a break in between. Once he completed singing a song he just used to say 1 2 3 and started the next song, amazing. The songs which were sung by him and which I can remember were – after Onde Ondu sari, it was Neene Neene, Aakasha ishte yakideyo, Khushi aagide, Modala Sala, Tere Bin, Dil na Diya, Salaam Namaste, Channa vey, Duppatta tera, O Hum Dum Soniyo re, and many more. But still one of my fav Bheegey Hont didn’t turn up from his voice.

Again the same when it comes to the crowd appearance, the crowd was just enjoying to the fullest. We noticed a peculiar guy who was very lean was dancing as if he was out of this world and the crowd enjoyed his performanceJ. Kunal was accompanied by his band boys named – “BAD BOYS” to support him with their guitars, drums, keyboards, etc. MP Anant Kumar also witnessed this event in the VVIP gallery.

It was already 10:10 PM and there was no clue on Bheegey Hont from Kunal. By that time he had finished 23 songs (if the actual number is considered as 25). I don’t remember the song (23rd one) which he was singing at that time and once it was over there was some weird music started where no one could guess that the next song is Bheegey Hont. The crowd was expecting that song more than me I guessJ. The whole crowd was singing in chorus for this song.

Kunal finished this song and was ready to fly back to Mumbai I believe, seems like he was hurry (seeing that he finished around 25 songs at a single stretch), said good bye to the audiences. But the organizers insisted him to close it with a Kannada song. He pulled Guru Kiran (who was an audience for that show) on to the stage and sang the song composed by Guru Kiran. The song was “Nanagu Ninagu Kannalle Parichaya” (originally sung by Kunal himself) from Aramane movie, Guru Kiran also joined with Kunal and entertained the whole crowd and finished with a very soothing melody.

Personally, I feel that Kunal’s performance was better than that of Guru Kiran’s. But anyways, I enjoyed the two wonderful evenings with them. Prior to this I missed the performances from C Ashwath, Rajesh Krishnan and Raghu Dixit which were on 24th, 26th and 28th of Aug respectively.


This is my first blog and have started with - my passion for “MUSIC”, the 47th Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava. Hence request you to excuse if there are any mistakes.