Murukulu and Karjelu to tickle Telangana taste buds

DC | Pillalamarri Srinivas | June 09, 2014,

Adilabad: People in Telangana had led a struggle for separate statehood to the region as they wanted to experience self-governance and for self-assertiveness. The Telangana activists also lamented that their culture and tradition, which is quite different from that of the Andhra people, was getting concealed in the ‘dominance of the latter’. 

Hence, after the formation of separate Telangana, people launched celebrations in a grand manner which continued for a week that included programmes to revive the culture and tradition. Women took out processions with ‘batukammas’ and ‘bonalu’, an exclusive tradition observed by the females in the region.

Similarly, the festivities also included T food festivals wherein snacks and dishes, which originated and are mostly like the sole property of the region, were put up for people’s taste buds. The T snacks varied from ‘karampusa’, ‘karjelu’, ‘murukulu’, ‘gavvalu’, ‘sarvapindi’ to  ‘gudalu of pesarlu and bobbarlu’. Many other food items, apart from the authentic biryani, have also been put on display at the food festival at the festivities.

The food habits and tradition serve to be unique identity of people belonging to a region. The food festivals, which were organised as part of the festivities, helped in reviving the culture of the region. K. Satyanarayana, a resident of Shantinagar in Adilabad town who attended the festival with his children said that they enjoyed eating all the special and rare Telangana items. “My children some special dishes for the first time in their life at the food fest,” he added.