Maharastra Mandal Bengaluru celebrates centenary year

The group was started in Basavanagudi by a government employee

Mandal members set up stalls for a flea market on Sunday.

Maharashtra Mandal Bengaluru celebrated its centenary year at Palace Ground on Sunday. Maharashtrians from across the city came to celebrate the occasion dressed in their ethnic best.

The half-day programme had an interaction with actor Sachin Khedekar and a music programme by popular Marathi singer and music composer Avadhoot Gupte, along with other formal programmes, food stations and a flea market put up by the members of the community.

Sumitra Mahajan, former speaker of Lok Sabha, was the chief guest, along with Tejasvi Surya, MP of Bengaluru South.

It’s estimated that 2.5 lakh Maharashtrians live in Bengaluru and the socio-cultural forum has only seen the community grow. The mandal has 1,500 to 1,800 families.

Rekha Naik, president of Maharastra Mandal Bengaluru, told Metrolife that they have been planning this event since last year.

“With the city expanding geographically, the Marathi community is growing each year. There have been programmes being conducted on a monthly basis region wise, but we all get together at the main auditorium in Gandhinagar every month,” says Rekha.

She points out that the Ganesh festival is the biggest event of the year. Usually held between the end of August and September, the event goes on for 12 days where various artistes and drama groups perform. The tradition has been going on for almost a hundred years, when the group was originally formed.

It began in the 1920s

In the 19th-century, a few Maharashtrians came to Bengaluru (Mysore State) and settled in Basavanagudi. It was Baburao Joshi, a government employee, along with his colleagues, who started the mandal as they were homesick. Ganesh festival was the first event they ever had.

In the 1960s and 1980s, more Maharashtrians came to the city to work in Public Sector Undertakings and the numbers grew larger with the IT boom.

While more and more Maharashtrians joined the mandal over the years, they would initially meet or host programmes only once in two or three months.

Now, there are multiple events that take place every month.

Maharastra and Karnataka connect

Now the fourth-generation of Maharashtrian families live in the state. By conducting cultural events, the elders are proud to say they have amalgamated the Maharashtrian and Kannadiga traditions.

Rekha explains, “Whenever we have cultural events, especially in the group song section, we have both Kannada and Marathi songs being sung. We also celebrate Karnataka Rajyotsava every year.” Even when they make rangoli, they draw a Maharashtrian and Kannadiga design. “Since North Karnataka is closer to the border, our food is similar too,” points out Rekha.

Together as one

Maharastra Mandal Bengaluru not only has members from the state but also from other northern states too.

There are also about 20 other non-registered Marathi groups in the city who hosts small events on a regular basis in their respective parts of the city.

“We hosted stalls and a flea market was to give home chefs and entrepreneurs an opportunity to showcase their work. We’re glad that the event was a success and look forward to more,” says Rekha.

Maharashtra Mandal Bengaluru Office

The office in Gandhinagar has an auditorium with four rooms available for stay. There is also a canteen in the ground floor that serves south Indian food.

The building also has a library with 10,000 Marathi books.

There are 10 branches of this library set up across the city. The mandal also brings out a monthly newsletter named Sa Na Vi Vi.

For membership

You can follow their Facebook and Twitter page called Maharashtra Mandal Bengaluru. For membership, call the office at 2228 0609