It’s avarekai season, but where are the beans?
The Hindu
Supply of avarekai is down by about 70% due to heavy rains
Every winter when there’s a chill in the air, people look for their fix of avarekai or hyacinth beans. But this year, though it’s mid-December — the peak of the avarekai season — the city’s favourite beans are not easily found in markets.
“By this time of the year, markets would have been flooded with avarekai and it would have become a staple at home. But not this time. Even those ready to pay a steep price are finding it difficult to find stock,” said Asha Kumari, a software engineer from South Bengaluru.
The recent spell of heavy rain has played havoc, causing widespread damage to crops, including avarekai, in the State. “Rains in October and November have led to large-scale crop damage, even before flowering. The best avarekai with sogadu is harvested when the beans mature in the mist. But there is almost no crop for that this season. Farmers like myself, who had planted avarekai in Ramanagaram, Kolar, Chickballapur, and Bengaluru Rural districts, have suffered huge losses,” said Chennathimmaiah, an avarekai farmer from Magadi.
Everyone talks about the Airport Metro, but one look at the pillars and completion seems nowhere in sight. Meanwhile, a faster, cheaper, roomier alternative called the Suburban Rail Airport Corridor is finally getting off the drawing board. This dedicated corridor with its specialised coaches will link the airport to vast stretches of Bengaluru, where the metro connection is still years away.