Of Fair and Games 

Ragi Kana is a heterotopic space created within the city. It embodies a rural market-like structure, comprising of organic produce, clothes, toys, home decor, planting essentials, and even live performances of music, dance and drama. What gives this ideal rural fair setting an urban edge are the workshops and the diverse crowd that engages with this fair. The workshops range from traditional games to gardening practices, all of which try to connect the urban populace with more organic, natural ways of living. Within this space, we have found certain promising folkloric aspects. 

While volunteering with a food shop which primarily sold most of the local meal items that are peculiar to this Karnataka such as kosumbari, palya, puliogare, kodubale, halbai, and more- and others that are commonly found throughout the country, like buttermilk, musk melon juice, vadai, and others, we found some common preferences among the customers. The scorching sun drove most to the juices and buttermilk. This way many were introduced to the various other food items in the shop, thus familiarizing most with the local food, helping the fair goers not only know of, but experience the food culture of the space, and engage in conversations about variations in the items from their homeland, and other similar recipes, thus creating space for the folklore of food.

Another important folkloric practice was in the art of poster making. Many volunteers before us had helped with designing and creating posters for the various shops and stalls in the santhe, the format of which was almost entirely followed by everyone who followed. This led to the learning of imitative behaviours in practice, that we had learned in theories of behavioural folklore. All posters, without being asked to, appeared to have the same style, font, format and colouring. This learning was further extended when we engaged with the multiple shops owners and their products, and all had similar notions of the products being sold, used similar tone and marketing skills, which showed that the space of the fair had created its own way of communicating, of presenting items, and of engaging with customers. 

Our main learnings, however, came from the Traditional Toys and Games stall, which also organises workshops to teach and encourage over a hundred and fifty traditional games from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The stall was set up by Ima ReCreations founder and traditional games enthusiast, Immaculate Anthony, who not only taught, and played with us various traditional games, but also taught us their cultural, folkloric significance. These games tend to utilize mostly items that are easily found in domestic settings, like cowry shells, tamarind seeds, bangles, sticks and other small trinkets found in the household. Besides this, the board game designs are demonstrated at length and can be drawn on the floor, on fabric, paper, or on soil even. These games definitely help connect all members of families and communities, but also instill valuable lessons, such as the Adu Puli attam, which teaches us to stay in unison and work together in order to survive, and also avoid danger. They also inform young princes, grooms and brides of their responsibilities, like one game of cowry shells where the shells are launched in the air and the palm is to be flipped once during the launch, and later the shells must be all caught, ensuing the young bride juggle her responsibilities towards her various new family members and society well. Further, they also help develop good hand and eye coordination, focus, and integrity. Thus, these games help in the transmission of knowledge and moral folklore.