If there are two days being celebrated on one day, what do you do? In the spirit of good food, combine them! Which is how Carrots Restaurant, the first vegan restaurant in the city has decided to celebrate Kannada Rajyotsava and World Vegan Day, which are both observed on November 1.
Their “Kannada Kaliyiri, Bahumaana Gelliri” (Learn Kannada, win prizes) initiative, was something that brought together two issues close to her heart, says Susmitha Subbaraju, co-owner of the restaurant. “We wanted to do something positive from our side to encourage people to speak Kannada more. Bengaluru seems to be the only city where we feel happy when someone speaks to us in our local language, Kannada. I often have taxi and auto drivers telling me, ‘Madam nimm thara chennagi Kannada maataadovru sikbittre adeshtu santosha aagutte’, (Madam we feel very happy when we meet people like you who speak Kannada well),” she observes from her own experience. The main contests will be specially designed for Bengaluru’s non-Kannadiga residents, in order to appreciate and encourage their efforts towards learning Kannada, says Susmitha. And for Kannadigas, there are Kannada-based contests related to concepts of veganism planned.
“I’d say that at least half of our guests are non-Kannada speaking people and many of them have migrated to Bengaluru only within the past decade or so. I'd like to clarify that when we use the term ‘non-Kannadiga’, we're not including the many native second or third generation Bengalureans who, even though they ‘technically’ originate from non-Kannadiga backgrounds, speak Kannada as their own language,” Susmitha further clarifies.
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Since Tuesday is the restaurant’s weekly holiday, the celebrations will happen on Wednesday November 2, from 11 a.m. to 3.30 p.m., and then 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
For details look up http://carrots-india.com