MANDYA: Former PM Deve Gowda, known for his love for native food including ragi mudde, should be extremely delighted with this achievement of 56-year-old Ere Gowda from Mandya, who downed a full six ragi muddes (ragi balls) weighing a full 3 kg and135 grams (each ragi ball weighed half a kg) blending it with chicken curry (nati koli) on Sunday!
It all happened within an amazing 20 minutes and was enough to beat his nearest competitor, Suresh, a 40-year old, at a competition organised at Mangala village in Mandya.
There were 64 competitors and they included a woman too. The entry fee was Rs 100 per competitor. Soon after his uncle achieved the feat, nephew Mohan said Ere Gowda is fit as a fiddle and has no bad habits -- he does not drink tea or coffee nor does he consume liquor or smoke.
This is not the first time he has done it, he had finished off as many as nine ragi muddes earlier and would have done it this time too had there not been some disturbance. He received a cash prize of '5,000 while second ranked Suresh, walked away with a prize of Rs 3,000.
Mr Yogesh, secretary of Neladani Balaga, which organised the event, told Deccan Chronicle that they do not want such competitions, so much a part of rural sports, to vanish because of the invasion of modern culture.
