bangalore how come that a global peace activist known internationally for his collages on peace has collages on coffee too the secret is that at a one time stint with the coffee board he actively promoted indian coffee both within the country and abroad vbalus paper collage on bababudan focuses on the beautiful mythological story of the origin of coffee in india and it is bound to stimulate the imagination of delegates attending the international coffee festival beginning february 15 in bangalore narrates balu there was a saint by name bababudan on the chandragiri hills in the chikmagalur district of the karnataka state one day the saint disappeared into a cave on the hills and returned only after seven long years to the joy of both his hindu and muslim followers who had waited patiently all along at the mouth of the cave bababudan held out to his followers seven coffee seeds which he said he had brought for them from mecca to serve as food and drink these seven seeds planted on the chandragiri hills gradually lead to thousands of hectares of wild jungles in the southern states of india getting transformed into smiling coffee plantations balu has also done an oil painting of bababudan which the late dr svetaslov roerich described as having a clasic quality these and other coffee collages can be seen at the artists studio cum gallery in basavangudi bangalore