My Beautiful Onam Memories
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
As I was born and bought up in Kuwait, I did not know what actually Onam was and what the real taste of Onam was. I and my family used to celebrate Onam every year either in Kuwait or in Kerala. But I only have a clear picture of Onam celebrations since seven years.
During my summer vacations I would try to stay with my grandparents and cousins until Onam. We thoroughly enjoy the ten days of Onam. The celebrations start from the first day, Atham and lasts till the tenth day of Thiruonam. We used to get up early in the morning. We have our bath and begin our job i.e. start collecting flowers from our neighborhood so that on Thiruonam we could make a much bigger and beautiful Pookalam. At the tenth day of Onam, as usual we get up early, have our bath and to our nearby temple. On such important and prestigious days, it's must that we pray to God and seek their blessings. We also get the opportunity to wear new bright clothes. And I still remember what I wore last year. It was Golden Kurtha and Mundu. It was for the first time that I wore such kind of a dress. Even though during our vacation we meet each other, we still find a bit bored as sometimes we fail to see every of our relatives. But it's not the same at the time of Onam. All of our relatives and family friends come to our home maybe in one day itself. And those moments are really exiting. We children are free from responsibilities and we don't have any barriers. And we utilize that piece of time to its maximum. Also we too don't forget to visit their home. When talking about Onam there's one thing which we cannot avoid to miss, Onasadya. And I think that's one of the factors which distinguish Onam from other festivals. 'Payasam', a special dessert is one of the main highlight of the Onasadya. Moreover it's a fact that many of us will love to have it and there's no doubt about that when it comes to me. And this finds colorful to my eyes as I find many of my favorite items when served on the Banana leaf.
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Yet it's not over. There are more celebrations to come. 'Vallamkali', snake boat race is one of the main attractions of Onam. Last year I got a chance to witness the' Aramulla Vallamkali' along with my family. It was just simply awesome. An interesting thing what I found there was there were many foreigners to see that spectacular event. From that I understood one thing, the government has taken keen interest on festivals like Onam in making them much of touristic importance. Thereby tourism will increase which indeed leads to the rise of our National Income. And this will too make the festival o Onam more popular. We also see one more attracting factor about Onam in television, 'Pulikali'. In these thousands of people paint their body with spots and lines of bright colors like red, yellow, orange and black resembling the body of a tiger and perform down the streets. In between all these we still don't forget to burn crackers. In my locality our local youngsters waits for the day's evening. From then onwards then the people living nearby can only hear the sound of crackers.
What I found more interesting among all these was the concept of Onam because no matter whoever they were, to which religion they belong to, how wealthier they were etc. they considered all among them equal.
These are the celebrations which takes place in Kerala. But these are not the same when it comes to middle-east. TheThiruonam day celebrations is entirely different from that in Kerala. Since Onam also has great importance like other festivals, our schools give us a holiday. Here also we get up early in the morning, have our bath and wear our new dress. But we don't go to temples since there aren't any. But because of that don't think that we don't pray. Of course, we do it within our home. Due to shortage of space we also can't put 'Pookalam' in our home. I think most of the Onam celebrations in the middle-east are very much associated with the media. Most of the Malayalam TV channels telecast various programs related with Onam. They also telecast many newly released movies. And I find that very interesting. The thing which I find a bit difficult among these is the time in which they will be shown. Why is that because there will be many films which I'll want to see but it's not possible to watch two or three films at a time. Then it's time for the Onasadya. Nowadays many restaurants offer Onasadya at reasonable price and I think that the bachelors completely make use of them. For this there won't be any complain. We also invite some of our friends to have this. We then phone our grandparents and cousins back in Kerala and wish them a 'Happy Onam'. These are the celebrations which takes place in our home.
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Beyond all these there are many Malayalee Associations. They enjoy festivals like Onam, Id and Christmas joyfully. No matter whichever religion they belong to, they thoroughly enjoy these festivals. In Kerala, I think the Onam celebrations may last for 10-12 days. But here it's not the same. As the celebrations can be only conducted only during the weekends, Onam celebrations here last for months.
Even though I wrote about all of these, I still remain a bit sad because this year I couldn't go to my home back in Kerala. So I miss my grandparents and few others.
My parents have told me that at the time of their childhood their Onam was much different from nowadays. They said that at their time no one in their house would simply. Everyone would be doing something or the other. They were a group and they celebrated the festival like that itself. But nowadays I don't think so it's the same everywhere. In order to make the processes easier people may order Sadya from restaurants and all. Then everything's is in the hands of associations. Over, the celebrations of Onam which comes once in a year has an end. Is that what we want? This is a kind of festival which has to be celebrated as a group. And we should follow that. Nowadays all around the world it's just one thing, violence. We all want to see a peaceful world. It's must that brotherhood and harmony spreads around the world. Isn't it?
Wish you all a "Happy and Prosperous Onam".
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