The grey sky cracks open, wells fill up and flower buds burst into long petals. Streets see men dressed as tigers (puliyattam) and elephants decked in gold. The sound of chenda mela hangs like a wisp of smoke in still air. That’s Onam in God’s own country.
Here, the festival is less dramatic. That one kasavu sari surfaces from underneath a pile, and pops up as part of selfies on social media. Onam chandas — small markets with items like nendra pazham and rice powder sourced from Kerala — mushroom in the many small Malayali associations around the city. A sprightly man in long curly hair, thick moustache and balloon-like paunch comes up in Malayalam commercials, between pages of Malayalam magazines and restaurant catalogues.
Going by the folklore, this man, Mahabali, the mythical king of Kerala, is probably the busiest person in the world on this day — visiting all his subjects who take pains to spread a soft floral carpet at the doorstep (pookalam) for him. The idea of the 10-day-festival is to celebrate the return of the asura king in spirit, under whose reign the people of Kerala were believed to be the happiest.
Myth or not, Remani Vivek, a resident of Avadi since ‘75, doesn’t want to miss a chance playing host to the king. Dressed in the traditional kasavu sari, she arranges the jasmines, chrysanthemums, marigolds and roses in a neat circular pattern, like a giant colourful dosa, on the restricted space in front of her house. She hasn’t missed the practice once in all these years. Onam of her childhood in Pallakkad included a swing amid a garden of accessible flowers, chaos of visitors and smell of new clothes (onapodava). Now, it is a bunch of phone calls from relatives, TV programmes, a special lunch, an extra bowl of payasam and the colour of pookalam.
She doesn’t complain though. No one complains on Onam, the festival of harvest. Even if the day includes a crucial semester exam. “We will finish the exam, and then treat ourselves to the Onam feast at one of the restaurants,” says Sharanya K. Prasad, an MBA student, surprisingly jubilant for someone who is away from her parents and celebrations in Kottayam. Luckily, for her, there seems to be a sundry of choices to catch an Onam meal in the city.
Restaurants like Ente Keralam have invited chef Dr. P.R. Unnikrishnan Namboodiri from Thrissur to prepare the authentic Onam sadhya. The chef, who is also a priest and Ayurvedic doctor, says that he started preparations four months ago. “During the jackfruit season, we chopped and dried them to fry as chips for the Onam meal. We also collected and stored vaduvapulli narangya (big lemon) and kadu manga (small mango used for pickles) during the season,” says Namboodiri.
The meal includes over 20 dishes including the kaalan, olan, avial, sambar and pachadi, besides four varieties each of payasams and pickles. None uses onion, garlic or masala — reminiscent of the Brahmin style meal in Central Kerala.
Confused where to start? As it turns out, there is a well charted rule for placing the dishes on the plantain leaf and for having them. “Begin with nei parippu and rice, followed by the rest of the dishes. End with rice and curd. Just before that, the paysams and pradhamans should be served,” he repeats it twice for us to grasp. “And, have it the traditional way — with your hands. The rice should be mixed properly using all the fingers, and the palm, to get the real taste,” he says, smoothing his hand around an imaginary ball.
While a few restaurants have extended the festival over the weekend, over 100 associations under the Confederation of Tamil Nadu Malayalee Associations in the city, have celebrations scheduled till December, with sadhyas arranged in mid-September. That’s enough time to get over the Onam hangover.
