Malayalees ring in Onam with traditional Sadya, rangoli

THANE: The Malayalee community in the lake city ring in the Onam celebration on Wednesday. Dressed in white sarees with gold border, the women folk decorate their homes and enhance their entrance with colourfull rangolis or pookalams made out of fresh flower petals.
The over 10,000 strong community in the city prepare a huge spread known as sadya for their loved ones.The food is served over a banana leaf to reflect the abundance brought by the harvest festival as well as the properity and generosity of the mythological benevolent King Mahabali who was blessed by Lord Vishnu on this day.
Amrita Vinod (31), a Nitin company resident, said, “We believe that it was on this day Lord Vishnu had appeared before King Mahabali. Lord Vishnu had come in the disguise of a young boy called Vaman. He asked him for land measuring his three steps. When King Mahabali agreed to this, Lord Vishnu turned into a giant and placed one step on earth and the other in the sky. As the king had promised him three steps of land, he asked Vishnu to put his leg on the king’s forehead. Pleased with the king’s gesture of self offering, Lord Vishnu granted him the gift of visiting his subjects on this day.”
From that day onwards, everyone celebrates Onam with great fanfare by inviting friends, family and neighbours for lunch. ‘‘We throw a big feast. No one who visits our home on this day leaves without having a sumptuous meal,’’ Amrita added.
The main attraction of the day is the sadya which includes a number of dishes spread on a banana leaf. ‘‘We all wear new clothes and visit all our relatives place. We then prepare the Onam sadya together which consists of includes around 20 types of vegetables, three types of payasam, a number of curries, banana chips, rice, rasam and a lot of other delicacies. Everything is served on a banana leaf. We also decorate our home entrace with flower rangoli,” said Ajay Nair (23), another Thane resident.
Meanwhile, the Apex Malayalee Association which comprises of 14 smaller associations and over 10,000 families have planned an extravagant celebration. “The members of our association begin the celebration with a massive flower rangoli at Thane east station from Tuesday night itself. We will also be distributing payasam and banana chips to all commuters in the morning,” said Sashikumar nair, the general secretary of the All Thane Malayalee Association.