O for Onam..

Onam.. synonymous with any Malayali...the legendary story of the just Demon King Mahabali heralds the spirit of happiness, hospitality, and prosperity. Ten days of delightful expectancy for the arrival of our beloved King. Plantains are sliced in thin rounds dipped in turmeric and fried till crisp, and the sweeter version, which is coated in jaggery and spices are even more delicious. Flower carpets adorn the front courtyards, which in olden days are first sanctified with cow dung paste. We used to go flower hunting..a scene which has faded into oblivion.Coir swings dangle merrily from the branches which would  be helplessly  witnessing  a tussle between the numerous little contestants waiting for a chance. .. Now flowers arrive in lorries in loads which busy parents after office haggle and strike a deal.Little girls in white petticoats picking flowers after giving the floral branches a good shake is a sight which has receded from our midst.

Well, thank the Lord that I've been born in this last generation who has witnessed these scenes and then could  write about it.

Attire does matter..

 Any festival..you name it and sparks of joy runs through your spine, even without you knowing it. You want to be a part of it, that is a way of holding on to your own traditions and values. Movies glorify it with  family reunions, doting grand parents waiting in their ancestral house.. a too familiar scene.. Onam is also the harvest festival, though now bungalows have evaded  the endless stretches of paddy fields and plantain groves or vazha thottam in Malayalam. But this younger jet set generation of ours too contribute in their own way and try to live up to them by conceptualizing  and  tying to keep the spirit alive. It is no fault of theirs that the customs are vanishing..

Malabaris do not have much Onam games to boast of, the southern counterparts have a much more active Onam, as they have the boat races, Puli kkali, Ona Thallu (Fight) and so on.

For me Onam has always been at Rama Nilayam( my husband's house), but nobody comes home as Karnataka schools do not have holidays for Onam so it would be just us and my ma in law. A research on the design to be cast in flowers would be done, delving into kolam designs. A mundu veshti would be the yearly Onakkodi from my mother in law. It s'been a year since she passed away, and I had to chose between spending the Onam at the family house alone or leave the family house forlorn and join Malabar Bay Onam celebrations.... Malabar Bay it was..

Malabar Bay's first Onam..a floral design adorned the entrance for ten days.  Onam songs lent the desired spring in our steps feel of Onam in  the air. We bought masks of tigers for the kids and fliers were issued.

Twenty six dishes are the norm of a normal Onam sadya. The number can be doubled or trebled as per your purse strings. Plantain leaves are laid the tips pointing left. North malabaris  are not much adept at the art of  partaking the traditional sadya hence, they are an object of ridicule to their Southern counterparts where it is strictly vegetarian., and they follow the rules of a sadya to the teee. Plantain chips sweet and salt arrive first, and immediately we go for it..but it should not be the case..wait wait wait till the salt is served the very last..Pilckles and tamarind ginger chutney are doled in close to each other which we Malabaris lap up as soon as it lands on the leaf. Pachadis mainly one of ginger and one of white gourd and another one of pine apple, then comes the kootu karis..an amalgamation of vegetables, crushed coconut and vegetables garnished with mustard and chillies , the elegant and mild olan.(.vegtables simmered in cocnut milk), and then the much awaited aviyal..(.veggies spiced with green chillies and laced with curd, cumin,and  coconut, curryleaves, and a liberal dose of of the aromatic coconut oil).

Lore goes that Mahabali is led here by the aroma of the mustard seeds , chillies and curry leaves spluttering in coconut oil..  Dried chilli kondattams and papapds crushed and crunched into the rice..sambhar which we have borrowed from Tamilnadu occupy the pride of place in a sadya.. Rasam and buttermilk with  a smattering of crushed ginger and green chillies, and  curry leaves are poured into cupped hands..Payasams are poured into paper cups..burppp. one with jaggery and the other rice pasta simmered and simmered to a creamy consistency. It is poured onto the leaf and we take care it does not slide over onto our onakkodis, a delightful way of lapping up the payasam is crushing a ripe plantain into it.. a literally fingerlicking treat..burrp..

Ona Sadya treat given to a Ninety yr old friend.. touched my soul.

The rice (mostly red rice is served and then comes the dal and ghee with salt. papads . The dal ghees and salt mixture is a slice of heaven. I remember attending a wedding in Trivandrum, when they served payasam, which left me wondering..Oh such a large spread and no kaalan (currry made of thick curd<which was my fav), and after the payasams,we  folded the leaf and lo..there camre the Kalan..that was the norm there and we found others throw us an amused look, finding our plantain leaves closed. But for us Malabaris.. fried fishes and chicken rule the roost.. if not , we are lost.

 Onam discussions at Malabar Bay..a tussle ensued veg or non veg? non veg won hands down, and it was decided that chembally fry  and Kerala chicken  fry would  vie with one another.

Who would be Maveli? Deepu of course. Deepu was our Captain from Nepal, round and wobbly, with  a disposition to match..but we asked him to say 'Nan-ni' (thanx) but 'panni'(meaning pig) was all he could stutter. so we cautioned him just to flash his thousand watt smile and bless his subjects.

Onam dawned. flowers were separated, leaves chopped, shredded  coconut,  dried, crushed and colored.. .. a beautiful carpet took shape. strands of marigold wined and twirled around the staircase and hung down from the Kerala style wooden railings... the Kerala boat which we had was filled with orange marigolds..the lamp was lit and then arrived Maveli in all his glory....the crowd started trickling in. ladies, let out their love for their home land..decked up in onnarayum mundum (as malabaris call it, the two piece mundu set of women), the creamy cotton sarees glowed with their subtle golden borders. bejewelled in palakkas and kaashu maalaas, . little girls scrambled holding up their cream skirts, men and boys with   mundus and cream shirts and kurtas ..poovili poovili ponnonamaayi..Salil Chowdury's hit song.. we are proud to be Mallus..it was nostalgic..click clickk..with Maveli  and the splendid and sumptuous sadya..

Malabar Bay family