Onam

Onam bring in a lot of memories, the floral carpet competition, the song competition, at school.

In school we used to have the floral carpet competition and it used to be between the respective houses. It was a grand affair during those days a lot of things had to be planned and decided like the design, the amount of flower that need to purchased, for the floral carpet. There used to be an allotted time period within which the floral carpet had to be made and only a specific number of people were allowed to be there in the auditorium when the floral carpet was being made. The teams had to make sure that only the allotted number was there in the auditorium near the floral carpet or else the team would get negative marking.

Oh it was so much of fun getting up early in morning and getting ready in ‘Pattu pavada and blouse’ the traditional attire worn by girls in Kerala. The tension filled moments before the prizes were announced. I can still remember the first floral carpet made by me during school and the prize won for it. It was Sherly madam who was our house mistress and she was very competitive in these things and made sure that her house won the entire event taking place at school and get the overall trophy at the end of the year.

In college also there are great memories with regard to onam during my graduation in Bangalore the malayalees in college used to celebrate onam buy wearing the traditional saree and having floral carpets put in the corridors. During my Post Graduation in Kochi we used to wear the traditional saree. Then there used to be some competitions and also the ‘Sadhya’

On the day of onam all my uncles, aunts and cousins used to get together and used to celebrate onam. The uncles and all of us cousins used to be preparing the floral carpet at home and all the aunties used to busy in the kitchen preparing the Sadhya. It is a joyous occasion with loads of laughter and fun in the house. This year I am in Hyderabad far away from the warmth and colors of Onam and I missing home Kerala a lot :(