The SKR World

Happy Onam.

I can hear the bang of crackers outside expressing all the joys and happiness. This is my final year of my studies. I am not sure if I will ever get a chance to visit this place durning Onam.

Near to my house there is a famous Vishnu Temple - Vamanamoorthy Temple (we call it Trikkakara Temple). The temple is related to the Bamana Awatar of Lord Vishnu. The festival of Onam is celebrated with all the grandeur - Decorated elephants, drums, decorations... Everything looks so perfect and divine. They serve 'Onasadya' for two days.

The Food - "Onasadya"
'Onasadya' or the grand feast of Onam consists of tice as its main course with a number of side dishes such as curries, upperies (fried dishes), pappadams (round crisp flour cakes), uppilittathu (pickles), chammanthi (chutney), payasams and prathamans (puddings) arranged in a definite order on a banana leaf laid in a particular way.

The Elephant

Elephants are the most attractive part of Onam celebration. The huge creature loaded with all the decorations. I just wonder how the Mahaut controls the huge creature. I was watching them astonished. One of my friend who was more observant helped me see the intelligence of animals. He made me notice the way they eat. That particular elephant picked up a whole bunch of coconut tree leaves by help of his trunk cleaned it and separated the leaves from the stem. He ate it only after when he was ensured there is no soil on the leaf. I was just amazed.

The People

The people of Kerala, I always found them friendly and very much attached to their culture. If you go and ask them they will explain everything to you with a smile on their face. Especially during Onam I saw the men in “Mundu” and the women in "Kerala Sari". The dress is fabulous. Fascinated by the dress code I tried “Mundu” twice but found it less secure in public places.

# posted by Sumant Kumar Raja (SK) : 9:32 PM