Another Onam has arrived. Onam that always reminds us of a glorious past- a past that everyone of us long to bring to the present. Let us have the ‘spirit’ in us to bring back those good old days of the land ruled by a compassionate and honest King
Remembering Onam always leaves my heart filled with so much of sweetness. Pookkalams, “oonjal’ (the swing), Home made banana chips, Payasams, new dresses , Jayan starrer movie and the local version of the World cup Soccer finals in the neighboring village made our Onam. We enjoyed every moment of it. Our seniors never tormented us with their list of dos and don’ts .
Atham, the first day of Onam starts with ‘pookkalam’ on the forecourt of our houses. Everyone of us took extra pain to make pookkalam in our houses. On the first day we used to weave small baskets using coconut leaves. Though everyone in the team could not make those cute little baskets, some guys were really experts.
With the baskets in our hands we roamed around in search of flowers. Many a time, we were chased away by dogs. Some houses used to keep their dogs untied during this season to keep at bay the flower seeking children. We were afraid of dogs, but the mission was so important that we could never afford to run away from a barking dog. We had to brave every adversity to see that in the following morning, there appears a beautiful pookkalam.
At the end of the day, we could always gather good quantity of flowers that included ‘thumbapoo’ as a major item. We had a silent competition among the kids about who could gather more flowers. Thumbapoo is a white coloured tiny flower of a kind of shrub that grows in open lands. We had to patiently sit nearby these shrubs and pluck the flowers. It used to take hours to fill a basket with thumbapoo. But still, no pookkalam was complete without thumbapoo.
The decorated forecourts on all the ten days of Onam gave us tremendous happiness. Black and White coloured rings, then green and red coloured rings...all were done with so much of dedication. It glowed here like a monument of our sincere efforts.Not even a single Onam passed by without pokkalams in any of our houses. Happiness for us did have such simple meanings those days.Never mind if the quarterly exams were always hanging over our heads like the proverbial sword. Most of the times, exams followed Onam festival. Exams came and went. Even now they are coming.
Wise men say learning never ends. So do the examinations. Worrying about examinations and their outcome is foolishness. There are so many other constructive things we could indulge in . For example,take a walk up to Royal theatre, Poochakkal for a Jayan movie.
A few weeks before Onam, the air around us would be thick with rumors of the arrival of a Jayan starrer movie during the festival. We always waited impatiently for our hero’s arrival. Our beloved hero never disappointed us. He could fell a coconut from the coconut tree by simply stamping on it. He then could break the coconut with his bare hands. Be it Jayabharati or Sheela or for that matter any damsel, his physique always cast a magic web around them. So was it around the audience. I need another thousand pages more to narrate his heroics!
The Sree Narayana Ever rolling trophy football tournament coincides with Onam. What is this ever rolling trophy? This question had remained unanswered for a long time. We used to pronounce it as ‘everoling trophy’. The tournament takes place on the premises of the Devi temple in the nearby village.
Onam feast starts by twelve in the noon. Grandma lights an oil filled lamp in front of a plantain leaf. ( these grandmas are a kind of the most wonderful things God has ever created. Whatever they do for their grandchildren, they do it with a lot of affection and dedication) She then serves all the items she made on the leaf. No feast could ever start without serving it to the forefathers and mothers first. Then we were served the sumptuous feast, the highlight of Onam - avial, kichadi, pachadi, inchikkari, sambar, kalan, rasam, thoran, upperi, payasam....the list is long. We were always left virtually immobilised after gulping all these delicacies
After this, we straight away head to the play ground only to continue the games from where we stopped pre-lunch. By around four in the evening, our gang moves to the arena of the Local world cup. The walk itself was so thrilling. All along the paddy fields, we reveled, chatted, cracked umpteen numbers of jokes, laughed loudly, quarreled, pelted stones at dogs…and finally reached the spot.
The ground consisted of loose sand on which local teams from nearby towns fought fire spiting performances. Standing by the side of the barricaded ground, we cheered our favourite teams. When the refree called “oxide” (of late I realized that it is off-side)we yelled at him. We felt, the referee was favouring the opposite team. When the ball fell into the enemy's net, we cheered at our throat's capacity.
Seventy minutes of wholesome entertainment was always guaranteed. By the time we returned home, darkness would have set in. But, walking along the paddy field on a moon lit night was another beautiful experience. If I had a poet’s heart, I could have narrated how scintillating the scene was. The tall and not so tall coconut trees on the fringes of the paddy fields and the moon that gives a silver shine to the leaves of these trees made us feel as if we were walking in a wonder land. I would like to call it as a “moon walk”! One should definitely come to Olavaipu to live this experience per se!
The football tournament comes to an end as the ‘everoling’ trophy was lifted by the team from Malippuram or Palluruthy. Fifteen days of no holds barred enjoyment comes to an end there. Maveli would have returned to His abode a happy king. So did the Jayan’s film.
There was absolutely no reason for His Highness Mahabali to feel unhappy. As one more onam passes by, we etched its history in golden letters in our hearts. O God, I am tempted to ask you a boon. Give me back my childhood. But I have no courage to press the confirm button. I know You may grant it... in the form of Alzheimer's!!
👍👍👍
ReplyDelete