Onam

Achan  hari and ponnu making this years"s pookalam. 

My last few years onams were great. We would make big pookalam in my house, which we have done since childhood. One day before Onam, we would buy flowers for almost 1000–2000 bucks from the wholesale places with Achan. Me and Amma would buy vegetables and all other essentials from the market. Me and Hari would search for a good onam design and plan all the flowers needed for it.

We make pookalam every day since Atham, and every day we make quiet big ones only. But for thiruvonam, we make an extra-big one. Me, Hari, and Achan are all very interested in this. Amma will be in the kitchen with the sadya mostly, so she will visit in between and give suggestions. Since a few years after my grandpa's death, we started arranging thrikakkara appan also. Before his death, when he was healthy, he used to make thrikakkara appan with his own hands from clay. During those days when my grandma was alive and my grandpa was healthy, we used to go to tharavad after making pookalam in our house. After Ammamma's death, Ammachan got a stroke and suffered from paraplegia, so he was on bed rest for the next five years. So we used to go see him if he was not in our house. After Ammachan's death, we started arranging the thrikkakara appan, which was brought ready-made and is made of wood. My mother was interested in starting this ritual, but my father was not very interested initially. As always, I insisted, and he had no choice but to agree. Actually, Achan is very enthusiastic about all this, but he needs a little push in the beginning to overcome his inertia.

pookalam 2022

So thrikakkara appan is a pyramid-shaped figures made of wet clay or wood and represents Mahabali and Vamanan. We arrange this on Uthradam, and it will be kept till 2 days after Thiruvonam. We do specific rituals before arranging this; my sister does this in my house, and I simply sit and give unnecessory comments to embarrass her, so I don't know the details. Poojas will be done 2-3 times a day until the removal of the thrikkakara appan.

So coming to the day of thiruvonam, we wake up early in the morning, and me and Hari will go in search of local flowers like hibiscus and some leaves. I cannot say I am in search of places; actually, I know places, and we steal early in the morning. I know it's a bad habit, but usually during Onam people traditionally make pookalam the day before Thiruvonam, but we make the big one on the day of Thiruvonbam, so I think it's okay to steal a few flowers without hurting anyone's feelings. Getting hanumankireedam, which is a flower used to decorate thrikkakarappan, is also in high demand during the period, so I sketch them a couple of days before and have to steal that too. A lot of effort is put in the making my big pookalam.

So after collecting all the required flowers, we start making the pookalam. the outline and the design we usually draw the day before, so it's about just adding flowers to it. It takes around 2 hours to complete it, and by then Amma would have cooked the major items for Sadya. After pookalam, next is my photo session. I disturb everyone with it. So in between, I make everyone dress up and take a lot of pictures. My neighbors Maichettan and Princy Chechi and their children, Ponnu and Lachu, who are just 6 and 3 years old, would also join us in the photo session. Most of my cousins, Achu and Shilu, will also come, and we will go to either Hanuman Kavu or Garudan Kavu temple.

me and Rishika 

By the time I come back home, Amma will have cooked almost all the items in the sadya. A few left-over items are usually made by me, which include pineapple pachadi and kootu curry. By 12-1, we finish cooking and will give payasam kootu curry and a few other dishes to our neighbors, and during perunnal, they give us biriyani checken curry, etc. That's the unwritten rule there.

Ashraffaka will come by 12, and we will all eat sadya. My father likes my dishes so much that even if they are not good, he will compliment me and eat very happily. and I am a foodie when it comes to sadya; I will keep on eating even after everyone finishes, until my stomach can't take anymore. After Sadya, we would go somewhere. Tirur doesn't have a lot of places to go for an outing, so the usual places are Kootayi Beach, Karma Road, or maybe some relatives houses. We mostly go to see Balan Ammachan, who is my grandpa's younger brother. I will be very happy for the next few days as there will be enough dishes like pulinji, kalan, and kootu curry left over for 2-3 days.

This year, I have no leave left to go home, so I am celebrating Onam here with friends at Navyas. Sadly, Tuesday is a working day for most of us. I had the night off, so I didn't have to take leave. Last year, my dress was my Ammas Kasavu Mund with a top. This year I bought a kasavu sari with floral designs from an Instagram page called Kathirloooms, which I have been planning to buy for quite some time. I stitched two blouses and a rishika, and I went shopping on Sunday for bangles and mehandis.

thrikkakara appan

I had night duty on the last day and also had a presentation the next day. I hardly slept for 3 hours as I had to make a presentation by the next morning. Night duty is usually till 9 a.m., but on the day of Onam, the entire hospital had an internet shut down, no system was working, and it was busy in the department. I also wanted to show the prepared presentation to my guide, Dr. Suryabhan. After everything was over, it was around 10.30 a.m. I came back to the hostel to freshen up, and me and Rishika went together to Navyas. By the time we reached there, they had already made pookalam.

We got dressed up, took pictures, and I would go in between to the kitchen in the name of helping and eat some banana chips. Navya made sadya all by herself; the andra fakilu next door helped her a lot. She has become a very mature person now. A housewife, a mother, a whole different person. I wonder, looking at her transformation.

Amma Achan called in between and sent me pictures of my home pookalam; I missed being there.

By the time everyone else came, it was around 3, and we ate sadya by evening. It was yummy. My guide had asked me to make a lot of corrections in the presentation, and I started getting a little worried by 5-6 because I had to send the corrected copy by 8, so me and Rishika came back by 6.30. I had to work until 3 or 4 in the morning to finish it.

Eventhough i missed my home and onam there a lot, i had a good onam here too, navya and chettan took a lot of effort to make it this beautiful. we all were together, and that's what festivals are all about!