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On this colorful Occasion of Onam, I wish my readers abundant Happiness, Peace and Prosperity. Onam, the most important Festival of Kerala State, is celebrated by all Malayalis. It is the welcome celebration of their mythological king Mahabali who returns from netherworld to see his people living happily every year on Thiruvonam day in Malayalam month Chingam (August-Sept), and this year it falls on 28th August 2015. It is an ancient festival and is celebrated for ten days. The most important day is the 10th day, Thiruvonam day. The important features of this festival are Pookkalam (floral carpet), Thrikkakkara Appan (made with mud), Swing, Onasadhya, Onakkodi, Onappattu folk dances, boat race, Kathakali etc.

Kerala is getting ready to celebrate and rejoice the State Festival Onam in the month of Chingam (Bhadrapada), which falls usually at the end of August or beginning of September.This year Onam is celebrated on the 23rd of August 2010. The ten-day harvest festival Onam is starting with “Atham” and it is the greatest festival of Kerala. After a bounteous harvest, Onam is the time for the farmers to celebrate the bounties of nature and make merry. A unique feature of this festival is that it is celebrated unitedly by all Keralites without caste or religious differences. Every Malayali wherever he or she may be in the world celebrates Onam. Legend According to legends, Lord Mahavishnu visited King Mahabali, the benevolent ruler of Kerala, in disguise as Vamana, a dwarf Brahmin, requesting for three feet of space to live. Without realising his intention, the king agreed to his request. Suddenly Vamana began to grow and he covered the whole earth by one foot and covered the sky with o...

This year I had a wonderful Onam in our ancestral home. I really enjoyed being with my family members who had come from different places to celebrate the great festival. (The ancestral home welcomes us all) (Vegetables are kept ready for chopping) (The dishes are being served one by one on the banana leaf, before the rice is served).

This year I had to attend two marriages in Kerala during the first and second weeks of September, which also happened to be Onam season. The nostalgic memories of my childhood days Onam came rushing into my mind as I helped my niece to make the pookalam.We used to wait for the Atham day to start collecting various flowers to make beautiful pookalams. It was a time of great thrill and excitement. By 4.30 a.m we used to get out of our beds without making any noise and rush to the garden to pluck the flowers. Each one of us used to return with handful of flowers, sometimes lapful of flowers, to sit in circle and make the best pookalams, fighting each other as to the order of flowers in the pookalam . Once the pookalam is complete, we used to run to our cousins' houses to compare their pookalams with ours, and to make suitable comments. Sometimes we even exchange the flowers with them. When our parents look for us none of us would be available at home, as we were deeply involved in our...