ONAM...A MOTHER'S THOUGHTS

Its Onam here. Nothing can beat the excitement that fills the air at this time of the year. I was wondering if it would be the same for my kids when they grow up. What would they remember about Onam? I had my share of Onams with my cousins while I was growing up (which you can read about by scrolling down my blog list).

This year, thanks to the rains, we did not think of putting up the swing which somehow is an Onam custom here. So we decided to put  an athapookalam. Which is like a carpet laid with flowers of all colours and shapes. Usually it starts on atham day and ends on thiruvonam lasting for ten days. Begins with one round of flowers and goes up to 10 rounds. In early times, they used thumba poovu, mukkuti, chemparathy and other flowers that one could pluck from the yard or neighbourhood. These days there are competitions where the most complex designs grabs the prize. 

So on Thiruvonam day, as the clouds were conspiring to spoil the mood, we quickly put one in the front of our house. In less than 15 minutes it was ready. The kids were initially reluctant, this was not a technology they understood. I told them to pluck out all the petals first which they loved doing. (Usually they get scolded if they try to do that). With no idea of any design, we thought we will go for the traditional one. And how the kids enjoyed! . 

I have often heard nay-sayers thrashing Onam for all the big money spent just to relive a tradition. A trip to nostalgia that Indians are usually fond of doing. But I like to see the other side of the coin. In a few minutes, my kids learned the names of 10 different flowers. We showed them thumba poovu, which has almost vanished from our gardens. My six year old chose to keep the lotus in the middle for the  national flower deserves that respect, she says. They sure learned some simple tips on aesthetics and beauty. They were immensely relieved that flowers chose to grow in such variant colours..or how else would the pookalam be so colourful? Some of the flowers we plucked from our garden, they chose to add one circle with just that. 

I think Onam being a harvest festival and all the attention going to the vegetables harvested during the season, someone had seriously invested thoughts on the season's flowers too. A simple tradition gives some valuable lessons in ecology. My younger one was so excited she wanted to grow some of her own plants so that next time we have abundant flowers for athapookalam. One step at a time, I thought. Maybe next year I should take them to the grocery and show how those vegetables transforms into sadya (feast) the next day...and try to tell my kids that Onam is more than just a shopping festival.