Saturday, September 20, 2008

Onam-2008

Ellavarkkum njangalude hridayam niranja Onashamsakal...
Onam is an annual harvest festival, the biggest and most important festival of the Indian state of Kerala. It is a religious festival and is celebrated by people of all religions in the state . The legendary king Mahabali is welcomed to his kingdom during this time .Thiruvonam is tenth and the most important day of the of Onam. People believe that it is on Thiru Onam that the spirit of legendary King Mahabali visits the state of Kerala. Onasadhya (meals)is the most delicious and important part of Onam.Legend goes that Mahabali who was so attached to his people that he requested Gods to allow him to visit Kerala every year and Keralites inturn wish to convey that they are enjoying the same age of prosperity as was witnessed during the reign of King Mahabali by preparing a grand Onasadhya.
After coming to the US,we havent really celebrated Onam like the way we used to in Kerala (with parents and our extended family usually in ur grandparents place)except for the year that we had spent in Dallas....This time around we thought of doing it differently and decided to celebrate Onam with Krishna Menons family..Thiruvonam was on Sept 12,Friday..Both Krishnan and I took leave...
The ladies had already decided what Onam dishes they were cooking(Ona sadya is stricly vegeterian and grand ) and decided to split the work .... eventhough I tried to intervene with my innovative suggestions which they never cared for....hehe..
We went to a Japaneese store called 'Uwajimaya' and bought banana leaves(from Philippines)....Onam feast is usually served in banana leaves (naakila)..Didnt get naakilla and so we settled for what we got.... What a pain to get Ila, which we used to take from the backyard of our houses 15mts before the Sadhya...
Anju had made Erisherry,parippu,pineapple pachadi and Cabbage thoran...By 11 both of us were dressed in traditional Onam wear... Men wears 'mundu' and women usually wear 'set and mundu'. My initial plan was to wear Mundu from our place, but later changed my mind, and wore it only after reaching Krishnan's house.
Reached Krishnans place at 12 and they were all set and dressed..Siddharth was in traditional wear too..


Suja had made a lot of dishes..Sambhar,payasams(parippu and vermicelli),olan,stew,aviyal and rice.... Pic of suja making Payasam.... We cleaned up the banana leaves and the table was set.... I cleaned and cleaned and Anju was scared that I will tear the leaves, but knowing Krishnan(who is worse than me in cleanliness), I had to do it, for him to eat on Ila, for which he admitted that he was planning not to eat in Ila before seeing it.
Woooooowwwwwwww..Look at the yummy feast!!!!
We served all the elas with all the dishes... Cant find a pic with all the dishes though including parippu....

Anju had been asking me for 2 days that she wants me to serve her while she ate ..so in the middle of the sadya I got a chance to serve all of them...
Photos
Sujas innovative idea to get all of us together in one pic without using the timer on the camera.....


Keralites and Onam ..its just so special.....We had such a nice time and it was so nostalgic....And at the end of the day the feeling was'tripthi' or satisfaction that we all enjoyed the entire day in the most traditional way with friends we consider as family ..I suppose all the nostalgic Mallus every where in the world feel the same.......

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Golf Tournament - Sep08

We had our Annual Golf tournament and I decided to participate for the same, eventhough I dont even know how to hold a golf club properly. I was late to reach there in the morning, and Josh had called me wondering whether I escaped...


I got my clubs and they assigned me a cart, which I loved driving, and started searching for a team for me to join as all 3 from my team was no-show.

Finally I joined the team with Justin(left) and Jeff Ley(right), who was my personal instructor, teaching me how to hold the club, how to shoot, the angle and all...It was fun, hitting the ball, especially when everytimg it goes in the opposite direction I hit, with lot of grass flying around.... I cant believe I lost all my cricket skills...