Onam Aashamsagal

From: Tina

Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:10 PM

Subject: Onam Aashamsagal
There are very few festivals which are celebrated by all…. As in it is not confined to a particular religion or area…
Generally any festival is marked by a particular religion and hence people of that religion practice or celebrate it with religious fervor and all other communities partake or join them in the celebrations.

But some very few festivals transcend religious boundaries…

Ganesh Chaturthi being one of them …Atleast that’s what Bal Gangadhar Tilak expected before commercialization kicked in.

In Kerala , among a couple of festivals, Onam has a prime spot in terms of celebrations.
For any person of any religion, Onam holds a key spot of celebration.

So you will find a cultural harmony in Onam celebration where Hindu’s Muslim’s and Christian’s partake in the joy and festivity of Onam.

ONAM AASHAMSAGAL ( literally translated : Onam best wishes…) …

Here’s wishing all of you a hearty Onam best wishes or phonetically O-nam Aa –sham- sa- gal.

For more details about the origin of Onam and additional details do refer to this piece in wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam.

“
Onam ഓണം, the foremost festival among the cultural repertoire of Malayalees, falls in the harvest season of August- September. The festival is primarily celebrated in Kerala, a state in India, by people across all caste and religions. Chingam or Bhadrapada, the first month of the calendar ushers in Onam, the national festival of Kerala. After the rain drenched Karkidakam with its privations, Chingam is a welcome month of plenty. Additional Details here and here
”

Also check out how Kerala gears up for Onam at here and here. I especially found this statement pretty true

“
During the Onam season, domestic tourists outnumber foreign tourists simply because a large number of Malayalis settled outside the state
make it a point to come back to celebrate the festival,
”

Although Onam has its origins in mythology, as a festival it is really removed from religious leanings.

In Kerala, Onam marks a start of festivity period, or a period where the festivals just start to kick in…
Onam – Ramzan - Dusshera – Diwali – X’mas. And finally the new year.

In Kerala, most houses still celebrate Onam with the traditional Onapookkalam.


Onapookkalam (translated means Pictures from Flowers) is a flower decoration more like Rangoli with flowers.








Thiruvathira kali



This is an extremely popular folk dance performed by maidens of Kerala wearing traditional set sari..
It is a group dance and mainly performed on the occasion of Onam.
Then watching thiruvathira kali also formed another Onam specialty though now I guess it is just in gatherings, Malayalam Samajam get-together and movies .

Vallamkali (Vallam meaning Boat)

Another occurrence synonymous with Onam is Vallamkali (the snake boat race).
For Vallamkali, there are many tournaments and people gear up to see snake boats gliding over water.

But the main highlight of Onam being the Ona Sadya… Sadya meaning feast. More info or at least for visual treat check Sadya@wiki

Though if you are more enterprising then I would suggest this food blog link detailing the Ona Sadya and ways to get to eating it..
There is a saying that “ On Onam, no man should go hungry even if you are hungry or not in good financial position the rest of the year.

As tomorrow is Onam, here’s wishing all of you a wonderful and food laden Onam.. Happy Onam or rather Onam Aashamsagal.

Njoiiiing Pootharekulu

From: Tina
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 6:28 PM
Subject: Njoiiiing Pootharekulu

Office just seemed to return back to normalcy with people coming in after a long weekend after Pongal. One of my team mates had just returned from Rajahmundry. So once most of the team mates were present he started distributing sweets. I was outside, away from my desk and had just landed when the distribution as well as consumption of the sweet was done.
So when he saw me my team mate came and distributed to me a plastic wrapper with tissue.
This is specialty of our place, Happy Pongal.
Wishing him Happy Pongal and taking the plastic wrapper went back to my place.
Checked a few mails and thought of tasting the sweet.
But it seemed such a delicate wrapper, and was planning of opening up the wrapper i.e thin plastic foil. But something was not right.
I looked up to see couple of my team mates njoiiing my predicament …

I : Hey how do u eat this?
Collegue1: I was just waiting to see what you are going to do?
I : I am trying to open the wrapper but it seems so delicate.
Collegue1: (Burst out laughing --- It was only good 2 mins ke baad she responded by calling a few more colleagues) Hey Tina is asking how to eat this :) She is trying to open the wrapper.
I : Yea .. :) what is it made up of.
Collegue2: It is made of rice , sugar and ghee.
Colleague 1 : That is not a plastic wrapper but the sweet. The outer thin layer is thin layer of Rice inside which has sugar powder with slight ghee…It is called pothareku..
I : So are we supposed to eat directly or open the outer cover.
Colleague 1: Directly :) (called the colleague who was distributing and mentioned mine predicament and then had a hearty laugh)

And so with some doubt as to whether my teeth will sustain the plastic exposure bit into the sweet directly and lo it melts into you mouth and no tooth broken…
So this was my exposure to pootareku….
Very soon collegue1 went around trying to see how others especially those who never had exposure to pootareku having it..
Most of the colleagues, especially those from north, who have never had seen pootareku faced the same predicament as me.
So in case if you get a chance to bite into pootareku go ahead njoii it and yea it is not plastic foil :)
Just to give u an idea please find additional info ………

Rough Picture :
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/18/Pootharekulu.JPG/200px-Pootharekulu.JPG

Additional Info :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pootharekulu

Warm Regards,
Tina :)