Onam …a time when childhood was at its best . My memories of Onam goes like this . Everyday we used to see on the roads for cow dungs . It has to be fresh cow dung :) immediately I would collect it and keep it in our backyard . We had a big black thindu to put kolam in front of our house . Those days we do not buy flowers from market . We had it in our backyard / kollai itself . We had red chembarathi, mandharam, nandhiyarvattai , Mathan poo ( to keep in the middle ) .The highlight is paaasharu / algae for green colour . We used to slowly scratch it from the wall or from the sides of a well .
We keep a little ball of cow dung in the middle and make a round shape . Then we keep the biggest flower in the middle and then with the other flower petals make a round design . Sometimes I have even plucked some chembarathi from my neighbour house . She is still my friend so even if she reads this not a problem :) . By morning 7 or 8 am it’s a nice view to have a walk on the road . Nice small houses in parallel lines with pookalam in everybody’s house entrance . A breezy wind and sometimes temple bell or song in the background .
We used to frequently come outside the house and see if any cow or goat is eating the pookalam :)
On the day of Onam new dress and a bigger pookalam with Sadhya . Simple and humble Onam
Currently things are different . It’s not the same as I saw in my childhood . Now it’s like photo shoots , too much of shopping etc etc goes on . The beauty of Kerala is fading .It’s in the trap of freaks , social media culture and many other things . Let me stick to the topic now .
So , this year for Onam we bought some flowers from shop and I make small pookalam here though I feel to make bigger ones . We are yet to buy a new dress that’s all .
Now , after separating the flowers I collected the seeds and kept it in a box . I told my daughter we used to collect the seeds like this and throw in the backyard and new plants will grow . I told her we shall try it here also in a pot and she herself added the seeds to a pot and below is the picture of the collected seeds and the new plants ;)
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| Collected seeds |
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| The sprouted yellow and orange marigold |
We were extremely happy looking at the pot with so many sprouts. Naveen too was exited to look at this in the morning . So even here I could do this . I felt very happy .
Let me know how you celebrated Onam in your childhood or how you see it these days .
My Onam pookalam photos will be uploaded soon in the next blog .
Take care :)
