Onam

I am writing here with a lot of happiness. 

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 ;)

 Collected seeds 

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 :)