Its Onam......

The festival that brings a flood of sights and smells into mind. The sight of the flower carpets...in newspaper photos (nowadays rarely do people lay it out on their courtyards)...the sight of posters of all the Onam special audio cassettes..(mostly mimicry cassettes like De Maveli Kombathu and Onathinidakku Puttu kachavadam). More than the sights, its the smells that appeal to me..the smell of new clothes...the smell of payasam boiling...the mixed smell of the Onam feast...I really missed Onam for the last two years....As coming from Kanpur to Kerala took about 52 hours on train (didnt want to waste dad's money flying), it was just not possible..In the first year of MBA we had an Onam celebration at IITK with all the mallus there...Although it was some 2 weeks after the real Onam, i didnt want to miss it (it being the mallu food that was prepared for that occassion. Getting good mallu food in Kanpur is like finding an Oasis in Sahara Desert...or maybe even harder). So I took advantage of the opportunity and reached promptly for the feast and had a good time....Last year we were planning to have Onam celebration on Onam itself. I was busy discussing about the activities that we should have on that day with the president of the malayalees association, who happened to be my wing mate. Little did I know that someone up there was watching me and saying,"Plan on dear boy...But I have something else in mind for you". About 3 days before the celebration, including the sumptuous feast and a Mohanlal Movie, I was diagnosed with Jaundice and promptly admitted at Health Centre IIT Kanpur. The Onam Feast for me was 4 bottles of intravenous fructose....Well the stint in the health centre is another story altogether...maybe I'll save it for another time..So this year I have vowed to make up for the 2 lost Onams...I'm off to Kayamkulam today...Monday and Tuesday leave...will start back to Chennai after the Onam feast..Mmm.....Just thinking about it makes me hungry...Let me go and grab a sandwich...Happy Onam to all my readers (using plurals instead of naming my readers gives an impression that there are a lot more of them). So catch u all later...