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Wishing `Happy Onam' with cards

The Onam season is on. And the celebrations have already started. Everywhere, the markets are flooded with goods for Onam.

The custom of sending greeting cards had initially started with Christmas and New Year. But, slowly, the custom has spread to other occasions as well. Soon enough, the greeting cards for purely Indian festivals also started to make their appearance. Now, each festival has its own selection of cards, even though not a huge haul as we find for Christmas or New Year.

As the Onam season is spread well over 15 days, starting from Atham and reaching out till the fifth day after Onam, there is plenty of time to send the greeting cards. May be that is why, the sales of the cards have not yet picked up in the city shops. At Paico Books, M.G. Road, one of the major centres for cards for any seasons, cards sporting Kerala designs are awaiting customers.

Corporate houses and companies are the major buyers for Onam greetings rather than individual buyers as sending Onam greetings on a personal level is yet to become a custom here. Companies usually pick up from readymade patterns available at the shops, or give orders for special messages to be printed out. "If there is enough quantity, we supply orders according to the customer's preferences," says a representative of Paico. They have a message catalogue containing about 60 messages from which the customers can choose.

Most of the customers for Onam greeting cards are institutions like banks, tour operators, public sector companies and others.

The designs for Onam cards, contains all the popular `Kerala' imagery, such as Kathakali, `Pookkalam,' boat race and others. Beautiful scenarios from nature including a brilliant sunrise, a dazzling sunset or a shower of flowers are also commonly found on the cards.

Though the cards come both in English and Malayalam, most of the Onam greeting cards are in English. At Paico, the printed greeting cards come at a price of Rs. 7 - 10.

While the real cards come at a price, virtual cards that come free of cost also abound, with a large number of sites offering free e-greeting cards for Onam. At 123greetings.com, cards using `Flash' gives moving images, depicting sailing boats and making a pookkalam. Yet others show a Kathakali figure performing with his eyes or a shower of flowers. Often there is also music to accompany, like the tunes of a `vanchippattu.'

The Internet also offers Onam cards in Malayalam. The site, kerals.com has a number of greetings with Malayalam words. At My-Kerala.com also, there are a number of e-greeting cards which contain the typical Onam imageries.

Renu Ramanath

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