The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Tirupur Malayalis celebrate Onam

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Monday, Sep 29, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tirupur Malayalis celebrate Onam

Staff Reporter

–Photo :M. Balaji

Return of the king: ’King Mahabali’ being given warm reception at Onam celebrations organised by Tirupur Kerala Cultural Centre in Tirupur on Sunday.

Tirupur: Jubilation filled the air, as members of the Tirupur Kerala Cultural Centre (TKCC) celebrated ‘Onam Fest-2008’ at Sowdambika Kalyana Mandapam here on Sunday.

For the Malayalis who made the knitwear cluster of Tirupur a home away from home, the event took them down the memory lane to their childhood days in Kerala.

Those who were unable to rush to their native hamlets and ancestral homes to celebrate Onam on the actual date used the occasion an opportunity to celebrate the festival.

The celebrations started with a warm reception to ‘King Mahabali’, who is believed to visit his erstwhile kingdom on the Onam day. A person dressed up as Mahabali was taken around the venue in a procession, while the traditional Onam music played in the background. Members of TKCC saught ‘blessings’ from the ‘King’ as he inspected the gorgeous floral carpets (pookalam) laid at the hall.

Grand feast

The sumptuous ‘Onasadhya’ (Onam feast) offered on the occasion beguiled the food-lovers.

Rice was the main course, served on a plantain leaf. With it, various kinds of mouth-watering dishes such as ‘curries’, ‘upperies’ (fried food), ‘avial’, ‘parippucurry’, ‘rasam’ and ‘payasam’ were placed in a traditional order starting from the left with ‘upperies’.

The feast was prepared by cooks specially brought from Kollankode in Kerala.

Colourful cultural programmes by Kerala-based professional troupe, Night Eagles, brought the festivities to a close.

“Occasions of this kind provide the Malayali population living scattered in the city an opportunity to congregate at one place at least once in a year,” said R. Vijayarajan, president, TKCC.

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