Saturday, September 5, 2009

ONAM : GULF EDITION






This weekend i had a chance to literally taste the gulf onam . for those who dont know what onam is ...It is the single most important important festival celebrated by all malayalis aka malabaris irrespective of religion and geographical location ( the word goes that neil arm strong met a malayali on the moon selling tea....meaning malabaris will migrate anywhere and do anything to survive )The actual onam is ten days with the most important day being the " thiruvonam "which marks the begining of the harvest. Please visit this page to read more about onam and how it is celibrated traditionally http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam




My muscat onam was actually celebrated over three days commencing with a party i threw at our office for all those who were not fasting. It actually helped that a traditional onam meal with 26 dishes and 3 payasams /puddings can be bought from ruwi malabari hotels for r.o 3 /- complete with the plantain leaf . The actual tiruvonam i spent with my relatives in alkhuwair (bcoz the rest of my family is in kerala enjoying onam ... i cudnt get away due to technical reasons) doing floral arragements enjoying the singing and besides stuffing myself. The day after that we had a celebration at the company staff quarters with more meals and what not . so this onam was thrice onamatic. The photo at the begining of the post is slightly out of focus and not sharp thats what happens when you try to eat and click at the same time .

13 comments:

Pramoda Meduri said...

HI ..

Belated ONAM Wishes to you ..Its nice to hear u that u had celebrated it quite good at the Gulf.. Keep it up..Festivals always keep the freshess going..:)

Soin said...

my mallu room mates celebrated with their mallu juniors.. the only thing involved were those rounds of drinks...

Pinpaks said...

Hey SP - thanks for taking me back down memory lane. I was in Ernakulam for 3 and half years.. I love the colourful festival and all the special dishes cooked on thiruvonam. I miss them all.. boat races.. kathakali.. elephant soccer and the temple processions.. Its a wonderful time to be in kerala for Onam.

Good that you celebrated with your friends there.

Kk said...

Though I am not a mallu, I missed Onam badly...
Anyway belated Onam wishes..

scarlet pimpernel said...

@ Pramoda
Yeah! festivals always gives us a boost,aint it?
@ Soin
I didnt mention it in the post but nowadays thiruvonam also means hard drinking. Do you know we mallus drinkup atleast 10 crore worth of foreign liquor each day. we are first in india in that department ;-)
@Rohini Prasanth
Hey...i am surprised and happy.
@Bobby
thanks mate, may onam find you

S said...

26 dishes ... now that' some celebration !

And celebrating festivals without your family is not so good, still happy that u enjoyed as much as you could. I remember my diwali was spent in an airport once :( !

Belated Onam wishes and do invite me over next time, so that I can be a part of your celebrations (actually coz of those 26+3 dishes) !

Blog updated : Sourav...in love with me and life

Taka care

Farishta said...

Well looks like u had some celebration man! I had a very bad onam, maybe the worst in years. :| Belated Onam wishes. :)

Anonymous said...

oh that pic makes me want to celebrate it all over again! :D

Dhanya said...

Belated Onam wishes :)

Onam in the Gulf is nothing compared to the ones celebrated in Kerala... but you already know that right? Good you enjoyed the sadhya at least :)

Hearts and Hands for Nepal said...

that looks incredibly yummy! Onam wishes.

That Ridiculous Girl said...

Very interesting post! Thanks for visiting my site. :)

scarlet pimpernel said...

@ Sourav
You are invited to celebrate the next onam with me where ever i am then ;-)
@farishtha
Lets hope that next onam is as cheerful as it gets ;-)
@Leo
Just do it dude
@Dhanya
Yeah i enjoyed ;-)
@Amber
Thanks
Ridiculos girl
Hey!! yours is a wonderful blog thanks for dropping by

Nadia said...

Yum! Belated Onam wishes! I ended up eating almost the exact same thing at a vegetarian Indian restaurant last year for Onam. Best meal I ever had.