Onam

Belated Onam greetings to all! Celebrated Kerala's state festival yesterday with a mini sadya (feast) just for the two of us. The menu had aviyal, kaalan, parippu curry and papad, and payasam (thanks to Nirapara instant ada payasam mix). Nowadays everything is instant - right from idiappams to chappatis.
There was no banana leaf to serve the meal on. Wore my Onam-mark salwar kurta to work. V took leave under the Restricted Holiday quota. HE watched a movie on Asianet. With TV channels exhorting viewers to "celebrate this Onam with us", viewers have a hard time deciding which movie to watch. And all channels manage to come up with at least one movie that has not been shown on TV yet.
In my childhood days, Onam meant Athappookalams, kaduvakali and the wait for the invisible Maveli, the benevolent Asura king of Kerala who is supposed to be visiting his subjects on Onam day. The most exciting part was the swing, which had a palm frond for a seat while a long rope secured it tightly to a jackfruit tree or mango tree in the compound. The swing was almost always readied 10 days before Onam and kept us busy during the Onam/first-term holidays in school.
I guess there must be readymade swings now. But nothing to beat the charm of the indigenous swing or the olapanthu (ball made from palm leaf and olapampu (snake made from palm leaf).