Pandu pandu oru onakkaalathu.. (പണ്ടുപണ്ട് ഒരു ഓണക്കാലത്ത്..)

That is the mallu way of saying 'Once upon a time during Onam'.
Somehow today while surviving Onam in another continent i find myself taking a walk down the memory lane....back to my home and back to all the Onam's celebrated with family and relatives. To be frank, I never really bothered about the legend behind Onam nor felt sorry for the great king Mahabali, who was sent to 'paathaalam' for being so good to his subjects. For me Onam was 10 days of fun holidays. Time for movies, games, roaming around places, new clothes and all those upperi's, sharkkaravaratty's and yummy paayasams which was made at home only for Onam.

My Dad used to be the most excited one among us about any festival. I still remember him making all the arrangements for Onasadya, which is the highlight of this festival. He'd even be in the kitchen giving instructions to my mom in his own style. How much care he used to take to see everything went perfect, i can never imagine myself giving so much importance to things like the way he used to.

Our kitchen used to be really busy with all of us trying to help mom with something or the other till lunchtime. And i missed that today while preparing an Onasadya all by myself in my kitchen here. Missed my dad and his infinite instructions on how to do things perfect...Missed my mom trying to get everything together according to my dad's wish, read as 'instructions'... Missed my brothers trying to munch the pappadam's as soon as it was made and trying to have the first taste of every dish which was being prepared. Missed my Vallyamma's very spl Sambar and Vendaykka kitchadi and that Parippu Payasam she makes, i'll never be able to make it that tastey.
Dad would ask my brothers to cut plantain leaves frm the backyard and they'd disappear to watch all those Onam exclusive shows on TV leaving me and my Dad to complete the task. It was my Dad who taught me how to serve sadya on a plantain leaf. Every dish had a specific place in that leaf, wonder who made all these rules. I never understood why 'parippu' was served only on the right side of the leaf nor the 'Oh-so-very-tasty-Kichadi' was served so little on the top left corner of the leaf near the pickles and upperi's. I can still picture him and my mom making sure everything is served right before inviting everyone to the dining table.
Instead of them being here with me in person i have their photographs in the corner of my kitchen, and today i tried to fool myself in vain about their presence.

So i guess Onam, apart frm being a good harvest festival is much much more for everyone who is faraway frm the malluland and their loved ones. I could never imagine myself being so emotional about a festival which happens every year like clockwork, but hey its happening.
I know those days will never come back no matter how i wish, i am glad at least i am left with some good memories to survive all the Onam's to come.

Will leave this post with an interesting note...If you ask any old person in Kerala about Onam they'd tell you this for sure...Ippol enthu Onam? Ithonnum oru Onamae alla...Athokke oru kaalam, njangal ellaam Onam aaghoshicha pole ippol nadakkumo?

I think finally i am able to see light in those words.

Zindagi ke safar mein....

Been thinkin about updating this new blog of mine for sometime but i cant seem to find the right words. You must be thinking, whats the need anyway? If i cant write why started a weblog in the first place? But hey, it just got me typing something which i am doing right this moment. And in fact i am enjoyin the way my fingers are converting my thoughts into words by tapping on the keyboard. Never realized i'd get this far and now i feel i can keep on doin this blah blah coz all of a sudden it doesnt feel like a big deal at all.

Before you proceed anyfurther let me warn you there wont be any intellectual musings out here, well i have reserved all that for my fellow bloggers who can actually "write"! This is just my attempt to convey my thoughts in some words and thats what it is all about. So pls keep your expectation levels real low. And NOW would be the right time to stop reading this and get on with your life, baad mein khit pit nahi karne ka, kya?

While i am typing this, a wonderful old hindi song is going on in the BG which goes "Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hai jo makaam
Voh phir nahi aate, voh phir nahi aate"
What a song, what depth in those lyrics, maanna padega Anand Bakhshi ko who penned those wonderful thought provoking words. For anyone interested to know more about the song try the following links.

To check out the full lyrics click here

To listen to the song click here

Tagged !!

Got tagged by Jo!!

Seven Things U Plan To do Before U die

1. Come to terms with 'death', own a lawn crypt and take it easy.
2. Buy/Rent a caravan and travel extensively in the US and India.    
3. Sponsor a child's education.
4. Join a flight school and take a PPL
5. Learn all the necessary things and build my own house in Big Bear.
6. Meet some people in real time whom I met online.
7. Have aerated drinks without waiting for the fizz to vanish.

Seven Things That U Can Do

1. Sing, play 5 musical instruments.
2. Cook
3. Talk for hours
4. Browse the net forever, download stuff like crazy
5. Confuse people with words
6. Fight for no reason at all
7. Make people laugh

Seven Things That U Can’t Do

1. Go on a real long drive with my dad, visit new places with him.
2. Eat Sushi
3. Say No to friends
4. Survive without Internet
5. Be with all my friends in the same colleges with the same teachers.
6. Talk less and listen more
7. Stop being possessive abt people who matter to me.

Seven Things That Attract U To The Opposite Sex

1. Genuineness
2. Respect for women
3. Sense of Humor
4. Compassion
5. Voice
6. Eyes
7. Smile

Seven Things U Say Most

1. Krishna!
2. Cool
3. Korangan
4. Heyyy
5. Hmm
6. Oh yea
7. Thank you

Seven Celebrities I Want To Meet

1. Hariharan
2. Julia Roberts
3. Gautam Rajadhyaksha, Raghu Rai
4. Shobhana
5. Jay Leno
6. Meg Ryan
7. 'Yet to be filled'

Seven PPL Who Have To Take This Quiz

1. Iyyaps
2. Keerthi
3. The World of B
4. Vinesh
5. Prabhu
6. Arvind
7. Achinthya    

Yeh toh hona hi tha ...

...which literally means 'this was meant to happen', am talking about this blog.
Now I am not going to write a big story about how this blog came into existence, lets skip the details. But I would like to thank Jo for being the reason to start this blog.
I was tagged by Jo, since I couldn’t fill my photoblog with text started thinking about another blog so you are reading this. Guess that’s enough for an Intro, over to my blog now and hey don’t forget to let me know your views.