Onam again and again

I had to rush to office leaving the Onam celebration at the gym halfway. I had decided to wear Mundu (a traditional attire for Kerala men). The idea was sending butterflies in my stomach haywire. You need practice and guts to wear it and a wardrobe malfunction could be disastrous.
I reached the bus stop to find a damsel in distress. She was a beauty to look and stare (although she is the one we guys loved to bitch about). I presumed that a beauty at the bus stop is a good sign from the heavens and we set out to office together.

I reached office to find that even half weren’t in the Mundu. And no one was in a mood to celebrate too.

We have a peculiar term used by our leaders- ‘Fun @ Work’. If we indulge in any sort of fun that doesn’t mean any exemption or shortage in work. So the wise men avoid the late nights at office and keep away from any sort of Fun @ Work.

A good thing with the modernization and liberalization is that the traditional attire gave way to ‘civilized’ and comfortable dress. But no western wear can arouse a man as much as a traditional wear. So these days are a kind of liberation for us guys, who get quite bored seeing the regular salwar kameez and western formals. So men run around with cameras pretending to enjoy the intricate designs of pookkalam, when they are furiously clicking away all the femme fatale. These photo sessions are illegal by the law, but women too love to be appreciated, don’t they?

‘Attrition’ is some phenomenon the entire Indian IT industry suffered from. The industry is in dire shortage of skilled people. So they lure them with greater pay hike. This is a never ending vicious cycle as long as there is a human vice called greed. Ours was a company who suffered badly from it. There were few familiar faces around and fewer prettier faces too. The crooks had emptied out our good looking women.

After a day of roaming, I came back to my seat to get this message.

Onam again

Onam seems to be the national festival of all Keralites. Even at a time when the divisiveness in the name of religion becomes more and more apparent, all Mallus get together to celebrate Onam.

At this time of year every school, college and institution sets apart a day to celebrate. The men arrive adorned in Mundu and women in Kasavu saris. Then a floral decoration is made and called pookkalam.

I had the celebration at the gym and the office on the same day. Our instructor, Nixon, requested, cajoled and threatened everyone for their contributions. Many fished from the purses but the price of flowers had shot up. At the end we did a pookkalam awfully displaying our poverty.

I appointed myself as the photographer. I arrived at the gym early morning only to find preparations halfway begun. Some lovely kids had been called from an orphanage. They arrived dressed very neatly in their school uniforms. It was so serene to watch them looking around in bewilderment.

As usual some police bigwigs were the chief guests of the day along with two cine actors. The programme kick started with a few songs and dances from the fellow gym members. A gift kit was given to the little kids.

As I stood watching them a tide of emotions swept through. I wonder what they would be dreaming of. With no one to call their own, what their picture of tomorrow will be. I wanted to dive into their hearts and see for myself their fears and insecurities. But we take them as a show case material for our large heartedness.

I went home with what Madhupal said. ’Our Onam has become sweet memories for us. We dream of our childhood and villages- things that are not going to comeback.
Let’s try to create sweet Onams for our little ones to remember’

I have posted the pics too...