A slightly different Onam

Onam has always been the most favourite time of the year for me. When I was a kid, we used to go to Alwaye to spend Onam with our relatives. After I grew up, I started enjoying Onam in Thiruvananthapuram. Every year, I would go to the Onam Fair at Kanakakkunnu, and watch the city lit up with lights, looking its best. The entire city would attend the celebrations which would last from 6 to 9 days every year with dance, music and other entertainments.

This year, however, Onam was different for Kerala because of the 2018 Kerala Floods, the biggest flood the state witnessed in 94 years. The state was under water for a good one week and hence, Onam was pretty different for us this time. There wasn’t the regular 'pre-Onam' festivities this year. The state was busy with rescue and relief operations and we witnessed our state working together for the people regardless of their different beliefs and faith. The entire state was one and in that sense, the entire incident was quite an eye opener of a lot of us. Rescue operations were going on in every affected part of the state. But once the rescue operations were finished, the state burst into celebrations in relief camps. The spirit among the people that kept them going even after they lost their homes and everything valuable to them was amazing.

Likewise, personally for me, Onam was quite different for me this time. I got together with relatives from my father’s side and spent my Onam with them. There were quite a few incidents in the past one month and a lot of experiences which taught me a lot of things. So this year, Onam was quite an eventful period for me in multiple ways. They were a lot of ups and downs during this time but it gave me a broader perspective about quite a lot of things.