Sandhya S. Kumar
Food and beverage consultant, food stylist
Onam meant road trips for my family. When all my friends spent their Onam with their grandparents and relatives, my family and I, along with our pet dog, would take off in our jeep. Coming from a business family, Onam were the only few days in the whole year when my dad could take a break from his hectic schedule. And so, Onam meant travelling to some offbeat place; any place where the road would take us. Hence, most of my Onam years were away from Kerala, ironically.
When I hear the word Onam, it’s never about the new dresses (onakkodis), pookkalams or the elaborate sadya on banana leaf. For me, it’s memories of dad teaching me to to change punctured tyres, mom and I sneaking our pet dog into hotel rooms, drooling and convincing dad to let me try out street food and meet new people from different cultures.
In those days there were no GPS or Android phones and I recall my mom help navigate the routes for my dad using ‘real’ road maps.
These days most of my Onam holidays revolve around special set menus and over booked restaurant reservations for the big holiday. Time together with my family hardly comes by. This year, there will be no Onam celebrations for my family and I; not when the State is yet to get back on its feet after the flood. I am currently helping out at a relief camp and happy to note how every Malayali is doing their bit. Maybe that is what this Onam has in store for us, for us to get back together.
(As told to Liza George)
Chef Suresh Pillai
Chef Suresh Pillai | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Executive chef, Raviz Group
Onam was something I looked forward to as a kid. It was fun as the house would be chock-a-block with relatives. If dishes like appam for instance, are a norm on the breakfast table these days, in my day, it was considered a luxury dish and was usually served during Onam. Receiving new clothes was a treat reserved for Onam. We kids would get into mischief during this season as no matter how naughty a kid is during Onam, parents aren’t supposed to scold their child. However, what I relished the most during Onam was us children helping out in the kitchen. We would help in the mise en place for the sadya dishes. Also, the ada for the ada pradhaman was made by hand. I recall laying strings of ada out to dry in the sun, just like noodle or pasta strips.
After being away from Kerala for the past 15 years, as my job as a chef took me to various States in India and across the globe, I long for a home-cooked sadya. My mom, Radhamma, makes excellent theeyal and my dad, Sasidharan Pillai, fantastic ada pradhaman. These two dishes are must haves on my banana leaf this year. Oh, and manga thayiru curry too. Manga thayiru curry is a speciality in the Kollam region. It’s a mango pickle with a yoghurt base.
The floods in Kerala have come as a shock as so many lives are displaced. That is why I have started #CookForKerala, a campaign to raise funds for the flood-affected.
(As told to Liza George)
Chaithanya Unni
Chaithanya Unni | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Mohiniyattam dancer and dermatologist in Australia
This year Onam celebrations are going to be a low-key affair at Queensland like in Kerala as we are trying to gather as much as we can to help our people while they are trying to rebuild their lives.
But I will try, like every year, to recreate the Onam of my childhood in Kozhikode here for my children. Onam is the time for nostalgic memories and happy attempts to celebrate like every non-resident Malayali family. It’s now the beginning of spring here and the weather resembles what we have in Kerala, sun comes out and flowers bloom.
There are community Onam celebrations all over Australia, which goes on till December, and family get-togethers where we participate. But on Thiruvonam day, a few of us friends and families meet at one of our homes in all Onam finery— Onakkodi, a potluck sadya and pookkalam. I prepare my favourite dishes —ada pradhaman and erissery. We gather in the morning and our festivities goes on till night. The rule of the day is that all men attend to women in the family, they serve sadya and do the cleaning up after that as we, women and children, enjoy with pookkalam, Kaikottikkali and Onam songs.
Onam of my childhood was so much fun with cousins, getting up well before the dawn, gathering flowers and helping my mother, aunts and muthassi make pookkalam everyday in the traditional way. Onam was the time when we were allowed to play like there was no tomorrow with no adults interfering unlike now. It was during Onam that our muthassi taught us to swim. She used to even arrange a large uruli to float in the pond, which was tied to a large jackfruit tree in which we could take rides as a reward.
I also celebrate Onam with our members at Amtan Medical, a chain of medical clinics that we have set up in Australia after making this country our home in 2010. We try to make our staff understand the legacy of Onam by making them part of our culture and festivities.
(As told to Athira M.)