Kerala is celebrating yet another Onam, their national festival, as the state is passing through one of its worst phases. A dwindling agricultural output and an uncontrollable fever epidemic have both cast a shadow on the state’s achievements in health and agriculture.
It is true that business is booming in Kerala like never before. Real estate dealers, textile owners, jewellers and consumer dealers are laughing all the way to the bank. However when King Mahabali visits his subjects on Onam day as the legend goes, he is unlikely to see that many smiling faces.
There are not many families which have not been afflicted by chikungunya. The scene of patients sitting motionless in front of hospital outpatient wings with swollen limbs is a highlight of this Onam.
“They will be more concerned about the health of their dear ones rather than the payasams for tomorrow. In fact, many families may not be able to celebrate Onam because of the death of a relative,'' says Prof S Sarngdharan who teaches at University College here.
Onam is known as the harvest festival. Yet there is hardly any indication to show that the state is set to recover its past glory in agriculture. The area under paddy has diminished exponentially in the last three decades. Paddy cultivation has made a clean exit from the state save a few areas in Palakkad and Alappuzha.
“The number of families having a feast using freshly harvested grains has come down to a few hundreds over the years. The situation is very grave,” M V Paily, a farmer here, feels. In this context, the government is bringing in legislation to ban conversion of paddy fields to housing plots. From plantain leaves to vegetables, the state depends on neighbouring Tamil Nadu for almost every ingredient that goes into a traditional feast.
Most of the vegetables come from wholesale markets in Dindigul, Theni, Madurai and Tiruchy districts.
Most of the flowers used for making pookkalams in the courtyards of houses come from Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty, Kodaikanal and Thovala in Tamil Nadu.
The government has earmarked Rs 1.25 crore for the festivities being organised in the three main cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
llumination of avenue trees and buildings, cultural programmes, food festivals and tourism fares are the highlights of the celebrations.
All for a record?
‘Pookkalam’ contest
Kochi, PTI: A new record was set at a ‘Pookkalam contest’, organised as part of the Onam celebrations here on Saturday, in which as many as 342 large flower carpets were arranged under one roof. As many as 1,710 people participated in the Cuticura Pookkalam contest.
The existing record as entered in the Limca Book of World Records, is of arranging 299 large ‘pookkalam’ by 1,495 people during the last edition of the same contest, according to K A Murali Sundar, general manager of Cuticura (Sales and Marketing). As much as 3.86 tonnes of flowers were used for the entire exercise.
