But that does not take anything away from how the current generation of Keralites settled in the Garden City celebrate the 10-day festival.
On Friday, clad in ‘Kasavu Saree’ and ‘Kasavu Mundu’, Malayalee women and men adorned the streets and offices of Bangalore, on the occasion of ‘Thiruvonam’, which is the last, but the most important day.
A majority of the Malayalees take leave from work and sat back at home to enjoy the occasion with their families. The devout among them woke up early in the morning, visited a Vishnu temple and got back home to prepare the grand feast, ‘Onam Sadhya’.
While many women may have already laid the colourful ‘Pookalam’ or flower carpet at home from the start of Onam, others did the flower decoration on the last day. Some even performed the traditional ‘Kaikotti Kali’ or clap dance.
In Bangalore, the pookalams were few, but the homes smelt of the feast awating to be served.
The ‘Sadhya’ which has a dozen dishes placed artistically on the green banana leaf is now a business for the Malayalee-run restaurants in the City.
While a meal in one such restraunt on Old Airport Road on Friday cost Rs 250, the likes of Taj priced them at Rs 800 per leaf. The amount does not exceed Rs 50 in better places in Kerala.
While the preparations for Thiruvonam starts from ‘Attham’, the first of the 10 days, it all culminates into the Sadhya, in which different kinds of ‘Paayasam’ are had and then the typical Malayalee family goes for that long afternoon nap. The Onam thus ends.
