Onam in all its gusto this weekend

WHEN NEIL ARMSTRONG landed on the moon he was stunned to find a Malayalee selling tea. So goes the old Indian joke about the people of Kerala’s omnipresence wherever you go in the world. The Middle East is full of them, from fish sellers and barbers to engineers and CEOs. In Thailand, most of them work in the hi-tech and education fields.
Come Sunday, Malayalees who call Thailand home will gather once again to celebrate Onam under the banner of the Thai Malayali Samaj. This year’s festivities at the sprawling Rajmangala University of Technology Krungthep campus in Sathorn kick off with a morning of cultural programmes, followed by sports activities in the afternoon and the traditional Onam feast to round off the day.
The people of Kerala are famed for their love of parties, and none is bigger than Onam – probably the only festival in India celebrated by the whole community of one state, irrespective of cast, creed, religion or social standing. A Malayalee celebrates Onam with gusto, wherever in the world he finds himself.
The festival springs from the story of beloved King Mahabali, whose golden reign of prosperity and peace provoked fierce jealousy among the gods.
Legend has it that Lord Vishnu took the form of Vamana the dwarf and tricked the king into granting him three paces of land. Vishnu then assumed celestial proportions, covering the Earth with his first step and the skies with his second. The king, to fulfil his promise, proffered his own head for the third step. But before being trampled to the netherworld, Mahabali requested a last wish – to visit his land and people once a year. It was granted, and the people of Kerala celebrate Onam to commemorate the great king’s annual visit.
Sitting at the southern tip of India, Kerala has earned the name God’s Own Country in the tourist industry for its unique culture and beautiful landscape. It was already renowned by the third century BC as one of the greatest Hindu kingdoms, and cinnamon from Kerala has been found in the mummified remains of Egypt’s pharaohs.
Kerala’s centuries-old palm-fringed backwaters stretch over 1,900 kilometres and, along with tea plantations, beaches and forests, make it a must-see for foreign visitors. They also come for ayurveda, India’s ancient traditional therapy, which is nowhere else practised with such dedication.
Chinese explorer Zheng He, who is believed to have sailed around the world well before his Western counterparts, built a pavilion in Kozhikode, Kerala, which cemented the friendship between the people of China and Kerala.
Ninety years later, in 1498, Vasco da Gama arrived from Portugal, and opened up the sea route from Europe to Asia.
Malayalees interested in taking part in the Bangkok Onam can |contact Santhosh Antony at |(089) 167 7757.