Onam is no more an occasion for oneness

 Jayaprakash A Kovilloor.

Malayalis around the world are in a festive mood as Onam is fast approaching. It is celebration all the way in the form of shopping, visiting friends and relatives, doing floral decorations for ten preceding days of Onan, and making the homes look good, neat and tidy, becoming kind and generous to all fellow beings and so goes the list of the dimensions of Onam, the commemoration day of our Monarch Maveli, or Mahabali who is believed to have ruled this god’s own land in the most democratic way. And Mahabali is said to be the most benevolent democratic monarch of all times. It is this side of his rule that gets reflected or celebrated during every Onan Season.

During his times, there was no inequality, corruption, communal appeasement and prevalence of social evils of any kind. Everyone was equal and everyone was happy and every one was contended and free from all fears. That was a time when people of Kerala had had the real taste of governance. Over the ages, people of Kerala have made it a point that Onam is a celebration for all people regardless of their faiths. Onan is synonymous with equality and harmony. People from all religions and faints took part in this festive season and the same mood passes off every year leaving behind enough encouragement and harmonious community spirit to keep the whole state in good stead till the next season.

Things have changed. Now the same Kerala holds a different picture. But Onam comes and goes in the same vein. Everything we attach to Onan is commercialized and people from all walks of life take this season as an opportunity to make money. Many values and virtues we attach with this season is being sold out whole sale and retail. And now the season looks  like a marketing hungama where everybody is prepared to spare a lot of time and energy not to foster the Onam spirit but to make Onam in their favour Let us leave the discussion here and take a different look at Onam.

I would like to give Onan a different definition. It is not merely a festival of harvest and opulence. Rather it is a festival of senses. This season satisfies all our senses and it makes our senses celebrate. Our taste, smell, sight, feel and sound get to enjoy their respective dishes in plenty, and these are  enjoyed evenly by people of all age groups.

Flowers and fruits, exotic dishes and delicacies, music and merriment, hugs and handshakes, visits and sights: everything is there in plenty. But there is no religion, community, caste, colour, creed or any other distinction that we normally associate with other ordinary festivals.

Now I am sadly reminded of an incident. Last week a few boys from my neighbourhood approached me when I went home last week. These boys have been celebrating Onam by conducting cultural events, competitions for kids, and staging traditional art forms and showcasing crafts and artifacts.  They raise funds for this from the community and people of all faiths have cooperated with them so far. I give them some 50 or 100 rupees every Onam.

This time these boys came to me with huge demand that I should give them minimum 500. When it raised my doubts about the need for such a big money, they shocked me with an eerie revelation. I am really sorry to write about it here because I for one have celebrated some 40 memorable Onams in my life and I have never had this experience before, that too from a few boys half my age.

They said, this Onam, we are raising funds from the Hindus only.

What? I asked back shocked.

Yes, we have been instructed by our elders to spare other communities from this fund raising exercise.

So, this Onan is for Hindus? Do you say so?

They did not reply. But they just left a vile smile which did not have the feel of a smile at all. How can faces of such vile smiles  make a celebration!!!

Enough damage has been done. I thought. Younger bloods are awash with parochial thoughts and their dirty designs.

I promised them my due with a periodic appreciation, say some 25%. They left the scene, leaving behind a huge question in my mind.

When these boys grow up into men, and start to man the society, how will this festival of senses look like? It sends tremors down my spine. A celebration is not spared. This is too much.

It disturbs me even now. I understand that there is something fundamentally wrong with our society, and this is a ploy of the old order “divide and rule”. It does not augur well for a community which claims to be living in God’s own country.

Now our age-old Onan has started taking up community dimensions and it is not too far before we come to have community Onams: like Nair Onam, Ezhava Onam, Menon Onam, Iyer Onam, Brahmin Onam because they are Hindus. One should not get surprised if there is an Onam called SNDP Onam for the Ezhavas, and NSS Onam for the Nairs.

And finally I feel that we need to induct a special Onam for our Monarch Maveli himself because he does not have a religion or community to belong to and thus get a chance to participate in this annual ritual. We must do this for him.

The sings of such a change are seen in the minds of our kids and teenagers. Sure, these boys are not going to take Onam to any new dimension in the coming days. Onam has ceased to be an occasion for a feeling of oneness. Rather it is an occasion for satisfying the individual intentions of every other one.